Community pharmacy professionals have been able to use the Dorset Care Record since the middle of last year, supporting their integration in the county’s health and social care system.
The sector was the first outside the acute and community hospital and social care settings to be given access to the DCR portal and they play a crucial role in supporting patients to make the most of their medicines and manage long-term conditions.
Many pharmacists are using the DCR to care for patients after discharge from hospital or to check blood results to assist with medicines discussions.
David Rose, who runs the independent Marnhull Pharmacy in North Dorset, says his business, which is next door to the village surgery, has been massively busy.
Mr Rose said that prescriptions had risen substantially since Covid and were generally up around 15% having risen by 25% during the first month of lockdown.
Many patients come from neighbouring Sturminster Newton but they also get people coming in from as far afield as Shaftesbury.
“We’ve found that patients have come to us rather than to the GP surgery to help them with their prescriptions.
“Sometimes, they’ve found that the computer has said “no” and we’ve had patients who don’t understand why. We can look at the DCR to get an idea about their medicines before speaking to patients, which helps improve consultations.”
Some examples of how the pharmacy has used the DCR recently to resolve issues include:
- Looking at letter from Dorset County Hospital which are visible on the DCR. A patient was asking if eye drops had been prescribed after an ophthalmology appointment. The patient had phoned the GP surgery but had not waited as had been told he was twelfth in the queue. The letter said no treatment needed now but will be reviewed a follow up appointment.
- Helping a patient deal with a GP prescription for two strengths of Co-Beneldopa which did not make sense. The DCR showed the GP had forgotten to cancel the lower strength prescription.
- Aiding a patient who had not received an expected prescription despite having telephone consultations with their GP. The DCR GP record section showed the prescriber sometimes forgot to issue.
- Telling a patient that they could not issue Methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis – the pharmacist could see on the DCR that a blood test was overdue.
His team is using the DCR regularly and he believes it contains extra information not available in other systems that they use and helping ensure patient safety: “We are using the DCR to ensure we prevent errors before they occur.”
And he has also been encouraging other pharmacists to use the DCR more often – saying the up to date information, particularly around discharge medications is extremely useful.
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