Structured Medication Reviews for Primary Care Networks

Your patients need timely medication reviews. Agentis Healthcare gives you the clinical capacity to deliver them, without the recruitment headache.

Structured Medication Reviews for Primary Care Networks

Your patients need timely medication reviews. Agentis Healthcare gives you the clinical capacity to deliver them, without the recruitment headache.

Five NHS clinical pharmacists and GPs conducting structured medication reviews in primary care settings across England

What is a structured medication review?

A structured medication review (SMR) is a clinician-led conversation with a patient about their medicines. It covers effectiveness, side effects, adherence, and whether the current prescription still reflects their needs. SMRs are a core requirement for PCNs under the NHS Long Term Plan, particularly for patients with complex or multiple long-term conditions.

Clinical pharmacists are the recommended professional to lead SMRs, making them one of the most valuable ARRS-funded roles a PCN can deploy.

NHS pharmacist conducting a structured medication review with an elderly patient in a GP surgery consulting room
NHS GP looking overwhelmed at a busy desk with multiple screens showing patient records and task lists in a primary care surgery

The problem most PCNs face

Demand for medication reviews is rising. Patients with hypertension, heart failure, diabetes, and mental health conditions all require regular structured review, and the list keeps growing. Most PCNs don’t have enough in-house pharmacy capacity to keep up.

The result is a backlog. Reviews slip. QOF and IIF targets come under pressure. GPs absorb the overflow. And recruiting a full-time clinical pharmacist takes months, assuming you can find one.

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How Agentis Healthcare helps

Agentis Healthcare provides remote clinical pharmacist support, integrated directly into your existing systems, delivering structured medication reviews from day one.

Our pharmacists work within EMIS, SystmOne, Docman, and Accurx, so there is no onboarding delay, no IT setup, and no supervision burden on your in-house team. You define the patient cohort and the review type. We deliver.

Support can be scaled up or down based on your PCN’s needs, making it suitable whether you need to clear a backlog, cover a vacancy, or build sustained long-term capacity.

EMIS | SYSTMONE | DOCMAN | ACCURX

Our clinical pharmacists deliver structured medication reviews across a wide range of conditions and review types, including:

Blood pressure and hypertension management

Lipid management and statin optimisation

Cardiovascular disease and DOAC reviews

Anxiety and depression medication reviews

Pain management reviews

HRT reviews

Long-term condition reviews for diabetes, COPD, and heart failure

Benzodiazepine and Z-drug deprescribing

Results from Practices & PCNs we work with

Lionwood Medical Practice
4,700 patients

253 medication reviews completed
per month.

2.75 reviews per hour.

92 hours of support delivered, covering blood pressure, mental health, HRT, and pain management reviews, while reducing pressure on the in-house pharmacy team.

West Devon PCN
36,500 patients

GP capacity boosted by 13%.

Lipid therapy compliance rose from
0% to 95%.

35% of patients achieved non-HDL cholesterol levels under 2.5 mmol/L, with the programme’s success leading to a four-fold increase in the PCN’s commissioning of Agentis Healthcare.

What our clients say

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“The remote pharmacist cover we have received has been a real help to managing a busy primary care workload. Having pharmacist appointments has helped ensure medication reviews are up to date, making prescription processing easier. I would definitely recommend.”

Sophie Henry
Clinical Pharmacist
Lionwood Medical Practice

"Their input has helped ease the workload for GPs, ANPs and the dispensary team, particularly around medication reviews and medicines optimisation.”

Lucy Howlett
Nurse Partner
Abbots Bromley Surgery

“I would not hesitate in recommending Agentis Healthcare to other organisations facing similar challenges. The value lies in their ability to tailor services, promote teamwork and bring efficiency to primary care.”

Darren Newland
Operations Lead
West Devon PCN

FAQs about ARRS

What types of medication reviews do Agentis Healthcare pharmacists carry out?

Our pharmacists deliver a full range of structured medication reviews including long-term condition reviews, cardiovascular and lipid management, mental health medication reviews, HRT, pain management, and deprescribing work such as benzodiazepine reduction.

Is this service ARRS-aligned?

Agentis Healthcare is fully aligned with the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme. Clinical pharmacist and pharmacy technician roles are eligible under ARRS, and many PCNs use their allocation to access our services. The utilisation of funding is determined by local procurement arrangements and the respective decision-making processes of practices and Primary Care Networks. Agentis has no ability to influence or bypass these statutory or locally governed processes.

How quickly can support start?

Because our pharmacists integrate remotely into your existing clinical systems, support can begin significantly faster than a traditional hire. There is no lengthy onboarding process and no IT infrastructure required on your side.

Do you work with practices that already have an in-house pharmacist?

Yes. Several of the PCNs we support already have pharmacy teams in place. Agentis Healthcare works alongside in-house staff to handle overflow, clear backlogs, or cover specific review types, without duplicating effort or creating confusion.

How is the service tailored to our PCN?

We work with each PCN to understand their patient population, review priorities, and workflow before starting. Support is structured around your needs, not a fixed template.

Ready to expand your medication review capacity?

Talk to the Agentis Healthcare team about how we can support your PCN.

The utilisation of funding for services provided by Agentis is determined by local procurement arrangements and the respective decision-making processes of practices and Primary Care Networks.

Agentis has no ability to influence or bypass these statutory or locally governed processes