On 12 June 2025, representatives from Sunderland GP Alliance’s (SGPA) GP and Pharmacy teams took to the stage at Confed Expo to share their pioneering work on improving patient transitions from hospital to home. Their session, titled ‘Moving Safely from Hospital to Home – Developing a Primary Care Medicines Discharge Service’, spotlighted a transformative approach to medicines optimisation and patient safety across Sunderland’s Primary Care Networks (PCNs).

From concept to operational excellence

The panel walked attendees through the evolution of the Medicines Discharge Hub Service, a model that began as a local idea and has since matured into a fully operational, system-wide service. This innovative hub ensures that patients discharged from hospital receive timely, accurate, and safe medication reviews and follow-up in primary care.

The service has delivered measurable improvements in:

• Patient safety, by reducing medication errors and ensuring continuity of care.
• Efficiency, by streamlining communication between hospital and primary care teams.
• Workload management, by relieving pressure on GP practices through coordinated pharmacy-led interventions.

Real stories, real impact

The session featured compelling patient case studies and examples of best clinical practice, illustrating how the service is delivering gold-standard care. These stories brought to life the tangible benefits of the Medicines Discharge Hub, not only for patients but also for the wider healthcare system.

Looking ahead – pilots and progress

In addition to the discharge service, the SGPA team shared updates on two promising pharmacy-led pilots currently underway in Coalfields PCN:

• The Clinic Letter Service, designed to streamline the handling of outpatient clinic letters and ensure timely medication actions.
• The Out-of-Stock Medicines Service, which supports patients when prescribed medications are unavailable, helping to avoid delays in treatment.

Both pilots reflect SGPA’s commitment to continuous improvement and innovation in primary care pharmacy.

Sharing learning across the system

In 2024, SGPA also presented at the Discharge and Safe Transfer of Care Collaborative, where the February session focused on the theme of drug changes on discharge. Anna Creber, Lead Pharmacist for Sunderland PCNs at SGPA and Senior Medicines Optimisation Pharmacist at NENC ICB, delivered a presentation titled ‘Primary Care Medicines Discharge Hub’. As the final session in a six-part series, the collaborative also reflected on its collective progress and evaluated the impact of shared learning across the region.

Watch the presentation

You can watch the full recording of the session here:

A platform for shared learning

Both events provided valuable opportunities to showcase the power of collaborative working in primary care and to learn from other pioneering initiatives across the NHS. SGPA’s work continues to inspire innovation and drive improvements in medicines safety and patient care.

• Clinical Topic
• Hospital Services
• Primary Care
• Quality Improvement
• Safety
• System Working