Patient medicine management ‘poor’

A person in the care of a mental health trust is more likely to have problems with their medicine than a patient in an acute trust, according to a critical Healthcare Commission study.

Last week’s report called for improvements in medicine management in mental health trusts, saying they had “relatively weak investment in clinical pharmacy services compared with acute trusts”.Resource constraints and “a lack of appreciation of the importance of medicines management at board level appears to be a problem” in many mental health trusts, the report added.

However, work to improve understanding and agreement on medicines was generally stronger in mental health trusts than acute bodies.

Further information
Talking about Medicines: The Management of Medicines in Trusts Providing Mental Health Services