Contacts
Contact:
Abi Jenkins
Network Palliative Care Pharmacist
Organisation:
Birmingham
West Midlands B18 7QH United Kingdom
Tel:
0121 507 4481
07766 221983
Email:
Case study:
07 September 2007
Improving access to palliative care and end of life care drugs in the Pan-Birmingham Palliative Care Network
Key points
- The Pan-Birmingham Palliative Care Network has introduced a new system to ensure quick access to palliative and end of life care drugs
- Early results suggest it has led to pharmacy dispensation nearer to the patients place of care.
- Twenty five patients received out of hours medication that would not previously have been available.
Palliative care patients across Birmingham are getting quicker access to palliative and end of life care drugs following new arrangements to make drugs more readily available both in and out of hours.
The new system was introduced at the start of 2005 and early results suggest it has led to shorter journeys between prescriber and dispenser.
In addition 25 patients received medication out of hours where it would not have been available previously.
Delays in receiving palliative and end of life care drugs have been identified as one of the contributory factors to unnecessary hospital admissions in the last days of life.
The aim of this project was to produce a simple formulary with as few drugs as possible, but able to manage as many symptoms as feasible.
The drugs selected were only injectables and include diamorphine (or morphine in its absence), hyoscine-n-butylbromide, levomepromazine and midazolam.
The system operating across the Pan-Birmingham Palliative Care Network is made up of three components:
Community Pharmacy Palliative Care Network
Sixty five community pharmacies guarantee holding the listed drugs.Pharmacies involved include those open until 11pm seven days a week.
Out-of-hours providers
Out-of-hours providers guarantee holding stocks of drugs included in the national out-of-hours formulary.
Acute hospitals
Two hospitals will dispense urgent primary care prescriptions for palliative and end of life prescriptions 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Data from the first year of operation show no significant overall change in the number of prescriptions dispensed but this is expected to change in the 2006 data.
Figures from two out-of-hours providers covering a population of approximately one million show they dispensed 16 prescriptions during 2005 while the two acute hospitals dispensed nine prescriptions.
So 25 patients received out-of-hours medication in 2005 that would not have been available previously.
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