AHSN Network - Polypharmacy Programme: getting the balance right (2022)

Summary

Polypharmacy refers to the prescription of many medicines to one patient. As more people live longer with multiple long-term conditions, the number of medicines they take often increases. This can have a significant burden on the person managing and trying to adhere to multiple medicines regimes, and can also be harmful.

The Academic Health Science Networks (AHSN) Network's Polypharmacy Programme aims to support healthcare professionals to identify patients at potential risk from polypharmacy, and to support better conversations about medicines. Based on the recommendations of the National Overprescribing Review (NOR) published in September 2021, the programme aims to achieve the following outcomes:

• A national network of Polypharmacy Communities of Practice, all working to address the system-wide challenges of problematic polypharmacy in their geographies.
• Routine use of the NHSBSA Polypharmacy Prescribing Comparators to identify and prioritise patients for a shared decision-making Structured Medication Review.
• Increased confidence amongst the primary care prescribing workforce to safely stop medicines identified to be inappropriate or unnecessary.
• A change in patient expectations – to anticipate having a shared decision-making conversation about their medicines regularly, especially as they get older.
• A contribution to the evidence base around how to help patients to feel more empowered to open up about their medicines issues.
• A contribution to the evidence base around how to tackle problematic polypharmacy.

Content

The AHSN Network Polypharmacy Programme works across three pillars to achieve these outcomes:

1. Population Health Management. Using data (NHS BSA Polypharmacy Comparators) to understand Primary Care Network risks and identify patients for prioritisation for a Structured Medication Review.
2. Education & Training. Investing in clinical leaders – AHSN Polypharmacy Clinical Leads and expert Polypharmacy Trainers and delivery of local Polypharmacy Action Learning Sets (ALSs) to upskill the primary care workforce to be more confident about stopping unnecessary medicines. The ALS model was originally developed and piloted by Wessex AHSN and supported by Health Education England (HEE).
3. Public Behaviour Change. Regional testing and evaluation of public-facing initiatives to change public perceptions of prescribing and encourage patients to open up about medicine concerns and expectations.

Watch a recording of the AHSN Network's Polypharmacy: understanding the data webinar