Talking Meds - A PrescQIPP podcast

Welcome to this episode of Talking Meds where your host, Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, talks to Emma Kirk who is the Medication Safety Officer Network Lead for the NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS). Emma and Jonathan explore the thorny issue of medication safety and some of the initiatives to improve this. We will look at the role of medication safety Officers or MSOs and some of the commonly seen errors such as look alike sound alike errors – LASA errors.Emma is a nationally recognised leader in medication safety. As the MSO Network Lead, she provides strategic support to MSOs across England, driving forward the national medication safety agenda. Her work focuses on advancing safer use of medicines through education, collaboration and system level improvement. This shapes safer practices and strengthens professional networks to promote a culture of continuous learning and patient safety across the NHS.PrescQIPP resources mentioned:Look Alike Sound-Alike error awareness and prevention E-learningMedicines safety webkit Bulletin 336. Reducing opioid prescribing in chronic painBulletin 349. Look-alike sound-alike prescribing errorsBulletin 351. InsulinBulletin 356. Stopping overmedication of psychotropic drugsBulletin 360. Anticholinergic burdenBulletin 361. Medicines without harmBulletin 373. Medicines safetyOther resourced mentioned:Specialist Pharmacy Service - The Medication Safety Officer (MSO) roleCentre for Pharmacy PostGraduate Education (CPPE) Patient safety eLearningHealth Innovation North West Coast - Medicines Safety ProgrammeA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to this episode of Talking Meds, discussing medicines optimisation challenges for people in secure settings such as prisons. Your host, Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, talks to Denise Farmer.Denise is Pharmaceutical Adviser for Health and Justice Commissioning at NHS England. She has a longstanding interest in pharmacy services and medicines pathways in health and justice settings from local to national levels. She first entered a prison in Norfolk while working in a Primary Care Trust (PCT) in 2002 and never really left!Denise’s role provides strategic support for commissioners and service providers. She leads delivery of national H&J medicines policy and strategy to improve medicines optimisation in secure custodial environments.Further information about NHS England's commissioned services for people in prisons, immigration removal centres and secure environments for children and young people is available here: NHS commissioning » Health and justiceResources mentioned in this episode:PrescQIPP resources with recommendations about health and justice and contact details.Shared resources awards project 2025https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/news/what-i-do-as-a-pharmacist-in-the-prison-serviceProviding pharmacy services for secure environments (2026) : CPPERPS professional standards: Optimising Medicines in Secure EnvironmentsRCGPSEG: Safer prescribing in Prisons and other useful resources: Secure environments group and the affiliated UK Health and Justice NetworkHealth and Justice Medicines Optimisation Network - Futures (NHS Login required)HEE/NHS WTE Careers map has a HJ area and an example in their case studies: Health & Justice - Pharmacy CareersSPS run webinars/events for secure environments teams and stakeholders: Latest developments in Health and Justice Medicines Optimisation – NHS SPS - Specialist Pharmacy Service – The first stop for professional medicines adviceA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the second of our two episodes of Talking Meds about Genomics-informed medicines optimisation!We are again joined by Vicky Chaplin and Paul Selby. Vicky is the Senior Clinical Lead for the Genomics Unit at NHS England, while Paul is a Consultant Pharmacist in Genomics, working at East Genomics. Again, Paul and Vicky have many qualifications in genomics and its great to have them both here to give both a National and Local view of what’s happening in this area.In this second episode we delve deeper into what the Ten Year NHS Plan says about genomics as well as the latest developments around genomics-informed medicines optimisation, and discuss what might be coming over the horizon very soon!PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:Pharmacogenomics webinar seriesClinical Masterclass - November 2023 - Pharmacogenomics: Is it time for implementation into clinical practice?Other resources:Genomics in Pharmacy - Genomics Education ProgrammeSpotlight: PROGRESS projectPharmacy genomics workforce, education and training strategic frameworkUKCPA Genomics communityUKCPA Handbook of PharmacogenomicsCERSI-PGx - ADVANCING PHARMACOGENOMICS IN THE UKFit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for EnglandPrescQIPP Annual Awards 2026 - Entries are now open for the 2026 PrescQIPP Awards - deadline: 15th May 2026Now is the time to share all the good work you have done over the past year and be in for a chance to win a prestigious PrescQIPP award - open to all teams working with the NHS across all sectors!Categories for 2026:Addressing health inequalitiesCare homes/domiciliary care/carer medicines optimisationData tools and technology to support medicines optimisationEnhanced productivity, sustainability and value for moneyPatient safety and address overprescribingA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to this episode of Talking Meds where we are going to be talking about taking medicines during periods of fasting. This is particularly relevant at times of the year like this during Ramadan or during Lent for some Christians who observe that. And of course intermittent fasting is very popular as a way of losing or maintaining weight. To discuss this I'm joined by  Dr Salman Waqar.Salman is a GP with a background in academia, policy, medical leadership, public health, and education & training. He also has a strong background in community organising and advocacy.He has vast experience of teaching and training for organisations such as the Royal College of GPs and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and has an honorary academic position at Imperial College London having published over 40 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters (see google scholar list here) We think there is a significant learning need around medicines issues during periods of fasting, as well as an opportunity to engage with patients who may not otherwise access healthcare services. The resources linked below can help address this.Resources mentioned in this episode;Ramadan Compendium, with risk stratification tablePharmaceutical Journal Article: Case-based learning: medicines management during Ramadan - How pharmacists can support patients in safely and effectively managing medications while fasting.Fasting during Ramadan and fitness for work implications | Occupational Medicine | Oxford AcademicRamadan and Diabetes: A Narrative Review and Practice Update | Diabetes Therapy | Springer Nature LinkPrescQIPP Annual Awards 2026 - Entries are now open for the 2026 PrescQIPP Awards - deadline: 15th May 2026Now is the time to share all the good work you have done over the past year and be in for a chance to win a prestigious PrescQIPP award - open to all teams working with the NHS across all sectors!Categories for 2026:Addressing health inequalitiesCare homes/domiciliary care/carer medicines optimisationData tools and technology to support medicines optimisationEnhanced productivity, sustainability and value for moneyPatient safety and address overprescribingA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Meds and the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, talks to Prof Philip Howard about penicillin allergy de-labelling, colloquially known as PADL.Philip is a leading expert in antimicrobial stewardship, he currently serves as Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Regional Antimicrobial Stewardship Lead for NHS England North-East & Yorkshire. He is also a Past President of the British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, a member of the DHSA advisory group on AMR and healthcare-acquired infections, and supports NICE in developing infectious disease guidance.He has published widely on antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) and antibiotic shortages, and has delivered AMS education and training globally. Among his many honours, I know he was especially proud to receive an OBE for services to healthcare.Patients with a recorded penicillin allergy cannot receive many first-line antibiotics and may need second or third-line agents, increasing antimicrobial resistance. Although true penicillin allergy can be life-threatening due to anaphylaxis, 6–8% of the UK population (4–5 million people) carry a label, and up to 95% are inaccurate. Careful penicillin allergy de-labelling (PADL) therefore benefits both individuals and public health.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode;Bulletin 313: Antimicrobial stewardshipClinical Masterclass - July 2024 - Antimicrobial Stewardship; NAP for success in AMSAntimicrobial stewardshipNHS Oversight Framework 2025-2026 - ICB performance dashboard: Children prescribed antibiotics in primary careOther resources mentioned in this episode;Summary of antimicrobial prescribing guidance - managing common infectionsStart smart then focus: toolkit summaryALABAMA studyNational patient safety alert – harm from incorrect recording of penicillin allergy as penicillamine allergyA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Dimitri Gavriloff about sleep disorders and the use of non-medicine interventions to help with this. There has been an issue for some time with the overprescribing of medicines for insomnia with many high profile campaigns to help us reduce the inappropriate use of hypnotics like benzodiazepines and 'z-drugs'. One intervention that has gained prominence in the past few years is the use of CBTI – cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia.Dimitri is a Clinical Psychologist and Sleep Medicine Specialist with extensive experience in assessing and treating a wide range of sleep disorders. He has experience of running an NHS tertiary care sleep medicine service and now works at the University of Oxford’s Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute, dividing his time between academic and research roles. Alongside his academic work, he is the director of Sleep Well Oxford, a sleep clinic and sleep medicine consultancy, and is a consultant in sleep medicine for Big Health Ltd.