Clinical pharmacy services in CHS

Clinical pharmacy services in CHS

Clinical pharmacy services are needed for patients in community hospitals, respite and rehabilitation units and by specialist teams providing end-of-life care. These are similar to those in acute hospitals but often involve visiting sites that do not have a pharmacy department. The pharmacists and pharmacy technicians providing the service need to work with the multidisciplinary team to assess ability to manage medicines after discharge and to encourage self-administration to support independence. As in acute settings, medicines reconciliation and communications across interfaces are essential for consistency of care. The pharmacy team needs to be aware of the different ways in which community hospitals may receive medical cover, for example by GPs, hospital doctors or a mix of both.