While in Italy Pharmaceutical care is being tested [look down], in England it is an organizational model that has received awards such as the Pharmaceutical care awards which for 2013 was assigned to a team that evaluated the impact that the figure of the prescribing pharmacist would have on blood pressure management. The prize was awarded on 14 June at the end of a hearing during which 5 other projects were also presented. The winners are members of a working group that deals with the management of medicines within the National Health Service (NHS) in London: for 6 months they followed the work of 7 specialized hypertension clinics, spread over a large area to examine whether pharmacist independent prescribing can safely and effectively manage hypertension and associated cardiovascular risk factors. A total of 336 patients passed through the clinics in the period examined: in 68% the blood pressure was not controlled, because it exceeded the threshold values of 140/90mmHg, even if the patients had been treated by the general practitioner. The 28% had already reached the optimal blood pressure values and the others had not taken their blood pressure for 9 months. During the experiment, 146 prescribing interventions were carried out by pharmacists, including the initiation and suspension of a therapy and the titration of a drug. Twenty-eight of these interventions involved patients with controlled hypertension, who improved treatment by managing side effects and other aspects of cardiovascular risk. Blood pressure values fell below the threshold of 150/90mmHg in the 79% of the patients, which were previously out of control and, of these, the 71% achieved the goal of 140/90mmHg. In all outpatient clinics, the issue was adherence to medication and, according to the team, the improvement in blood pressure control is a result of better adherence. The institution of the prescribing pharmacist has proved to be an effective solution from a clinical point of view but also from a cost point of view, since a first specialist visit could cost as much as 200 pounds, plus another 90 for the subsequent follow-up visit, while the cost of the service rendered by the pharmacist amounts to about £70 for each patient who achieves good blood pressure control.
21 June 2013 – Pharmacist33
Lazio, with Pharmaceutical care savings of up to 450 million
In the Lazio Region, the community pharmacy's commitment to improving adherence to therapies could lead to savings of up to 450 million euros. This is a projection of the data relating to the Pharmaceutical care project prepared by the Lazio owners, up to 2040, presented yesterday morning at a press conference in Rome as part
