Episode 21. Show me your medicines with Dr Deb Gompertz
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, talks to Dr Deb Gompertz about a truly inspirational piece of work she led called 'Show me your medicines please'.Deb was a GP partner for 16 years then complex care GP for last 8 working within the South part of Somerset Foundation Trust. She is Deputy Honorary Secretary for the British Geriatrics Society. Like me, she has a strong interest in person centred care and shared decision makingSeeing a patient’s medication is not part of the normal medication review. Deb and her team showed that, by asking people to 'show me your medicines please' they identified a cohort of the population at increased risk of adverse events from erratic medicines use, poor long-term condition management and, potentially, an undiagnosed condition such as dementia. In the first three-month pilot, the team identified 40 patients (1 in 4 of those assessed) who were not taking their medicines as per their prescribed regimen. They identified 1,049 individual months of unused prescription items and the total amount of wasted medication was valued at £10,866.You can see how impactful this simple intervention can be. Frankly, we think asking the question, 'show me your medicines please' should be a routine part of medication review."Show Me Your Medicines Please" resources (available for free from the PrescQIPP website):Show Me Your Medicines PleasePrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:Bulletin 366. Medicines adherence and wasteBulletin 319: Good prescribingBulletin 268: IMPACTBulletin 255. Prevent Medicine Waste Campaigns - inhalers, insulin, ONS (sip feeds) and general campaignAdherence and wasteOther resources mentioned in this episode:Show me your medicines please - British Geriatric SocietyPharmaceutical Journal article on the projectRadical candour resourcesA 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
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