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode;Bulletin 352. InsomniaClinical webinar - Digital CBT for Insomnia - February 2024Clinical Masterclass - March 2024 - Insomnia: getting back to better sleepOther resources mentioned in this episode;NICE Decision Aid - should I stop my benzodiazepine or z-drug?Spielman's 3 Ps model of insomniaThe Sleep CharityThe ‘5 principles’ of good sleep healthA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the first of two episodes of Talking Meds where we are going to be talking about Genomics-informed medicines optimisation!As this may well be a phrase that is as unfamiliar to you as it was to me until recently, we have two guests to help explain what it is and why it is of great importance to us all, either as clinicians or patients.Our first guest, Vicky Chaplin, is the Senior Clinical Lead for the Genomics Unit at NHS England, overseeing the multidisciplinary healthcare professional team and their associated workstreams. She is part of the Chief Pharmacist In England, David Webb’s Senior Leadership Team and Pharmacy Advisory Group – to ensure the work is coordinated across pharmacy and medicines developments across the NHS and government. Vicky has worked in various sectors of pharmacy in the NHS and has also worked as a Medical Advisor in the pharmaceutical industry. She is qualified as an independent prescriber, specialising in diabetes care. Joining Vicky is Paul Selby, a Consultant Pharmacist in Genomics, working at East Genomics. Paul has worked in several trusts, but developed his interest in genomics whilst looking after patients with rare and inherited diseases at Cambridge University Hospital Foundation Trust.In this first episode we introduce the concept of genomics-informed medicines optimisation, and discuss what is happening at both National and Local level in the NHS on this.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode;Pharmacogenomics webinar seriesClinical Masterclass - November 2023 - Pharmacogenomics: Is it time for implementation into clinical practice?Other resources mentioned in this episode;Genomics in Pharmacy - Genomics Education ProgrammeSpotlight: Clopidogrel pilot projectUKCPA Genomics communityCERSI-PGx - ADVANCING PHARMACOGENOMICS IN THE UKDihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency - NHS England GeNotesNICE Early Value Assessment - Genedrive MT-RNR1 ID Kit for detecting a genetic variant to guide antibiotic use and prevent hearing loss in babiesA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to this episode of Talking Meds and the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. In this, the first episode for 2026, we welcome back three former guests to look ahead to 2026 and they give us their thoughts on what might happen in terms of medicines and prescribing.Philip Newland-Jones  joined us back in April 2025 for Episode 16 where we discussed the management of obesity. Philip is a Consultant Pharmacist in Diabetes and Endocrinology and is the Clinical Director of the Diabetes and Endocrine service at University Hospitals Southampton NHS Foundation TrustMinna Eii joined us in May 2025 for Episode 18 to tell us about her work tackling the sustainability challenges in medicines.  Minna is a hospital pharmacist based in the northeast of England. She is the co-founder of Pharmacy Declares and the lead author of the RPS Greener pharmacy toolkit.And who could ever forget when the fantastic Dr Lucy Pollock joined us for the Talking Meds series on sensible prescribing in older people with Jonathan and Lucy? If you haven't listened then you have missed a trick! Lucy  is a consultant in care of older people in Somerset and an acclaimed author of two fabulous books!We hope you enjoy this episode and have a fantastic 2026! Once again, thanks to all of you for listening and for your suggestions and feedback. Please keep that coming!PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode;Bulletin 340. Sustainability in medicines optimisationBulletin 375. Inhaler carbon footprintPolypharmacy and deprescribingOther resources mentioned in this episode;Pragmatic prescribing to reduce harm for older people with moderate to severe frailty | British Geriatrics SocietyObesity Medicines; evidence, implementation