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The NHS could save billions of pounds through an expansion of pharmacy services that help patients use their medicines more effectively, a major new study has found.

The York Health Economics Consortium modelled a potential £1.2 billion of savings and calculated other large-scale benefits – driving a further £2.7 billion of value in health outcomes for the NHS – in a report commissioned by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA).

The researchers analysed the possible economic benefits of expanding the reach of current NHS pharmacy services and the potential gain from commissioning new services, based on evidence from published literature.

Savings were identified from helping people stay healthier, avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions and also deprescribing medicines that are no longer required.

Expanding the New Medicine Service (NMS) alone has the potential to save £370 million and add £2.3 billion of value in terms of expected health gain, says the report. 

For every £1 spent on the NMS, there is a cost saving of £4.60 and a health gain valued by NICE at £28.57.

Full use of the NHS Discharge Medicines Service could result in an annual cost saving of £26.3 million and relieve pressure on wards by releasing nearly an extra million days currently spent in hospital beds, while prescribing reviews for patients taking 10 or more medicines could result in net savings of nearly £620 million.

The reports says that offering structured medication reviews (SMR) in community pharmacy has the potential to save a large amount of GP practice time and reduce NHS costs, particularly if targeted at people currently taking potentially addictive medicines – a population estimated to be over six million with only 16 per cent receiving an SMR in 2023/24.

Also increasing uptake of personalised asthma action plans, if they were routinely provided by community pharmacy, could prevent hospital visits and deaths, and generate additional cost savings of over £70 million.

The data shows potential benefits for patients equivalent to more than 100,000 years of additional healthy life per annum – so called ‘Quality Adjusted Life Years’.

Medicines ‘reset’ needed

NPA chief executive Henry Gregg called the report “compelling” and said it shows how better patient outcomes could be achieved for a reduced overall cost, given investment in medicines services provided by local pharmacies.

“This is a win-win-win,” he said. “The public purse gains from a substantial return on investment, the NHS gains because we can relieve pressure on hospital beds and, above all, patients enjoy longer, healthier lives.

“I think of this as a kind of ‘medicines reset’ for a population that isn’t currently getting best use from their prescribed medicines.

“Ambitious pharmaceutical care that transforms people’s experience of medicines should sit right at the heart of our next community pharmacy contract and the Government’s wider plans to implement its 10 Year Health Plan.”

The lead researcher for the project at York Health Economics Consortium, Nick Hex, added: “Medicines are a considerable cost to the health system, so it is vital that their use is optimised. 

“Our report shows that more investment in community pharmacist support could result in very substantial benefits to patients and better value for money for the NHS.”

The researchers considered the economic impact of a variety of medicines optimisation support methods delivered by pharmacists, including educational interventions, monitoring, deprescribing, medication review and pain assessment.