Before you begin, be sure to complete the first module in this series:

• NHS Discharge Medicines Service: part one

The NHS Discharge Medicines Service is an essential service commissioned under the NHS Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework and it consists of three stages.

Stage one

• The community pharmacy receives a referral either by NHSmail or via a secure electronic interface between the hospital IT system and a community pharmacy system, such as PharmOutcomes or Refer-to-Pharmacy. The systems used will depend on local arrangements
• A check for clinical information and actions required from the referral must be carried out by a pharmacist. However, either a pharmacist or pharmacy technician will compare the medicines the patient has been discharged on to those they were taking before admission to hospital. They will raise any issues that cannot be resolved with the hospital or NHS Trust pharmacy team, or general practice, as appropriate
• Pharmacy contractors must provide stage one of the service within 72 hours of receipt of a referral (excluding hours of days on which the pharmacy is not open for business)
• A member of the pharmacy team will check any previously ordered prescriptions for the patient. These may have been ordered from the GP practice, be somewhere in the dispensing process or dispensed and awaiting collection or delivery. This includes electronic repeat dispensing prescriptions
• The community pharmacist or pharmacy technician should make a note of actions taken and relevant information on the PMR or other record. They will also ensure that this alerts pharmacy staff to the need to conduct stages two and three of the service.