and practicalities - Philip Newland-JonesA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to this episode of Talking Meds and the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. In this last episode for 2025, we welcome back three former guests to look back on the year in terms of medicines and prescribing.Prof Adam Todd joined us in July 2025 for episode 23 where we discussed his work on how community pharmacy can buck the inverse care law.Dr Deb Gompertz joined us back in June 2025 for episode 21 to talk about her 'Show me your medicines' campaign.Hadeel Mohammed joined us in March 2025 for episode 14 where we discussed the importance of mentoring to encourage personal progress and, specifically, the ENIGMA scheme that she helped set up.We have a had a very successful year at PrescQIPP and particularly with the Talking Meds podcast. This will be our 34th episode and bearing in mind most podcasts only last around 3 months before they stop, we're pleased to have had over 13,000 downloads since we started. Thanks to all of you for listening and for your suggestions and feedback. Please keep that coming!Resources mentioned in this episode:Pragmatic prescribing to reduce harm for older people with moderate to severe frailtyCore20PLUS5 Framework: Reducing healthcare inequalities among older peopleThe Positive Pharmacy Care Law RevisitedENIGMA Mentoring Initiative - ENhancing leadershIp amonGst ethnically diverse feMale phArmacy professionals [ENIGMA]'Show me your meds please?' campaign materialsPrevious episodes with the guests interviewed today:Episode 14. The importance of mentoring to encourage personal progress with Hadeel MohamedEpisode 21. Show me your medicines with Dr Deb GompertzEpisode 23. How community pharmacy can buck the inverse care law with Prof Adam ToddA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Katie Smith about the PrescQIPP IMPACT Tool.  Katie is the Director of Clinical Quality at PrescQIPP and is responsible for quality assuring all the PrescQIPP resources before publication. Katie has worked for 29 years as a pharmacist in community pharmacy, as a GP practice pharmacist and medicines information pharmacist. She has worked with PrescQIPP since their inception in 2010 and joined the team substantively in April 2018. Outside of work she enjoys reading, cooking and watching sport, particularly the trials and tribulations of Ipswich Town FC, as well as being mum to her  9 year old adopted son.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:Bulletin 268: IMPACTIMPACT webinarUsing IMPACT for a medication reviewOther resources mentioned in this episode:GP EvidenceSTOPP-START v3 - CGA Toolkit PlusA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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, continues the series of podcasts called 'Caring about medicines in Care Homes with Jonathan and Sundus'. In today's episode, Jonathan and Sundus are joined by Jane Shanahan who is a Pharmacy Technician with over four decades of experience. Currently, Jane works for the Specialist Medicines Optimisation Care Home Team at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS, where they provide expert support to numerous care homes through comprehensive medicines optimisation, crisis turnaround, staff education and training, and detailed medication reviews.Jane has collaborated on many projects looking at anticholinergic burden and won the PrescQIPP gold award for their project on reducing anticholinergic  burden as well as the APTUK Pharmacy Education and Development Award.She is currently working on a collaborative national campaign called #FindYourEvelyn,  which has resulted in significant improvement in quality of life for a 101 year old lady. The challenge from Jane is for others to find your Evelyn and make an impact on their lives.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:PrescQIPP Care Homes WebkitPrescQIPP Care homes VPGPrescQIPP gold award for their project on reducing anticholinergic  burdenPrescQIPP eLearning course on anticholinergic burdenPrescQIPP Bulletin 360. Anticholinergic burdenOther resources mentioned in this episode:#FindYourEvelynNational Pharmacy Care Home Faculty in partnership with PCPANICE Guideline on Managing medicines in care homesCare Quality Commission Medicines information for adult social care servicesA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Zoe Girdis about recent prescribing hot topics. This is an opportunity to update your mindline with some of the recent changes from NICE and MHRA that impact medicines.Zoe Girdis is a pharmacist prescriber who works as an independent consultant for primary care and as a trainer and educator. Her career as a pharmacist spans over 27 years working in England, Ireland and Australia. She was one of the first pharmacist prescribers in the UK and has worked for NICE as well as being the National Director for Practice, Policy and Regulation in Australia. Zoe co-founded and delivered the National Polypharmacy Action Learning set 3 day course honing in on many of Zoe’s passions – shared decision making, person centred care and educating/mentoring colleagues to create successful communities of practice and, frankly, be the best clinicians they can be. Click here to access the slides that accompany the hour long webinar that covered these topics in more detail.Today's episode covers the following topics:MHRA Drug Safety Update on Topical steroids: introduction of new labelling and a reminder of the possibility of severe side effects, including Topical Steroid Withdrawal ReactionsNICE Type 2 diabetes in adults: management (medicines update)NICE NG 106: Chronic heart failure in adults: diagnosis and management (updated Sept 2025)Other useful linksGP Evidence decision tool on Heart Failure with reduced ejection fractionGP Evidence on type-2 diabetesNICE PDA on type 2 diabetesA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Laura Kearney about the use of medicines in breast feeding. Laura is the Clinical Lead pharmacist for the team at the UK Drugs in Lactation Advisory Service, an NHS service advising on the use of medicines in breastfeeding.Laura is a Medicines Advice pharmacist with a clinical background in hospital pharmacy. She previously worked at the BNF, where she gained her MSc. She specialises in medicines use in breastfeeding, and in 2022 was the first UK pharmacist to become a UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative Qualified Advocate. Last year she also became the first consultant pharmacist specialising in lactation and medicines advice.  She has a passion for ensuring all babies and families are supported to breastfeed, providing evidence-based holistic care, and advocating for change. Resources mentioned in this episode:The Breastfeeding Network | Independent Breastfeeding Supporte-lactancia. Is this compatible with breastfeeding?Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed®) - NCBI BookshelfPharmaceutical Journal - Some women stop breastfeeding following ‘overly cautious’ medication adviceA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Alison Smith about the role of prescribing support dietitians and the sensible prescribing of nutritional products.Alison has been qualified as a Registered Dietitian for more than 25 years, and since 2013 has worked as a Prescribing Support Dietitian within Clinical Commissioning Groups and latterly an Integrated Care Board. Her role focusses on appropriate prescribing of nutrition products, with a particular remit for prevention, identification and appropriate management of malnutrition using a food-based approach. Alison is chair of both the Department of Health and Social Care Advisory Committee on Borderline Substances (ACBS) and the PrescQIPP Nutrition Virtual Professional Group. Alison is also a committee member of both the Older People Specialist Group and the Optimising Nutrition Prescribing Specialist Group of the British Dietetic Association (BDA).In 2021 Alison was made a Fellow of the BDA for her services to the profession and in 2024 was awarded the inaugural Chief Allied Health Professions Officer (CAHPO) Gold Award for Excellence.In this episode of Talking Meds, Jonathan and Alison talk about the positive impact of having a registered dietitian within a medicines team and some of the particular challenges associated with prescribing of nutritional products.PrescQIPP and other resources:Nutrition webkitBulletin 261: Oral Nutritional SupplementsNutrition VPGCreating a fortified diet recipe book for care home caterers - joint publication with PrescQIPP, BDA and NACCA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Janine Barnes and Stephanie Bancroft about the challenges with medicines use in people with Parkinson's DiseaseStephanie is a community pharmacist, Chair of the Parkinson’s Disease Specialist Pharmacy Network (PDSPN) and Co-Chair of the Pharmacists Consortium London North West (PCLNW). As Co-Chair the PCLNW, Stephanie provides educational events and organises projects for local community pharmacists with the aim to improve patient outcomes and support CPD. She also helped develop the accredited pharmacist training programme for the Parkinson’s Excellence Network.Stephanie has also starred in the excellent Movers and Shakers podcast with Rory Cellan-Jones and Jeremy Paxmen et al - you can listen to her episode here.Janine is Specialist Pharmacist at the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust. She completed her PhD in Neuropharmacology, then became a researcher and clinical lecturer, before becoming an independent prescriber in 2007. Janine was the first UK accredited Pharmacist with Special Interest in Neurology and was awarded the RPS Clinical Pharmacist of the year in 2012. She was a member of the NICE Parkinson’s guideline update committee (NG-71).In 2018 Janine founded the PDSPN and is currently Deputy Chair. She received an MBE for Services to Pharmacy and people with Parkinson’s in 2019.Upcoming PrescQIPP Webinar series on Parkinson's Disease:Parkinson's webinar seriesResources mentioned in this episode:Parkinson’s Disease Specialist Pharmacy Network (PDSPN)Accredited pharmacist training programme for the Parkinson’s Excellence Network.Movers and Shakers podcast episode with Stephanie talking with with Rory Cellan-Jones and Jeremy Paxmen et al.NICE Parkinson’s guideline NG-71. A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Lisa McCarthy about the Canadian experience with person-centred deprescribing.Lisa is a pharmacist and Associate Professor working with the University of Toronto as well as Trillium Health Partners, one of Canada's largest hospitals.  