Earlier this year, the group gave evidence to the House of Lords Public Services Committee’s inquiry into homecare medicine services, warning of the deep, systemic and long-standing failures of these services which puts care at risk and puts additional pressure on a stretched IBD workforce.

The long awaited findings from the inquiry have concluded that the current homecare system is unnecessarily complex and lacks transparency, regulation and enforcement. The committee was also deeply concerned by the lack of ownership of these services not only to drive improvements but to realise their full potential.

The main recommendations from the report include:

1. A full-scale independent review, established and funded by the Government, into the homecare system.
2. NHS England to designate a senior, named person with responsibility for the homecare system.
3. NHS England to identify how many patients have become unwell or have been harmed because of failures in homecare services.
4. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to review the regulation for homecare medicines services and identify a lead regulator to take action when providers are underperforming.
5. NHS England to develop and implement one consistent set of performance metrics. The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England should ensure that these metrics are published regularly in a consistent, standardised form to ensure meaningful public scrutiny.
6. Improvement of the patient recourse and complaints systems through the initiation of a thematic review of homecare by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
7. Urgent development of an Electronic Prescription Systems for homecare providers to use, developed in collaboration with NHS trusts.
8. Government to make a ministerial statement on the [report’s] findings and proposed actions for NHS England’s work on homecare by the end of the year.

Responding to the recommendations, Christian Selinger, Chair of the British Society for Gastroenterology IBD Section said: 

The whole point of homecare is to help patients become more independent. When it works, it works really well. But, as I told the Committee, too often it doesn’t work. Delays in deliveries and treatments have a huge knock-on effect. Either the patients suffer because they don’t get the vital medicines they need, or doctors and nurses have to step in and mitigate, putting further pressure on the NHS. We end up providing services that the homecare companies are being paid for.

It is time that clinical IBD teams can focus on delivering high quality clinical care and stop filling in the gaps where homecare fails. The BSG will continue to fight for its member and their patients to achieve this.

I’m delighted that the Public Services Committee is calling for a full review of homecare medicines companies. Once there is tighter regulation, more transparency and greater accountability across the board, patients will start to get the service they deserve.