Discharge Medicines Service (DMS)

The following key documents have now been published. All staff members involved in delivering this service should read these and complete the actions below before providing the service.

• NHSE&I Regulations – Read the section on DMS
• DMS Toolkit – Read this document
• CPPE NHS Discharge Medicines Service eLearning and assessment – Complete this training
• DMS Declaration of Competence – This should be completed after you have read the regulations, toolkit and completed the CPPE eLearning and assessment (all above)
• DMS briefing for pharmacy teams – Your team should be briefed on the service using this document
• CPE: DMS Implementation Checklist – This list can be used to ensure you have completed all steps required to provide this service, including putting an SOP in place

We are currently working to ensure that trusts not yet live are mobilised soon. We will keep you updated on the status of these via this page.

Please note: Referrals can be received from any locality in GM. As an example, a referral could be sent from Royal Oldham Hospital to a contractor in Wigan.

DMS in GM: Rollout update – March 2023

The GM NHS Discharge Medicines Service (DMS) team comprises of  Alex and Yasmin who have been  recently appointed to support implementation and increased  uptake of the DMS service across all trusts and community pharmacies in Greater Manchester.

Alex and Yasmin are excited about this new opportunity and said  “We will be working in collaboration with Community Pharmacy Greater Manchester, to ensure that all community pharmacies are kept abreast of developments, relevant timescales and any shared learning. We aim  to foster integrated working between trust pharmacists and community pharmacy teams to support patients, prevent harm and improve patient outcomes. We look forward to working on the project and we will be in touch via CPGM in due course.”

A setup fee of £400 has been agreed to cover the costs of preparing to provide the service, principally training staff and putting in place a standard operating procedure for the service. Any pharmacy on the pharmaceutical list on 1st February 2021 will automatically receive this payment on 1st April 2021, and it will be itemised in the Schedule of Payments.

Contractors providing the full service will be paid a fee of £35.

Where only part of the service can be provided, in certain circumstances defined in the Drug Tariff, contractors will be paid a partial payment. 

More information about the fees can be found in this table

• CPGM: DMS Support Webinar for Contractors – click to watch on-demand and view a PDF of our Q&A session
• CPGM: Discharge Medicines Service (DMS) toolkit – March 2024 – The toolkit outlines how to meet the specification requirements and is a great tool to help you identify any knowledge gaps.
• CPE: DMS Digital Video Guide – This is an alternative way to learn about what required and complements other information and guidance available on CPE’s website.
• CPE: DMS worksheet – This can be used in the pharmacy went completing a DMS
• NHS Discharge Medicines Service: Data Specification

Referrals received can now be processed as per the following guidance:

• Hospital referral process
• Managing DMS referrals in community pharmacy 
• PharmOutcomes Briefing – Pharmacy reporting to MYS

Virtual Outcomes 

All contractors in Greater Manchester have free access to a range of training modules to help to deliver pharmacy services. Courses for DMS have recently been updated

To access this Virtual Outcomes training:

1. Visit https://www.virtualoutcomes.co.uk/pharmacy-training/
2. Enter your pharmacy F Code
3. Click on the training menu for the course you wish to view. You may need to use the search bar at the top if the course doesn’t appear in the list
4. Click “Start Course”
5. Complete the registration form