Table 3.
The details of the referrals that were followed up by community pharmacists and recorded as completed. (n=619)
| Completed referral details | Number of patients (%) |
|---|---|
| Long-term condition/treatment of patient | |
| Cardiovascular disease (CVD) | 328 (53.0) |
| Respiratory | 126 (20.4) |
| Diabetes | 28 (4.6) |
| CVD and diabetes | 22 (3.5) |
| Pain | 11 (1.8) |
| Cancer | 9 (1.4) |
| Anticoagulant | 8 (1.3) |
| CVD and other | 7 (1.1) |
| Diabetes and other | 3 (0.5) |
| Hypertension | 1 (0.2) |
| None specified | 76 (12.3) |
| Information provided | |
| More information on medication(s) | 557 (90.0) |
| Dose check | 543 (87.8) |
| More information on condition | 457 (73.8) |
| Side effect check | 521 (84.2) |
| Advice provided on reported ADR | |
| Manageable and non-harmful—patient to continue | 106 (17.1) |
| Refer to GP | 33 (5.4) |
| Patient stopped taking medication | 18 (2.9) |
| Refer to hospital | 5 (0.8) |
| Not applicable | 457 (73.8) |
| Pharmaceutical/support service provided | |
| MUR | 288 (46.6) |
| NMS | 241 (38.9) |
| Home delivery service | 138 (22.3) |
| Compliance aid | 79 (12.8) |
| Repeat dispensing | 53 (8.5) |
| Medicines reconciliation | 28 (4.5) |
| Smoking cessation | 25 (4.0) |
| Discussion | 23 (3.7) |
| Review of dosage form | 17 (2.7) |
| Review of compliance aid | 13 (2.1) |
| Influenza vaccination | 12 (1.9) |
| Medication administration record | 7 (1.1) |
| Large print labels | 7 (1.1) |
| Easy open tops | 6 (1.0) |
| Healthy living advice | 6 (1.0) |
| Appliance use review | 1 (0.2) |
| None | 331 (53.4) |
ADR, adverse drug reaction; GP, general practitioner; MUR, medicines use review; NMS,New Medicines Service.