She has more than 20 years of practice experience across acute, primary, and ambulatory care settings. In her research, she aims to explore the people, processes and resources needed to optimize care models in partnership with those they are intended to serve.She is Co-Director of the internationally known deprescribing.org team and serves on the executive of the Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Deprescribing Network. She has many collaborations across the world studying prescribing cascades and is also leading a nationally funded study exploring overtreatment of diabetes in Canada's long-term care homes.Lisa also has her personal time governed by Ozzie (a schnauzer poodle rescue) and 3 pre teen/teens.In this episode of Talking Meds, Jonathan and Lisa talk about how pharmacy teams work in Canada, what we mean by person-centred deprescribing and medication appropriateness and what networks there are for those interested in getting in touch with others interested in deprescribing. They also discuss the ICOD2026 conference to be held in Montreal, Canada from April 27-29 2026. Time to get your abstracts for oral and poster presenations as well as workshops, panels and seminar in, open from Sept 1 - Oct 15!PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:PrescQIPP deprescribing resourcesPrescQIPP IMPACT toolOther resources mentioned in this episode:DEPOT (Deprescribing Guidelines Repository)International Journal Club on Deprescribing (free for everyone)Next one is Sept 25, hosted by the European Society of Clinical PharmacyA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Andy Hutchinson about what they call the 'lost' NICE guidelines.Andy is a principal pharmacist clinical adviser in the medicines optimisation team at NICE. He has a background in hospital and primary care pharmacy, and has a particular interest in education, person-centred care and, especially, shared decision making.Jonathan worked with Andy for many years, firstly at the National Prescribing Centre where Andy was an NPC trainer then they worked together to develop NPCi, the 'ahead of its time' innovative eLearning platform. Andy has a deep understanding of educational theory and Jonathan considers him to be one of the leading pharmacy educators of his generation.In this episode of Talking Meds, Jonathan and Andy talk about those NICE guidelines that are highly relevant to pharmaceutical care but which tend to be overlooked, perhaps because they are a few years old, and because the urgent often drives out the important. They also remind us of the 'boiler plate' text on each piece of NICE guidance emphasising that these are 'guidelines, not tramlines' and individual, person-centred care is fundamental. The only 'mandatory' aspect of NICE guidance is that those technologies approved via a NICE Technology Appriasal (TA) are funded by NHS commissioners.Links to the NICE Guidelines discussed are:CG138 (patient experience) – and CG136 for MH and NG204 for Children and Young People.CG76: medicines adherenceNG5: medicines optimisationNG56: multimorbidityNG197: shared decision makingMPG1: local formulariesSC1: medicines in care homesNG67: medicines in social care in the communityEach will take you abut 30 mins to read through, and are great for GPhC revalidation as CPD entries and the reflective piece and peer discussion.If you only have time for two, we would suggest the multimorbidity and shared decision making guideline are key.A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Ann Jacklin about her recent experience as a patient and the importance of saying, "Hello, my name is..." when meeting people for the first time.Ann spent 31 years working in hospital pharmacy in London culminating in being the Chief of Service for Pharmacy & Therapies at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust until 2012.  