Home Medicines Review
What is a Home Medicines Review?
A Home Medicines Review is a service that allows a thorough check of a person’s medicines by a pharmacist, at the request of their GP, and with their agreement. The review takes place in their home, at a time convenient to them.
What are the Benefits of a Home Medicines Review?
Anyone living in their own home can have a Home Medicines Review if their GP thinks their condition and the medicines they are taking make the review worthwhile.
Home Medicines Reviews help people:
• To take their medicines correctly;
• To understand why and when they should take their medicines;
• To know where their medicines should be stored;
• To be confident that their prescription medicines, over the counter medicines and vitamins are appropriate to be taken together.
Following a Home Medicines Review, people say they understand more about managing their condition and more about their medication.
People could benefit from HMR if they:
• Take more than five medicines a day
• Are confused or worried about their medicines
• Sometimes forget to take their medicines
• See more than one GP or specialist
• Have recently spent time in hospital
HMR fits within the ‘Get to Know Your Medicines’ Campaign
The campaign aims to help people:
• get better results from the medicines they take;
• avoid side effects where possible;
• enjoy better health.
The campaign targets people who regularly use several medicines
Older people and people with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, are the people in our community who take the most medicine. Between 2% and 4% of hospital admissions are medication related and between 50% and 75% of these admissions are potentially preventable.
If medicines aren't used properly or if the wrong ones are used together, the results can be serious. In order to reduce the risks of problems with their medicines people are encouraged to:
• know the names of their medicines and what they look like;
• record details of their medicines, including why they are using them;
• read the Consumer Medicine Information leaflets and keep them handy for future reference;
• ask their pharmacist for advice on special packaging – such as ‘dosette boxes’ or ‘webster packs’ – to help separate medicines into the times and days when they should be taken;
• take out-of-date or unused medicines to the pharmacy for safe disposal;
• Ask their doctor or pharmacist whether a Home Medicines Review would be useful to help them avoid problems with their medicines.