Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety, Northern Ireland

June 2000

Dear Colleague

Better Information for Managing Medicines : A strategy for pharmacy's Medicines Information Service in the NHS

Managing medicines more effectively is essential if the Government's priorities for the NHS are to be met. The safe, effective and efficient use of medicines requires a team effort, to which pharmacists are important contributors. To play their part, all pharmacists require medicines information skills, but they, and others, also need to be supported by specialists within the pharmaceutical service, the medicines information pharmacists.

The Medicines Information Service has a key part to play in taking forward the Government's modernisation agenda for the NHS. Three strategic aims have been identified:

• Extending the service available to primary care;
• Ensuring full and equitable coverage in secondary and tertiary care; and
• Working closely with national organisations, such as those responsible for the evaluation of new medicines, to support evidence-based practice and clinical governance.

Building on their strengths of expertise, impartiality, responsiveness and efficiency, medicines information pharmacists will be working with their different users, locally, regionally and nationally, to develop the service to
meet the needs of the new modern NHS.

We welcome this strategy document and commend it to policy makers, commissioners, managers, pharmacists and other health professionals. We would encourage them to work together with medicines information
pharmacists towards achieving the vision set out in the strategy.

Yours sincerely

Mr Bill Scott, Chief Pharmacist, Scottish Executive	Mrs Jeannette Howe Chief Pharmacist, Department of Health, England	Miss Carwen Wynne Howells Chief Pharmacist, National Assembly for Wales	Dr Norman Morrow, Chief Pharmacist, Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety for Northern Ireland