Medicines Safety

About the programme

The aim of the Medicines Safety programme is to reduce the severe harm and death associated with medicines by 50% over 5 years.

Who we are working with

We will be working across Yorkshire and Humber with ICS leads, PCNs, pharmacists, GP and other clinicians to address the ambitions above.

We plan on supporting a learning community focussing on opioids reduction involving key stakeholders and linking to our Safety Improvement Networks. The wider AHSN polypharmacy programme also supports this programme and we will look to work in partnership throughout 22/23.

Main deliverables

By the end of March 2023 PSCs, working with a minimum of 15 ICSs, we will collectively achieve the following outcomes:

• 30,000 fewer people prescribed oral or transdermal opioids (of any dose) for more than 3 months: Prevent 484 deaths
• Of the 30,000 above 4,500 of these will have been prescribed a high dose (>120mg day ME) and have now stopped opioids.

– Prevent 500 hospital admissions

–  Avoid £1.75m in admissions costs.

Resource Library

We have set up a Yorkshire and Humber Medicines Safety Improvement Programme Padlet page to collate existing online resources on the subject of opioids and chronic pain management into one easy to access place.

This includes resources on topics such as:

• Patient and public education campaigns
• Patient information materials
• Patient stories
• Using data to identify patients at risk of harm
• Healthcare professional information and learning materials
• Social prescribing resources and services
• Measuring the impact of interventions

The library will be regularly reviewed and updated. Please share widely with your colleagues and do get in touch via the contact details below if you have any queries or any resources to add to the library.

How to get involved

Please contact:

Nicola Chicken, Project Manager