Pharmacy clinic to help patients manage multiple medications

The University of Otago has helped to develop and set up an outpatient clinic in Dunedin that will support people who need to manage multiple and complex sets of prescription medication.

The clinic, the first of its kind in New Zealand, is a joint venture between the university’s school of pharmacy and the Southern District Health Board. It will be officially opened by NZ health minister David Clark on 29 March.

Carlo Marra, the dean of the school of pharmacy, said the clinic would assist Dunedin Hospital outpatients who were being treated for multiple medical conditions. It will offer expertise in “complicated medical regimes that require more time than busy GPs or pharmacists can offer in routine consultations”, he said in a joint statement.