Extra Support After A Hospital Stay
Our Discharge Medicines Service helps patients across Dumfries & Galloway settle back in safely after leaving hospital, with a clear check of your medicines.
What Is The Discharge Medicines Service?
Leaving hospital often means changes to your medication, new prescriptions started, existing ones adjusted, or some stopped altogether. The Discharge Medicines Service (DMS) is designed to catch any confusion early, by having your community pharmacist review your medicines shortly after you’re discharged, so you leave hospital with the right support in place.
Why This Service Matters
The period right after a hospital stay is when medicine mistakes are most likely to happen.
Fewer Medicine Errors
We check your new medicines list against what you were taking before, and flag anything unclear.
Confidence At Home
Understand exactly what to take, when, and why, before any confusion sets in.
Continuity Of Care
We liaise with your GP practice so everyone involved in your care has the same, up to date picture.
How The Service Works
When you’re discharged from hospital, the hospital team can send a referral directly to your regular community pharmacy. If that’s us, we’ll get in touch to arrange a medicines review, usually over the phone or in person, within a few days of you coming home.
During the review, we’ll go through your new medicines list together, answer any questions, and make sure any old medicines that are no longer needed are safely dealt with. If anything needs clarifying with your GP or the hospital team, we’ll follow that up on your behalf.
Eligibility: access to the Discharge Medicines Service depends on a referral from the discharging hospital. If you’ve recently left hospital and haven’t heard from us, please get in touch and we’ll check whether a review would be helpful.
Supporting A Safer Recovery
Coming home from hospital can be an uncertain time. Our aim is to make the transition from hospital to home as smooth and safe as possible, with your medicines properly understood from day one.
Recently Left Hospital?
Get in touch if you’d like us to check over your medicines list.