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The Government should reintroduce the Medicines Use Review (MUR) service to tackle the risks of polypharmacy, the Independent Pharmacies Association (IPA) has said.

In a statement yesterday, the trade body said the recent Times report suggesting that “an over-prescribing epidemic” is sending 1,000 elderly patients to A&E every day shows the need for “a systematic approach to medicines optimisation”.

The IPA said funding for a new structured MUR service must come from outside the contractual global sum.

IPA chief executive Leyla Hannbeck said the Times report “should be a wake-up call,” adding: “Polypharmacy is not simply about the number of medicines someone takes – it is about whether every medicine remains appropriate, effective and safe for that individual as their circumstances change.”

Ms Hannbeck said community pharmacists are “ideally placed” to provide these drug reviews and work with patients and GPs to ensure patients are on effective regimens.

She added: “Funding should come from outside the current CPCF global sum, recognising that a properly designed MUR service is an important patient safety intervention that could help the NHS reduce avoidable medicines-related harm and potentially release capacity elsewhere in the system.

“The question should not be whether we can afford to fund structured medicines reviews. The question is whether we can afford not to.”

MURs were decommissioned in 2021, partly due to concerns that the service was being ‘gamed’ by some pharmacy businesses with some employee pharmacists reporting pressure to hit targets.

Funding for pharmacist-led deprescribing consultations was subsequently largely redirected to general practice, where pharmacists are commissioned to carry out Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs).