Polypharmacy will eliminate pharmacist unemployment

Image courtesy of adamr / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Polypharmacy is defined as a scenario where a patient is on a high number of different medicines, some of which could be clinically deemed to be unnecessary for use therefore creating a burden on the patient in terms of adhering to compliance with prescribed medicines. And being on a high number of medicines can be clinically dangerous as a result of its continued use (due to drug-drug interactions or adverse drug reactions).

Unncessary polypharmacy isn't an ideal scenario for a patient's long term pharmaceutical care. Nor is it a help for the public purse especially in times of austerity like now where any savings in public spending will undoubtedly be welcome for taxpayers and the UK coalition government.

Last week in Edinburgh, I learned a little bit more about how pharmacists across Scotland are tackling the issue. Already to my understanding, NHS Highland, NHS Lothian and NHS Tayside seem to have made the most progress in starting to find solutions with other NHS health boards following suit. The recent "Polypharmacy Guidance" document, published jointly by NHS Scotland and the Scottish Government recognises the consequences of excessive polypharmacy which could cause patients problems.

The document also illustrates, in section 2.1, a criteria which makes an assessment of factors such as whether a medicine is being prescribed correctly, for instance, for a valid indication, at the appropriate dose, whether its clinically effective and whether a more cost effective treatment is available.

Later on in the document, it has been suggested that for 43,190 patients aged 65 or over with two unnecessary prescription items stopped over six repeat prescriptions in a year would bring annual savings of over £5,662,397. Compare that with an annual Scottish medicine bill of approximately £1.18 billion (ISD Scotland, 2011/12) that may only sound like a small drop in the ocean. The money saved could be utilised to either fund expensive treatments for specific groups of patients, for instance there has been talk of a possible cancer drugs fund for Scotland.

But what does it all mean for unemployed pharmacists? The savings made could be used to invest in employing nearly 222 band 6 pharmacists in Scotland. The facilitator/presenter of last week's seminar gave the impression that pharmacists are currently playing a major role in managing polypharmacy north of the border.

And who said that the pharmacist unemployment crisis wasn't solvable?