The LLR Care Homes Pharmacy Team (2025)

University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) & Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland ICB (LLR ICB)

Project summary

The LLR Care Homes Pharmacy Team
Our specialist pharmacy team supports care homes across Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland (LLR). Comprising pharmacists and technicians from University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) and LLR ICB, we deliver a unique interface service across primary and secondary care.
With advanced training (CPPE MOCH/PC-PEP, clinical diplomas, IP and much more), we focus on care home residents with severe frailty, polypharmacy, and multi-morbidity. Our team includes 5.3 WTE posts across UHL and LLR ICB.
We offer a wide range of support for care homes, care home residents, GP practices / PCN colleagues and others in the following ways:

Specialist Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs) for the highest risk care home residents in LLR – directly at care homes (working with PCN pharmacists / GPs) AND at UHL wards (interface role) with a specific focus on frailty, polypharmacy and care homes.

1. Baseline audits, MAR audits, and process reviews in care homes
2. Training/support for care home staff in improving medicines systems in care homes
3. Training/support for PCN pharmacists conducting care home SMRs
4. Working with multidisciplinary teams to reduce polypharmacy, reduce hospital admissions and medicines-related harm
5. Working directly with admissions wards at Leicester Royal Infirmary, optimising medicines whilst care home residents are at hospital and supporting discharges

Various quality improvement projects, including projects on diabetes in care homes, falls in care homes, hydration in care homes, EHCH, waste reduction & green agenda and many others

Key achievements since 2019 include:

1. Developed a unique interface team that works in both primary and secondary care – we are now positioned as a “Teir-2 Specialist Service” in LLR
2. We have made admission avoidance and drug/waste savings of £3.57million (see table attached)
3. We have developed new ways of working, created our own medication review templates, created a baseline audit tool, training packages, recording/reporting trackers
4. We have aligned our team with the 26 PCNs in LLR and work closely with GPs/ PCN pharmacists and care homes to support clinical queries, high-risk SMRs, process reviews, and support improvement plans
5. We work jointly with a huge number of LLR teams, including the Care Home Sub-Group, Council teams, LLR Nursing Teams, and LLR ICB Medicines Optimisation Team, sharing local intelligence and common goals to improve the standards of care for care home residents across LLR
6. We have presented our work at various conferences (CPC, APTUK, EMCare conferences), have made posters, and been nominated for national awards
7. We are regularly contacted to offer advice and support for care homes-related medication queries (clinical and process-related) by various teams/HCPs across LLR