Future healthcare journal最新文献

'Failure to rescue' in patients with documented signs of deterioration results in an estimated five potentially avoidable deaths at each acute trust in England each month. One common cause is inattention to concerns of patients or their families about acute deterioration. Martha's Rule requires reliable methods for (1) patients or their families to escalate worries and concerns about deterioration and (2) to routinely input their understanding of their illness/wellness and trajectory into the health record. This paper sets out the rationale for these approaches. Following review with staff from the first wave of British units that have introduced Martha's Rule or similar systems, the authors suggest tested and evidence-based methods for implementation and describe gaps in current understanding of such systems. Importantly, the paper outlines answers to frequently voiced concerns about these sorts of methods and a set of suitable metrics for organisations to measure the impact of implementation on processes and outcomes in acute care.

In this article, we describe how the landscape of hospital pharmacy has changed over the last 20 years. As well as commenting on the impact of COVID-19 on services, we describe five major advancements namely: clinical pharmacy services, the development of multi-professional teams, policy changes, attitudes to using and producing evidence, advances in technology and workforce development. Finally, there is brief comment around the future challenges for hospital pharmacy in the UK.

This opinion piece explores the opportunities and challenges from increased utilisation of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in delivery of the UK immunisation programme, within the recent legislative change enabling pharmacy technicians to administer Prescription Only Medicines (POMs) under Patient Group Directions (PGDs).

Pharmacist independent prescriber numbers continue to increase. In 2025/2026, independent prescribing will be integrated into the foundation year of pharmacy training, which will see a surge of pharmacists with the independent prescribing annotation on the General Pharmaceutical Council register. With increased responsibility and expectation from early careers pharmacists, the risk of burnout may be higher, and we could potentially see an increase in the number of individuals leaving the profession. In contrast, for those who remain in the pharmacy profession, there needs to be a fair evaluation of career progression, to ensure that they understand their skills are valued, and give them a reason to stay in the profession that they devoted years of their life to. As pharmacists are being upskilled, the lines between a pharmacist and physician may start to blur, but it should be noted that both professions have distinct roles in the treatment of a patient, and they are key members of the multidisciplinary team.

Pharmacotherapy is the most common therapeutic intervention in healthcare, but more than 200 million medication errors occur every year in England alone. This may in part reflect greater awareness and better reporting; however, the incidence of patient harm from medication has remained broadly unchanged for decades, despite concerted national campaigns and global safety initiatives. Rapid technological and therapeutic advances together with the complexity of modern healthcare make reducing harm from medicines more challenging than ever. This opinion piece will provide a perspective on some of those challenges, as well as highlighting areas of best practice and emerging work. While system and process improvements are required, individual clinicians need to remain vigilant and reflect on medications at each patient interaction.

This article is a patient view of how the future pharmacy could play a key role in devolving routine care for minor ailments and management of long-term conditions. As someone with three long-term conditions, I see an expanded role for pharmacies in supporting me to manage them effectively, filling a major gap: someone to see me and my medications regimen as a whole. A comprehensive national future pharmacies transformation programme is key to NHS sustainability. It must be fully funded, well planned and well executed.

Across the country, pharmacists are developing their professional competencies to move outside the dispensary and directly integrate with specialist teams. Within dermatology, the widespread use of high-cost and high-risk pharmacological interventions presents a range of opportunities for a pharmacist to contribute to safer, more cost-effective use of medicines. As well as using prescribing qualifications to take on clinical workloads, pharmacists can enact cost-saving changes to routine prescribing; improve clinical governance and use their expertise in medicines to effectively advocate for access to new or alternative treatment options, as well as demystify complex funding pathways.