She then worked with Lord Carter and became professional lead for the ‘Hospital Pharmacy Carter Review’. Latterly she has worked on the National Wound Care Strategy Programme, is a registrant Council Member of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and chairs the GPhC Post Registration Practice Assurance Advisory Group.In today's episode, Ann shares her story as a patient. While in hospital, feeling scared, anxious and in pain, she was struck that many clinicians and other hospital staff didn't introduce themselves to her, and how this left her feeling even more vulnerable. Being aware of the 'Hello, my name is...' campaign started by Dr Kate Granger (who had had a similar experience to Ann of staff not saying who they were or why they were there), Ann looked to see if this still a current NHS campaign. It is! Speaking to staff, they were either not aware of it or had forgotten about it, or perhaps didn't realise the importance of it.Jonathan and Ann discuss how we can help address this, within the world of pharmacy and medicines but also in the broader healthcare setting.Resources mentioned in this episode:The Kate Granger StoryHello My Name is campaignA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Laura Angus about the  recently published 10 year Health Plan for England, 'Fit for the Future' and the implications for medicines and pharmacy.Laura likes to stress that, first and foremost, she is a mum of two boys and one crazy cocker spaniel! She work as the Chief Pharmacy Officer/Director of Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation for Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB). In the past 20+ years, Laura has worked in practically all sectors of pharmacy, including working in commissioning, as Head of Medicines Optimisation at NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group, GP Practices as a practice pharmacist; community pharmacy; hospital pharmacy; and in education and training as a teacher practitioner at the University of Bradford and as a regional professional training manager. In today's episode Jonathan and Laura discuss the '10 Year plan' as well as the 'Model ICB' that have recently been published. The implications for how we deliver pharmacy and medicines services in the future are huge - but much of the plan is rather high level and how we operationalise this is yet to be determined. Laura and Jonathan discuss how this can be a positive as we can help shape what this looks like.The role of AI and the Single National Formulary are discussed as well as the important role for the Independent UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board.Resources mentioned in this episode:Fit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for EnglandIndependent UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board.Model ICBUseful resources on the 10 Year plan:Nuffield Trust - An engine for economic growth? Why it won’t be a piece of cake for the NHSNHS Confederation guide:Podcast from NHS Confederation:5 Minute video take on 10 year plan:Blog from Ewan Maule on Single National FormularyA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Prof Adam Todd about inequalities in the use of medicines and the role of pharmacy in addressing that.Adam Todd is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Public Health, and Deputy Head of the School of Pharmacy at Newcastle University. He is a qualified pharmacist and a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Previous to that he was Programme Director for the MPharm course at Durham and Deputy Director of the Centre of Health and Inequalities Research. That led him into leading some truly innovative research into inequalities in the use of medicines and how pharmacy can perhaps help to buck the inverse care law* (*where those who most need access to healthcare are the least likely to do so).Adam still contributes to the care of patients on a regular basis working with at St. Benedict’s Hospice in Sunderland helping with person-centred and appropriate medicines use (and of course where deprescribing can be considered). He also regularly works as a community pharmacist – which helps ensure he isn't just one of those academics that can be accused of being detached from the real world!Resources mentioned in this episode:Prof Adam Todd's published researchThe Positive Pharmacy Care Law Revisited: an area-level analysis of the relationship between community pharmacy distribution, urbanity and deprivation in England.The Inverse Care Law - Julian Tudor HartTackling the inverse care law - Analysis of policies to improve general practice in deprived areas since 1990Marmot Review report – 'Fair Society, Healthy LivesA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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, continues the series of podcasts called 'Caring about medicines in Care Homes with Jonathan and Sundus'. Here, Jonathan talks to Sundus Jawad who works for NHS Frimley, and has over 25 years' experience working closely with GP practices, care homes and other providers. In this episode, Jonathan and Sundus discuss the importance of having good networks and the role of forums like PrescQIPP's Virtual Professional Group (VPG) for care homes in helping with that. While Robins are lovely, iconic birds, perhaps being more like Blue Tits can help us more! They discuss some personal examples of how forming networks has helped them, with a couple of fascinating patient stories along the way.They also discuss their initial thoughts about the recently published 10 year Health Plan for England, 'Fit for the Future' and the implications for medicines, pharmacy and care homes within that.