Improving access to medicines for hospital outpatients

The pandemic has introduced unprecedented, rapid change in the NHS resulting in a widespread shift to remote management of patient care and reduced face-to-face clinic appointments. Despite its many benefits, this approach has led to problematic access to medicines that would normally be prescribed and dispensed by the hospital outpatient pharmacy.

UCLPartners are collaborating with Pfizer and Alliance Healthcare in a two-phased approach to explore and develop a new outpatient hospital medicines provision model to improve access to medicines for patients, with the intention of releasing capacity within homecare services. 

Benefits for Patients/Population/User Groups 

• Patient centered access to medicines 
• Healthcare professional support to patients at a local level 
• Continuity of care from hospital into community  
• Reduction of patient hospital visits and therefore reduced carbon footprint 
• Improved equity of access (e.g. lower cost barriers to access care in community settings) 
• Improved adherence to medicines through a new model of care 

 
Benefits for the NHS 

• Development of an innovative and scalable model for “low-tech” medicines access, to better serve our patient population  
• Released capacity within homecare services, allowing them to focus on the provision of more specialist and complex medicines, and the patients who need these services most. 
• Increased cost visibility and financial control  
• Improved dispensing models to support the widespread shift to remote management of patients  
• Prioritisation of equity of access and reduced carbon footprint for the NHS 
• Utilization of capacity and clinical competencies of healthcare professionals outside of the secondary care setting 

Phase one involved local engagement and stakeholder roundtables over a period of six months, allowing for system input, co-design and sourcing of partners interested in piloting alternative medicines provision models across different medicine pathways. All roundtables and workshops involved representation from our patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) network. In January 2024, UCLPartners published its Outpatient Medicines Transformation Phase One Report, which explores current challenges around hospital medicines provision. 

Since the launch of Phase one, a report published by the House of Lords Public Services Committee, Homecare medicine services: an opportunity lost, highlighted that, in some areas, the demand for homecare services has increased beyond capacity and explores the challenges of providing effective and cost-efficient services for patients. 

In Phase two, we will be looking at designing alternative pathways in a real-world setting, drawing upon the findings from Phase one. We will continue to engage with stakeholders and develop a proof of concept to test the feasibility and viability of an intervention within low-tech ‘specialist-complex’ medicines pathways, with a view to release capacity within homecare services for more complex medicines requiring administration by a healthcare professional.  

To hear more about the project please email enterprise@uclpartners.com. To learn more about our collaborators, please visit Pfizer and Alliance Healthcare.