New Medicines Service -parallel in Holland

If progress in Holland is anything to go by, the the NMS here in England should do well. This is because for several years already, Dutch pharmacists speak with all patients who are prescribed a new medicine, on the presentation at the pharmacy of the first two prescriptions.

The idea is to improve patient understanding and thereby their adherence. Sometimes written materials are given out in addition to speaking to the patients. The service is provided on every new medicine prescribed regardless of therapeutic category , so quite a lot of work is involved for pharmacy.

Whilst patients do not register with a pharmacy in Holland, the number of pharmacies per head of population is half that of the UK, so in many towns there is only one pharmacy anyway, and patients do tend to stick to one regular pharmacy of choice.

Because Dutch pharmacies are so relatively busy, trained technicians may undertake much of the counselling work associated with this service, as even with two pharmacists in many pharmacies, pharmacists cannot talk with every single patient. Nonetheless, patients welcome this service  and it is felt to increase adherence and to reduce waste medicines.

It is to be hoped that UK pharmacists can embed the service and prove its value during 2011/12, so that it can be extended into further therapeutic categories.