MDS/MCA Guidance – Community Pharmacy Sefton

MDS/MCA Guidance

It is important that your pharmacy has a consistent, evidence based approach to supporting all patients. Contractors are obliged to make reasonable adjustments for patients who need them. This is often an expectation to provide medicines in MDS. You must have completed an assessment which shows that use of an MDS is not the best way to support medicines taking for that individual patient or not required, if you are providing alternative support.This assessment on the patient needs to clearly demonstrate the support that is best for them and determines any ‘reasonable adjustments’ under the Equality Act 2010. You must supply medicines in an MDS if the assessment indicates that, regardless of how many other MDS you do or how busy you are. The format of the MDS is up to the contractor to determine and there are a number on the market that work in different ways.

The PSNC guidance https://psnc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/PSNC-Briefing-060.17-Equality-Act-2010-A-quick-reference-guide.pdf provides more information

Specialist Pharmacy Services (SPS) have produced this briefing document, gathering all the relevant evidence surrounding the use of MDS packs. This briefing also provides some guidance on the evidence surrounding the use of MDS packs and alternatives to providing them, that may help you in conversation with patients, carers and prescribers.”

The RPS have also produced guidance on the use of MDS/MCA which can be found here: https://www.rpharms.com/resources/toolkits/improving-patient-outcomes-through-mca Some of this content is available for non-members including the main guidance document.