Pharmacy teams must be supported to prioritise structured medication reviews (SMRs), particularly for patients at risk of falls, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has stressed.

This comes as new draft guidelines from NICE suggest that SMRs should be used to identify any medicines that increase the risks of falls and how they may be adjusted.

Tase Oputu, RPS England Board chair, said that the inclusion of SMRs in the guidance 'emphasises their importance in identifying medicines that could increase fall risk, especially in older patients, and adjusting their treatment appropriately'.

And she highlighted the RPS's recently published repeat prescribing toolkit, produced in collaboration with the Royal College of GPs.

But Ms Oputu raised concerns that 'ongoing workforce pressures' may mean that such reviews were not always carried out.

'These reviews require time and resource and we remain concerned that SMRs are being deprioritised due to ongoing workforce pressures,' Ms Oputu told The Pharmacist.

'Pharmacy teams must be supported to prioritise SMRs, particularly for those at high risk of falls, to ensure patients get the most from their medicines and reduce avoidable harm.'

The RPS has previously raised concerns that primary care networks (PCNs) and practices are deprioritising SMRs and directing pharmacists towards other work.

In July, RPS England vice-chair Brendon Jiang suggested that this may down to workload and financial pressures within overstretched GP practices.

GPs have also raised concerns that the draft NICE guidelines could be challenging to implement because of a lack of resources.