The medicines optimisation programme aims to help patients get the maximum benefit from their medicines and reduce waste.
Each area of work in this programme intends to make medicines optimisation part of routine practice, ensure medicines use is as safe as possible and understand the patients’ experience.
We are focusing on a number of key areas to improve support for patients to get the best from their medicines:
- transfers of care between hospital and local pharmacists
- management of appropriate polypharmacy
- medicines safety
Transfer of Care Around Medicines – response to COVID-19
Our Transfer of Care Around Medicines (TCAM) project was re-oriented, in response to COVID-19, to focus on discharge to care homes and new residents moving into care homes. Find out more here.
Electronic Repeat Dispensing – response to COVID-19
As part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHS Business Services Authority are advising and supporting primary care in England to increase the use of Electronic Repeat Dispensing (eRD), a system using the power of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) to allow patients taking ‘stable’ medicines to receive a repeat prescription for up to a year.
Watch our series of eRD webinars and review videos and resources to support your use of eRD here.
Click on the images below to find out more about each area of work.
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The West of England AHSN is working in collaboration with NHS England and Wessex AHSN who are leading on the national medicines optimisation programme, to develop, share and spread good practice.
We are advised and supported by our Medicines Optimisation Steering Group, which is made up of representatives from acute trusts, Clinical Commissioning Groups, community providers and university academics.
For more information on medicines optimisation see NHS England and the Medicines Optimisation dashboard.
