Summary of studies published as conference abstracts
| Reference | Population | Intervention | Study design | Outcome measures and key findings |
| Alves 201630 | Care home residents | Medication review by primary care pharmacists linked to GP practices | Service evaluation (retrospective analysis and interviews) | Interventions by pharmacist; barriers and facilitators A total of 2916 interventions were made in 1047 patients, of which deprescribing represented 22% |
| Bryant 201933 | Primary care patients taking ten or more medications | Polypharmacy clinics in GP surgeries | Service evaluation (retrospective data analysis) | Reductions in prescribing; cost savings; hospital admissions avoided April 2017 to March 2018, 370 patients reviewed and £50 766.63 saved; figures for April to December 2018 were 209 and £17 942, respectively |
| Chauhan 202237 | Patients recently discharged from hospital | Postdischarge medication review by clinical pharmacist linked to GP practice | Formative service evaluation (uncontrolled) | Medication changes following review 16/35 patients had medications changed; 74% (25/34) of changes were medications stopped |
| Din 202034 | Patients referred by GPs | Polypharmacy review clinics led by pharmacist-independent prescriber with shared decision-making | Service evaluation (uncontrolled) | Changes to medication, feedback from patients and MDT Pharmacist medication reviews were effective, with positive feedback received from patients and members of the MDT. Deprescribing and inhaler counselling were the most common interventions. |
| Din 202236 | Primary care patients living with frailty | Frailty review involving pharmacist as part of MDT | Comparative cohort | Changes in medication (including cholinergic burden), practice contacts and falls Intervention group had a reduction in total number of medications when compared with non-intervention cohort. Anticholinergic burden scores were reduced by a mean of 26% |
| Doherty 2020a, 2020b38 39 | Care home residents | Medicines Optimisation in Older People involving case management by pharmacists | Uncontrolled before/after | Inappropriate prescribing; unplanned hospital admissions; GP visits; clinical interventions Inappropriate prescribing was highly prevalent at baseline (84.1%) but improved significantly from baseline (M=14.87, SD=13.11) to post-intervention (M=0.70, SD=2.04, Z=25.97, p<0.001). |
| Donyai 201735 | Patients aged at least 75 years and prescribed 15 or more medication | Pharmacist-led polypharmacy review clinic in primary care | Survey | Patient satisfaction and related outcomes Of the 166 patients who returned a satisfaction questionnaire (40% response rate), 83% found the service helpful, 13% did not, 2% did not know and 2% did not respond |
| Kolovetsios 201841 | Care home residents needing palliative care | Structured medication reviews carried out in agreement with patient, nurse, family/carer and GP | Service evaluation | Changes to medication, estimated cost savings From January 2017 to January 2018, 574 medication reviews took place, resulting in 1787 suggested medication changes. Approximately 76% of these changes were agreed and actioned by patients' GPs, with estimated savings of £169 986.96. |
| Swift 201840 | Care home residents | Care home team (pharmacists and pharmacy technicians) delivering medication reviews and supporting care home staff | Service evaluation | Prescribing quality indicators (including reduced inappropriate polypharmacy); CQC ratings Medication reviews were completed for 749 care home residents between August 2014 and March 2017. Of the recommendations made to prescribers, 85% were accepted and resulted in a reduction in inappropriate polypharmacy |
| Syafhan 201932 | Patients in participating GP practices at risk of MRPs | Pharmacist-supplemented care focusing on medication optimisation | Individual randomised controlled trial (RCT) | Number of medication-related problems (MRPs) and medication inappropriateness A total of 356 adult patients (175 control and 181 intervention) were recruited. Among 108 intervention patients who had three pharmacist face-to-face contacts, 346 MRPs were identified at baseline and 83 MRPs at 6 months. Median values were 3 MRPs at baseline and 1 at 6 months (p<0.001). |