Medicines Safety

The Medicines Safety Improvement Programme addresses the most important causes of severe harm associated with medicines most of which has been known about for years but continue to challenge the health and care systems in England.

The objective of the Medicines Safety Improvement Programme is to help patients get the maximum benefit from their medicines and reduce waste with an overarching aim to reduce medication related harm in health and social care, focusing on high-risk drugs, situations and vulnerable patients.

Each area of work intends to make medicines safety part of routine practice, ensure medicines use is as safe as possible and understand the patients’ experience.

Key areas include

• Safe administration of medicines in care homes
• Reduce inappropriate high dose opiate prescriptions for non-cancer pain
• Reduce inappropriate polypharmacy
• Ensure safer use of anti-coagulants

Find out about other successful areas of work in medicine safety:

• Transfer of Care Around Medicines (TCAM) Pathway in selected south London and Kent trusts
• Preventing prescribing errors in South London with PINCER
• Medicines Safety in Care Homes