How will my review be carried out?

The doctor or pharmacist will carry out your review around 7 steps, this includes looking at areas such as:

What matters to you in the way you lead your life?

Is there anything you would like to do, make better or change which you think might be affected by your medicines?

Aims

 is your  medicine achieving the aims of treatment?

Need

Is the medicine essential? Could  changes in your lifestyle work as well or better?

Effectiveness

Is the medicine controlling your symptoms?

Safety

Are you having any side effects or adverse reactions?

Making it easy

What would help to make it easier for you to take the right medicines at the right time?

You are welcome to bring along a family member or a trusted friend to your medicines review if you feel it would be helpful.

Your family member or trusted friend can remind you of questions you may want to ask. It can also be helpful to have them with you to take notes if you wish or pick up any information which you might’ve missed.

It would helpful if you could bring all of your medicines with you, including any you might have bought (this includes vitamins or herbal remedies).

At the end of your medicines review, you can ask your healthcare professional to summarise your discussion into an action plan:

Your goals

• What matters to you in your life - that you want your medicines to help with?
• What goals have you and your health professional set for taking your medicines?

Changes to your medicine

• What changes have been made to your medicines during the review? 
• Why did you decide on these changes?
• Is there anyone you need to tell about these changes?
• What medicines are you now taking? 
• When and how should you take them?

Follow up actions

• Are there any actions you need to take now?  For example, you may need to find out more information about some medicines or some additional options to taking medicines. 
• Are there lifestyle changes you want to make that will add to the benefits of your medicines?
• Date of the next consultation with your health professional.