Action Plan For Improving The Use Of Medicines And Reducing Waste
An action plan detailing how best practice can be shared across the NHS to improve the use of medicines and tackle medicines wastage.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
A report commissioned by the Department of Health looks at the ways in which the NHS is working to improve the use of medicines and tackle avoidable medicines wastage. The action plan outlines how best practice could be shared across the NHS in the future.
The plan identifies how everybody - not just pharmacists, GPs and care home staff, but also patients and the public - can stop avoidable medicines wastage.
The report, ‘Improving the use of medicines for better outcomes and reduced waste: An action plan’, covers making more effective use of medicines in primary and community care, in secondary care and in care homes and end of life care. It also looks at how patients can be better engaged in decisions about their medicines and how information about medicines can be better provided to patients and health and care professionals.
The NHS Commissioning Board will consider how best to take forward the recommendations in the action plan as part of its medicines optimisation work.
The report was produced by a steering group to improve the use of medicines for better outcomes and reduced waste, which was set up last year by Ministers and tasked with developing an action plan. The group is co-chaired by Rob Darracott, Chief Executive of Pharmacy Voice and Robert Johnstone, Trustee of National Voices.