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Care home meds pilot saves CCG £80k

Care home meds pilot saves CCG £80k
28 October 2014



Close to £80,000 has been saved through a medicines optimisation pilot at Leeds West clinical commissioning group (CCG). 
Clinical care home pharmacists improved disease management and reduced medicine waste in the 12-month pilot from August 2013. 
The pharmacists provided medication reviews for around 1,600 patients living in care homes in the CCG area. 
The review delivered gross savings of £100,000, with £20,000 spent on improving and changing patient medication. 

Close to £80,000 has been saved through a medicines optimisation pilot at Leeds West clinical commissioning group (CCG). 
Clinical care home pharmacists improved disease management and reduced medicine waste in the 12-month pilot from August 2013. 
The pharmacists provided medication reviews for around 1,600 patients living in care homes in the CCG area. 
The review delivered gross savings of £100,000, with £20,000 spent on improving and changing patient medication. 
Helen Whiteside and Nicola Shaw, clinical care home pharmacists said: “The project has really been beneficial to care homes, as we have stopped medicines for some patients that were causing them side effects and that means patients are more alert, they can socialise more in care homes, we have a better appetite and generally they are feeling much better. 
“Side effects that we have prevented will stop patients from going to hospital so we’ve reduced the number of hospital admissions.” 
The project team created a short animation to show how patients can benefit from the support offered by the clinical care home pharmacists. 
And a separate video was created for healthcare professionals
Dr Andrew Sixsmith, GP at Thornton Medical Centre, said: “I have an overarching responsibility of two care homes and I’m assured that patients are getting a thorough medication review by a clinical care home pharmacist.
“Quite often we see a number of patients having falls because they’re on medication that is causing them to fall, the clinical care home pharmacist removes medication that is not necessary, change dosage, or formulation which will benefit the patient.
“As well as producing our animation featuring Doris, we have also developed a short video with health and care professionals. The video shows how healthcare professionals are carrying out medication reviews and how clinical care home pharmacists work closely with GPs, practice nurses, community practitioners, and care homes.”
Leeds West CCG has decided to extend the Care Homes and Medicines Optimisation Implementation Service (CHAMOIS) for a further 12 months. 

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