Development of an interface pharmacy technician service between secondary mental health and primary care

East London NHS Foundation Trust (ELFT) have recently launched their Community Mental Health Transformation programme across Hackney, Newham & Tower Hamlets. The programme is broad-ranging, with goals of improving quality, outcomes and value for people with mental health illness. Much of this project is devoted to improving access to specialist mental health expertise, developing blended secondary/primary care teams, and delivering traditionally secondary care services within primary care as described in the long term plan. The interface technician will support the lead pharmacist to transform existing care models and be a vital link between community mental health teams and primary care.

The package of interventions and work streams delivered by the interface pharmacy technician service all have an encompassing aim of improving patient safety and experience, utilisation of staff resources and promoting parity of esteem.

The project aims to optimise service user safety, experience and care, through a comprehensive approach to medicines management. Service users will be supported through medicines reconciliation within Community Mental Health Teams (CMHTs), medicine consultations, discharge counselling and follow up for other transfers of care. The project will involve review of existing procedures for ordering high-cost medications in the CMHT, ensuring wastage is minimised and rational use of psychotropics. It is expected the interface technician will liaise with information management parties and support work towards a more integrated process of data transfer from primary to secondary to ensure comprehensive patient care.

Whilst psychotropic medications can help people with serious mental illnesses immeasurably, these treatments carry a significant side effect burden. The interface technician service involves medication review and counselling for service users in the CMHT space, with side effect monitoring and support for physical health. These assessments and support should produce outputs of increased patient satisfaction with care, a reduction in inappropriate prescribing and improved physical health outcomes. Supporting transfer of care will lead to a reduction in medication errors, and a subsequent improvement in patient safety. Training and education on psychotropics should also prevent avoidable medication errors from taking place.