About the event

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 safe use of medicines across care boundaries, to inspire and equip the audience ready for translation and replication in their locality.

Why it’s important

There are known risks when medicines use crosses boundaries of care. Additional risks are introduced with complexities related to medicines formulation, licensing, availability and, use in specialist populations and conditions.

Measures aimed at reducing the risk of harm related to these complexities, such as standardisation and targeted communications require a collaborative and system wide approach to ensure sustainable safety improvements.

What will be covered/what you’ll learn

  • A discussion of factors that add complexities to the prescribing and supply of medicines, with a focus on liquid medicines.
  • A ‘lived experience’ to understand the impact of these complexities when individuals cross care boundaries and continue their medicines.
  • Shared exemplar practices where standardisation or communication tools have been used along the patient pathway to improve safety, enabling reflection and consideration for implementation at a local and system level.
  • Opportunities to network with peers to inform the development of appropriate local and system wide responses, to enhance the safe use of complex and specialist medicines.

Learning outcomes:

  • Articulate key safety issues related to the prescribing or supply of complex or specialist medicines when patients cross all care boundaries
  • Define key safety considerations when prescribing , supplying and advising on administration of complex and specialist medicines, particularly when patients transfer across care boundaries
  • Understand how standardising strengths and formulations of medicines can enhance safety at the prescribing interface
  • Understand the impact of good written and verbal communication to other healthcare professionals, patients and carers along the patient pathway
  • 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

Stephen Tomlin

Director of the Children’s Medicines Research & Innovation Centre -CMRIC (Great Ormond Street Hospital)
Vice Chair – Joint Medicines Committee – RCPCH/NPPG

Keynote speaker – James Melville Ross

Dad to disabled twins Tommy and Alice, managing a complex combination of medicines at home

Nikki Smith

Head of Medicines Safety, Surrey Heartlands ICS

Ashifa Trivedi

Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s Clinical Fellow, NHS London Procurement Partnership

More speakers to be confirmed soon.