This interactive session is part of the ‘Medication Safety Across the System’ (MSATS) series aimed at healthcare professionals, working in any sector with a role or passion for medication safety and/or involved in medicines use. 

Our speakers will share innovative practices addressing the challenges in medicines use in palliative and end of life care to inspire and equip the audience, ready for translation and replication across systems. 

Why it’s important

Palliative and end of life care is complex, involving a wide range of patient groups and professionals across the healthcare system. Safe management of medicines requires knowledge and skills across all sectors. Treatment often includes unlicensed, off-label, and controlled drugs with potential for misuse. Timely access, especially out of hours, adds further challenge, making safe medication use challenging during these highly emotive periods.

Implementation of safety strategies to support the safer use of medicines in palliative and end of life care requires a collaborative and system-wide approach to ensure safe and sustainable improvements. 

This 8:45 minutes podcast explores some of the known issues which challenges the safe use of medicines in services and, the impact these have for patient, carers and loved ones.

What will be covered

  • A discussion of factors that add complexities to the safe prescribing, supply and administration of medicines for palliative and end of life care 
  • Shared exemplar practices related to the safer use of medicines in palliative and end of life care, which will allow for reflection on local practice and consideration for replication at a local and wider healthcare system level 
  • Opportunities to network with peers to inform the development of appropriate local and system wide responses to safety concerns 

Learning outcomes

  • Articulate key safety issues related to the prescribing, supply and administration of medicines for palliative and end of life care 
  • Understand the importance of clear communication and documentation accessible to all healthcare professionals involved in the care of these patients 
  • Understand the benefit of clear guidance, procedures and policies to support safer use of medicines in palliative and end of life care 
  • Reflect on examples shared and identify actions or responses to recommend locally, in order to improve safe practice

Speakers

A range of speakers from SPS and other organisations will run this event.

Non-SPS speakers

Melinda Presland

Consultant Pharmacist, Palliative & End of Life Care, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; co-lead for the Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care

Janki Patel

Lead Pharmacist Medicines Value at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, Clinical Pharmacist and NMP Lead at St Micheals Hospice and St Wilfrids Hospice, East Sussex

Dr Rosanna Fennessy

Research Associate, University of Cambridge

Dr Hannah May-Miller

Specialty Registrar in Palliative and General Internal Medicine, St Christopher’s Hospice

Siobhan Abrahams

Advanced Pharmacist for Virtual Wards, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Further speakers will be announced shortly

SPS Speakers

WEBLearn more about SPS team members who are speaking.