Talking Meds - A PrescQIPP podcast

Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Meds on the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today, your host Jonathan Underhill talks to Clare Howard, Clinical Lead for Medicines Optimisation at Health Innovation Wessex, about the development of the Repeat Prescribing Toolkit she led on behalf of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Royal College of General Practitioners. The toolkit was commissioned by NHS England in answer to recommendation 7 of  the National Overprescribing Review, to help practices improve the consistency of their repeat prescribing processes. There are 1.18 billion medicines prescribed and dispensed in Primary Care in England each year. While most people get their medicines without any issues, there are around 20-30,000 ‘probable avoidable’ harm incidents each year, of which around a quarter are related to medicines. Clare and Jonathan discuss the multiple ways this toolkit can help reduce the risk of these errors.The NHS is a complex system, and repeat prescribing is a ‘WICKED’ problem (difficult or impossible to fix) as it involves human to human interactions. Clare and Jonathan acknowledge that while you can’t ‘fix’ it and completely prevent any errors, having a structured approach can help reduce the risk of those errors and make for a more efficient process (and happier patients and healthcare staff!)Resources mentioned in this episode include:Repeat Prescribing Toolkit:https://www.rpharms.com/resources/repeat-prescribing-toolkitNational Polypharmacy Programme from Wessex Health Innovation Networkhttps://thehealthinnovationnetwork.co.uk/programmes/medicines/polypharmacyGet details of upcoming ALS cohorts and book your place here. Useful related resources from PrescQIPP:The PrescQIPP 'Practice Medicines Coordinators' e-learning course is recommended as a training resource for prescription clerks in the RPS/RCGP Repeat Prescribing Toolkit.PrescQIPP Practice Medicines Coordinators e-learning course (Pay per use)PrescQIPP Bulletin 325: Empowering patients to manage their repeat prescriptionsPrescQIPP Bulletin 292: Repeat prescriptionsA new episode of Talking Meds will be available every other Friday.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals. The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Meds and the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today, your host Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, continues the series within the Talking Meds podcast called ‘Sensible prescribing in Older people with Jonathan and Lucy’.Jonathan and Lucy discuss Brenda, an older lady who has become frail and has significant dementia that is affecting her ability to cope with everyday life and living. She has been taking aspirin, originally intended to reduce her risk of a further heart attack, but which hasn’t been thought about for a while. They discuss how clinicians are prone to overestimate benefits of medicines, but underestimate harms. The importance of finding out a patient’s (and their carer’s) expectations are key to sensible prescribing. Sometimes the tablets aren’t worth our precious older people taking them, as the harms may well outweigh the potentially small benefits.Resources mentioned in this episode include:GPs’ understanding of the benefits and harms of treatments for long-term conditions: an online survey. Julian Treadwell in British Journal of General Practice. https://bjgpopen.org/content/4/1/bjgpopen20X101016A brilliant resource to help illustrate likely benefits and harms for some commonly used medicines - GP Evidence https://gpevidence.org/PrescQIPP webinar recording. How well do GPs understand the benefits and harms of treatments for long term conditions?Dr Julian Treadwell.https://www.prescqipp.info/our-resources/clinical-webinars/how-well-do-gps-understand-the-benefits-and-harms-of-treatments-for-long-term-conditions/A new episode of Talking Meds will be available every other Friday.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals. The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Meds and the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, talks to Dr Mark Horowitz about how to safely stop antidepressants and the importance of tapering dose reduction slowly to reduce the risk of withdrawal symptoms.Dr Mark Horowitz  is a training psychiatrist and Visiting Lecturer in London, and  the lead author of the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines (see below). Mark co-authored the recent Royal College of Psychiatrists’ guidance on ‘Stopping Antidepressants’, and has been commissioned by Health Education England to prepare a teaching module on how to safely stop antidepressants for the NHS (coming soon!). Mark has experienced the difficulty of coming off psychiatric medications first hand which has informed much of his work.Useful sources referred to in this episode include:Dose response curves/Law of Mass action illustrated here (see figure 1)https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/ld/case-based-learning-safe-withdrawal-and-tapering-of-antidepressantsThe Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines: Antidepressants, Benzodiazepines, Gabapentinoids and Z-drugshttps://www.wiley.com/en-gb/The+Maudsley+Deprescribing+Guidelines%3A+Antidepressants%2C+Benzodiazepines%2C+Gabapentinoids+and+Z-drugs-p-9781119823025RPS members can get free access to the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines here:https://www.vlebooks.com/Account/Logon/RPSMaudsley Prescribing GuidelinesThe Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines in Psychiatry eBook Register for an NHS England OpenAthens account.NICE guidelinesNICE guideline on depression in adults – see section 1.4.12 to 1.4.21 for information on stopping antidepressants.NICE guideline on medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms - further recommendations on withdrawing antidepressants.Clinical Knowledge Summary (CKS)NICE clinical knowledge summaA new episode of Talking Meds will be available every other Friday.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals. The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the 2nd episode of Talking Meds and the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today your host Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, introduces a new series within the Talking Meds podcast called ‘Sensible prescribing in Older people with Jonathan and Lucy’. Jonathan and Dr Lucy Pollock outline their plan to share some real patient stories that may help us think about how to ensure we consider what really matters to patients when we are reviewing their medicines.  Lucy grew up in Northern Ireland, read medicine at Cambridge University and St Bartholomew’s Hospital and is eternally grateful for the advice of an early boss who hoped she would not be offended if he suggested she should become a geriatrician. She trained in general and geriatric medicine in London before taking up a consultant post in Somerset in 2001. She lives with her husband and dog Rose near Langport. They have three grown-up children.  Lucy writes about her patients, their families and the complicated, funny, sad problems that arise as we age. The Book About Getting Older (2021) and The Golden Rule (2024) are both published by Penguin Random House.  @lucypollock | LinktreeIn this episode, Jonathan and Lucy talk how about we need to be really careful when starting some medicines, making sure we are considering some of the potential, perhaps unintended consequences. Lucy tells about her experiences where sometimes the very best of intentions to try and help treat symptoms may lead to ‘prescribing cascades’ and how tricky that can be for our patients.Useful sources referred to in this episode include:Introduction to ‘prescribing cascades’ from Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Desprescribing Network: https://www.deprescribingnetwork.ca/blog/prescribing-cascadeBMJ Open Adverse drug reactions, multimorbidity and polypharmacy: a prospective analysis of 1 month of medical admissionshttps://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/12/7/e055551.full.pdfUseful PrescQIPP resources (need to be registered and logged into the website to access):Polypharmacy and deprescribing webkit https://www.prescqipp.info/our-resources/webkits/polypharmacy-and-deprescribing/IMPACT Bulletin 268https://www.prescqipp.info/our-resources/bulletins/bulletin-268-impact/Clinical Masterclasses on Multimorbidity, Frailty and Polypharmacy in Older People https://www.prescqipp.info/our-resources/clinical-webinars/clinical-masterclass-dec-2021/ A new episode of Talking Meds will be available every other Friday.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals. The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here