We all know that taking a medicine is the most frequent intervention that patients will use to improve their health. The risks and the consequences of miscommunication and unintended changes to patients’ medicines when they transfer across care settings will be familiar to many pharmacists and we know our members are working hard to reduce these risks.

Between 30 and 70% of patients have either an error or an unintentional change to their medicines when their care is transferred (1). Incidents of avoidable harm to patients can result in unnecessary readmissions (currently, around five percent of hospital admissions are due to preventable problems with medicines) (2).

Making sure medicines information is transferred as patients move care settings is a goal for all health care professionals. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, in collaboration with other royal colleges, patients and health and social care professionals has developed professional guidance that challenges us all, and our organisations, to see this as our responsibility and to act on it as a priority in order to better serve our patients. The guidance can be found at www.rpharms.com/toc

View our Transfer of Care Guidance »

1. National Patient Safety Agency and National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. Technical safety solutions, medicines reconciliation (2007)

2. Care Quality Commission. Managing patients’ medicines after discharge from hospital (2009)