The OSCAR study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Optimising StruCtured medicAtion Reviews (OSCAR): A mixed methods process evaluation with integrated real-time observational cohort study
IRAS ID
310982
Contact name
Richard McManus
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford / Research Governance, Ethics and Assurance
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 30 days
Research summary
Structured medication reviews are where a clinical pharmacist/GP meets face-to-face (or remotely) with a patient and goes through all of their medication in one session. SMRs aim to reduce medicines-related harm and are being introduced in the NHS across England and while they seem sensible, little is known about how they work and what they achieve. They aim to particularly target people with several different medical conditions (called multimorbidity) and/or people on many different medicines (called polypharmacy) and/or people who are particularly frail and/or people in care homes aiming to improve the quality of prescribing. This project is concentrating on multi-morbidity where people have several conditions.
We will gather information from surveys of clinical pharmacists and observe what actually happens during a sample of SMRs with a diverse group of patients (and their caregivers) registered in different GP surgeries. We will ask some of the people whose reviews we have observed, as well as the practice staff looking after them, to share their perspectives, and to tell us more about their experiences.
Alongside the qualitative work, anonymous patient information will be collected from the general practice computer systems contributing to a national database called ORCHID. Data will be collected relating to who has had a structured medication review, what happens during the review and what the result is. We will look at both medication where there is a good chance of benefit and medication where benefit is much less certain.
Both kinds of information will be combined to increase our understanding of SMRs. By a process of feedback to practices during the project we will try to improve the quality of reviews. We will use information gathered to feedback to the NHS aiming to influence future health policy.
REC name
South Central - Hampshire A Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/SC/0373
Date of REC Opinion
28 Nov 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion