Value in Healthcare Awards winners for 2015

Finalists

  • London North West Healthcare Trust: An integrated medicines management service (IMMS) to reduce preventable medicines related readmissions – winner
  • Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group: Recognising and supporting carers in West Hertfordshire – highly commended
  • King’s College Hospital Foundation Trust: King’s College hospital volunteering scheme
  • Nottingham City Care Partnership: Hospital discharge service: proactive post-discharge telephone follow up and support with medicines and social care needs
  • Royal Berkshire FT: Improving patient experience through implementation of an elderly care enhanced recovery pathway
  • Wessex Academic Health Science Network: Wessex respiratory innovations
  • Birmingham Women’s FT: Transforming complaints into opportunities: a simple restructure of patient and parent support services
  • Health Education West Midland: Clinically enhanced “fast track” non-medical prescribing for pharmacists – 2014-15 pilot

London North West Healthcare Trust: An integrated medicines management service (IMMS) to reduce preventable medicines related readmissions

The judges said: “This entry was extremely impressive and addresses inequalities for patients across the health economy. It has strong partnership working and a very proactive approach. This could easily be rolled out, showing a high value model which is sustainable.”

Increases in demand have taken their toll on emergency services. NHS trusts are no longer fully reimbursed for emergency readmissions and so, with this project, London North West Healthcare Trust aims to significantly reduce preventable readmissions.

Launched in 2008, the integrated medicines management service (IMMS) uses pharmacists to optimise medication in patients who are at high risk of preventable medicines related readmission (PMRR).

IMMS is delivered at Northwick Park Hospital by one pharmacist in collaboration with health and social care professionals in primary and secondary care. The service includes:

  • medicines reconciliation on admission;
  • review of long term and new medicines;
  • medicines consultation, including a discussion of newly prescribed, stopped and changed medicines;
  • discharge planning with patients, carers and health and social care teams;
  • pre-discharge referral to primary care staff; and
  • post-discharge follow up 

In order to track the service’s success, data was collected from patients using IMMS at Northwick Park and patients from Central Middlesex Hospital who were receiving the standard pharmacy service. The results showed that only 0.2 per cent of patients at Northwick Park experienced a preventable medicines related readmission compared to 4.4 per cent of readmitted patients at Central Middlesex.

Over 95 per cent of patients seen by an IMMS pharmacist were over 65; the average length of stay of this group was at least 19 days. The IMMS pharmacists looks to avoid readmission altogether and so the trust estimated a potential saving of £151,848 per year in avoided PMRRs for over 65s. This equates to a saving of £3 for every £1 spent on an IMMS pharmacist.

Finalists

  • Herts Valleys CCG: Recognising and supporting carers in West Hertfordshire
  • King’s College Hospital FT: King’s College hospital volunteering scheme
  • Nottingham City Care Partnership: Hospital discharge service: proactive post-discharge telephone follow up and support with medicines and social care needs
  • Royal Berkshire FT: Improving patient experience through implementation of an elderly care enhanced recovery pathway
  • Wessex AHSN: Wessex respiratory innovations
  • Birmingham Women’s FT: Transforming complaints into opportunities: a simple restructure of patient and parent support services
  • Health Education West Midland: Clinically enhanced “fast track” non-medical prescribing for pharmacists – 2014-15 pilot

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