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NHS England delivered its first report on enhancing the quality of care and improving access to seven day pharmacy services for patients in hospital at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Annual Conference yesterday, Monday 5 September 2016.

“Transformation of Seven Day Clinical Pharmacy Services in Acute Hospitals” sets out a vision where hospital pharmacy services could operate more efficiently and safely, and 13 key recommendations of how clinical pharmacy services in hospitals can be strengthened  – particularly at weekends –  to benefit patients.

This report for the first time:

• Describes why seven day clinical pharmacy services are important and benefits patients
• Sets the context of seven day clinical pharmacy services within the 10 seven day hospital clinical standards and the Hospital Pharmacy Transformation Plan (HPTP) – as set out by Lord Carter
• Identifies barriers that need to be overcome, and providing examples of how hospitals are doing this
• Explains what national and local leaders can do to expedite implementation

In a joint foreword, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Keith Ridge, National Medical Director, NHS England, Prof Sir Bruce Keogh and Medical Director, NHS Improvement, Kathy McLean welcome the comprehensive report, which is aimed at clinicians, managers and a range of national bodies.

It explores solutions for national and local health providers, including hospital chief pharmacists, Health Education England, NHS Improvement, Academic Health Science Networks, National Institute for Health Research and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

It calls for patients admitted through urgent and emergency routes, high risk individuals and those requiring a discharge on weekends, to receive prompt medication reviews through targeted clinical pharmacy services in line with the seven day services clinical standards.

To avoid variations in hospital services, the optimal use of medicines, technology, workforce and collaboration within and across staff and primary care organisations – needs to be activated.  In addition new professional guidance for pharmacists should be introduced and solutions provided  for  delivering pharmacy services outside of normal working hours.

Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Keith Ridge, said: “This report acknowledges that at various times some hospitals are under utilising the expertise available from clinical pharmacy services.  Whilst there is no uniform approach for all hospitals, it is vital that expertise on medicines are available to all patients in hospital in a timely manner seven days a week to improve patient experience, safety and clinical efficiency. This is in line with the Five Year Forward View commitment of the NHS to provide hospital patients with access to seven day services. ”

The 10 seven day clinical standards for hospitals  are:

1. Patient experience
2. Time to consultant review *
3. Multi-disciplinary team review
4. Shift handovers
5. Access to diagnostics *
6. Access to consultant-directed interventions*
7. Mental health
8. On-going review *
9. Transfer to primary, community and social care.
10. Quality improvement

* Four priority clinical standards.