During your stay

Your ward pharmacist will:

• Talk to you about your medicines.
• Regularly review your medicines and work with your doctors and nurses to ensure that all medicines prescribed are right for you and that they work together.
• Give you any medicines prescribed by your doctor that you may need during your stay.
• Give you information on any new medicines prescribed.
• Assist with securely store medication that you are required to bring with you to hospital, (including prescription and non-prescription medications, ointments and any purchases from the supermarket) in a locked bedside drawer during your stay. If you have controlled medications (e.g. morphine, tramadol or diazepam) they will be locked in the ward safe during your admission.

Please ask your pharmacist any questions about your medicines, such as:

• What is the medicine for?
• How do I take it and for how long?
• Is it okay with food or other medicines?
• What are the possible side effects?

Please ask your hospital or community pharmacist to dispose of any ceased, unwanted or out of date medicines.

On discharge

Your pharmacist will:

• Give you a list of medicines to take, tell you how to take them, what they are for, and explain any changes to your medicines that have occurred in hospital (i.e. cessation of medicines or dosage adjustments).
• Ensure that you have sufficient medicines to last until you next see your doctor. This may include returning your own medicines to you, and/or supplying the same amount of medicine that your GP might prescribe on the PBS.
• Check your own medicines and label them with correct directions.

Payment

When the hospital pharmacy supplies you with medicines on discharge or as an outpatient, you will be charged in the same way that you pay for prescriptions at your community pharmacy.

An invoice will be included with your new supplies or sent to your home address. Please advise staff if you have a concession card or if your home address has changed.

Under the Queensland Health non-return policy medications dispensed and removed from the hospital environment cannot be returned for a refund.  Patients are requested to check with their doctor or pharmacist that their dispensed medications are correct before leaving hospital.