Table 2.

Medication reviews in the National Health Service

Review type	Conducted by	Purpose
Medicines Use Review (MUR)	Community pharmacists in England and Wales	‘Helping patients use their medicines more effectively. The pharmacist will perform a MUR to help assess any problems patients have with their medicines and to help develop the patient's knowledge about their medicines. Recommendations made to prescribers may also relate to the clinical or cost effectiveness of treatment’[9].
Dispensing review of use of medicines (DRUM)	Dispensing practices (by GP or dispenser)	‘Help patients understand their medicines and to identify medicines-related problems’.
Chronic medication service	Community pharmacists in Scotland	‘Pharmaceutical care of patients with long term conditions. It introduces a more systematic way of working and formalizes the role of community pharmacists in the management of individual patients with long term conditions in order to assist in improving the patient's understanding of their medicines and optimizing the clinical benefits from their therapy’. It involves patients registering with a pharmacy of their choice. The pharmacist identifies and records the patient's pharmaceutical care needs, care issues, any desired outcomes and the actions required to deliver those outcomes, and documents these in a pharmaceutical care plan.
Comprehensive medication review (Hospital)	Hospital pharmacists	‘Distinct from the more routine review of drug charts that pharmacists make on ward visits. Can take place at any point during the hospital stay, generally when there is a concern about potential interaction of medicines or the patient has not been responding to their medication as expected’[7]. Often conducted as part of medicines reconciliation when a patient is admitted to hospital.
Clinical medication review	GP practice-based pharmacists; Community pharmacists;	‘A structured, critical examination of a patient's medicines with the objective of reaching an agreement with the patient about the continued appropriateness and effectiveness of the treatment, optimizing the impact of medicines, minimizing the number of medication related problems and reducing waste’.
		‘The pharmacist will provide further advice and support regarding the patient's use of medicines and, where appropriate, will refer the patient to another health care professional’[10].