This community pharmacy safety audit of anticoagulant medicines was launched in November 2017. The audit is available to all pharmacies in England with data collection on the PharmOutcomes system.

NHS advice on safe anticoagulant therapy is more than 10 years old, and a number of new types of anticoagulant are now in common use. All anticoagulants are associated with several  patient safety hazards. This audit will provide a safety check for patients prescribed anticoagulants and insight on the current use of alert cards and record books.

Medicines safety currently has a particularly high profile on the world stage, with the launch of the third WHO Global Patient Safety Challenge with a goal to reduce severe avoidable harm related to medicines by 50% over 5 years.