MEDICINES MANAGEMENT
Innovative research aims to improve medicine management in NHS
The first UK research collaboration between a hospital, university and community pharmacy chain has been launched, with the aim to improve the way patients use their medicines outside hospital. David Stevenson reports.
A
new collaborative venture between Liverpool John
Moores University
(LMJU), the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust (RLBUHT) and LloydsPharmacy will focus on identifying improvements in how patients’ medicines are managed and prescribed when they are admitted to hospital and when they are discharged home.
The research will be done at the newly- opened Centre for Pharmacy Innovation at the LJMU School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences. The team want to find a new process that provides safe and effective management of medicines for patients from the hospital to the community with an enhanced role for community pharmacies.
Professor Alison Ewing, clinical director of pharmacy at RLBUHT and chair in Pharmacy Innovation at LJMU’s Faculty of Science, is leading the strategy for the research
programme. “Many patients find it difficult to manage their medication when they are discharged from hospital and this often leads to their health deteriorating and they end of having to come back into hospital. The NHS aims to make greater use of community pharmacies to support patients outside hospitals,” she said.
“Our research aims to find ways in which hospital and community pharmacies can work together so that patients can benefit from greater support in managing their medication better.”
The new model will be piloted at RLBUHT and evaluated with the aim of providing a new way of working for hospitals and pharmacies across the UK.
The project will also support the development of a post-graduate education and training programme to better equip community
pharmacy teams with the skills to advise patients about their health, from minor ailments to diabetes and asthma control, providing a resource for the wider NHS community and pharmacy profession.
Charles Morecroft, Professor of Pharmacy Education and Professional Practice at LJMU’s Faculty of Science, added: “We are delighted to conduct this pioneering research with LloydsPharmacy and the Royal.
“Our first PhD student is in place and is working on a project entitled ‘Investigating Models of Care in the NHS: Patient transfer to primary care on discharge from hospital’. The project aims to determine an innovative hospital medication discharge process which provides safe, quality and effective transfer for patients from secondary to community care. This will involve a mixed methods approach.”
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First cancer study to evaluate effectiveness of established tolerable, generic medicines in combination
Christa Doherty, CEO of the Care Oncology Clinic, London, describes a METRICS study investigating a new treatment regimen for cancer patients who cannot tolerate existing treatments or who may benefit from adding this regimen to their treatment pathway.
T
he Care Oncology Clinic in Harley Street, London,
regimen to their current treatment. aims to deliver treatment
solutions to cancer patients for whom standard treatments no longer provide clinical benefit. The Clinic is currently recruiting patients onto a first-of-its-kind medical study, evaluating the effectiveness and tolerability of unique combinations of existing medicines in slowing tumour growth.
The open-label, observational METRICS study (Study of the Safety, Tolerability and Efficacy of Metabolic Treatments of Cancer) aims to help patients who have been diagnosed with cancer and are unable to tolerate, see benefit from or have blocked access to existing cancer therapies, or may benefit from adding this
The study is led by Professor Justin Stebbing, consultant oncologist at Imperial College and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and Professor Angus Dalgleish of St George’s, University of London, with support from the SEEK Group.
Through the use of tailored combinations of existing therapies, including metformin and statins, the METRICS study assesses the potential of this regimen to act on cancer cell metabolism and reduce tumour growth, with a primary outcome measure of progression-free survival over five years, alongside secondary quality of life and tumour response outcomes.
METRICS builds on published studies, already demonstrating the potential of monotherapy metabolic therapies in inhibiting tumour growth.
Data generated by the study will be collected and published.
It is hoped this data will establish a future combination regime that is both affordable and tolerable.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To understand whether your patients could benefit from participation in the study, contact: T: +44 (0)207 580 3266 W:
www.careoncologyclinic.com
national health executive Nov/Dec 14 | 81
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