The new targeted Medicines Use Review (MUR) service will be introduced in Wales on 1 December 2011 and will require community pharmacists to provide a proportion (50%) of MURs to patients within select groups.

MURs can still be conducted with patients who would benefit from a review but do not meet the targeted MUR criteria and are taking other medicines, and existing MUR guidelines and recommended procedures would still apply.

The target groups are:

• Patients taking antihypertensive medicines including:
  • Thiazides and related diuretics
  • Beta-adrenoreceptor blocking drugs
  • Centrally acting antihypertensive drugs
  • Alpha-adrenoreceptor blocking drugs
  • Drugs affecting the renin-angiotensin system
  • Calcium-channel blockers
• Patients with respiratory disease taking the following medicines for asthma or COPD:
  • Adrenoreceptor agonists
  • Antimuscarinic bronchodilators
  • Theophylline
  • Compound bronchodilator preparations
  • Corticosteroids
  • Cromoglicate and related therapy, leukotriene receptor antagonists and phosphodiesterase type-4 inhibitors
• Patients taking any of the following high risk medicines:
  • NSAIDs
  • Oral Anticoagulants
  • Antiplatelets
  • Diuretics
  • Lithium
  • Methotrexate
• Patients prescribed a medicine no longer required