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:Care Homes Virtual Professional GroupOther resources mentioned in this episode:Diffusion of Innovations in Service Organizations: Systematic Review and Recommendations - Trisha Greenhalgh et al Milbank Q 2004CPPE online programme on Shared Decision MakingMe and My MedicinesFit for the Future: 10 Year Health Plan for England"Show Me Your Medicines Please" resources (available for free from the PrescQIPP website):Show Me Your Medicines PleaseA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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, continues the series 'Caring about medicines in Care Homes with Jonathan and Sundus'. Here, Jonathan talks to Sundus Jawad who works for NHS Frimley, and has over 25 years' experience working closely with GP practices, care homes and other providers. Sundus was recently elected Chair of the National Pharmacy Care Home Faculty and is a NICE Medicines and Prescribing Associate. Her professional and research interests focus on medicine optimisation in care homes, frailty, medication review, polypharmacy, and medication safety. Currently, she is in her fellowship year of the NIHR SPCR Primary Care Clinician Career Progression programme at the University of Oxford.Jonathan and Sundus discuss some of the ways Care Homes Pharmacy professionals can stay in touch to share good ideas and support each other with their medicines challenges. They also discuss some projects Sundus has been involved with, including ensuring adequate hydration in care homes and how this can impact on antibiotic stewardship.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:E-learning: Nutrition and Hydration in care homesCare home VPG: 15th January 2025 - Frailty and NutritionOther resources mentioned in this episode:Reducing urinary tract infections in care homes by improving hydrationResources – Good Hydration! - Health Innovation Oxford & Thames ValleyPCPA NPCHF | PCPA - Primary Care Pharmacy AssociationCPPE Medicines optimisation in care homes training pathway for pharmacy professionalsA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Helen Kilminster about her role as Clinical Director of a PCN and the importance of having really good generalists in healthcare (spoiler alert, Jonathan and Helen both think pharmacists make great generalists!).Helen is the senior pharmacist, advanced clinical practitioner at Portway Family Practice, Sandwell in the West Midlands area of England. She is also the PCN Deputy Clinical Director for Citrus Health, which covers over 43,000 patients across 6 practices. Helen was the LVS lead for the COVID Vaccination Programme 2020, which provided vaccination services for 22 GP surgeries at City Hospital. She is the Vice President for Primary Care Pharmacy Association, a Royal Pharmaceutical Society Fellow and a member of the NHSEI Inclusive Pharmacy Practice Advisory Board,  NHSEI Pharmacy Integration Clinical Reference Group and was a committee member for the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:PrescQIPP Practice Medicines Coordinator e-learning (pay per use)Other resources mentioned in this episode:Range. How generalists triumph in a specialised world - David EpsteinSide Effects. How Our Healthcare Lost its Way – And How We Fix it - David HaslamA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Minna Eii about the sustainability challenges for medicines.Minna  is an Acute Medicine hospital pharmacist based in the northeast. She is the co-founder of an environmentally conscious pharmacy group in the UK called Pharmacy Declares and the lead author of the newly launched Royal Pharmaceutical Society Greener Pharmacy Toolkit.Jonathan and Minna discuss what the challenges are for pharmacy as medicines account for 25% of carbon emissions within the NHS. While recycling packaging and avoiding waste is important, the challenge is far wider than that. Making sure the medicine is truly required and wanted by the person in the first place is key to this.Join Minna for an online webinar on 29th May by clicking this linkPrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:Find out more about the PrescQIPP AwardsPrescQIPP Bulletin 340. Sustainability in medicines optimisationPrescQIPP Community Resources - Sustainability in General Practice: Improving Health Outcomes through more sustainable prescribing a system wide PCN level Intervention (2024)A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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, continues the series of podcasts called 'Caring about medicines in Care Homes with Jonathan and Sundus'. Here, Jonathan talks to Sundus Jawad who works for NHS Frimley, and has over 25 years' experience working closely with GP practices, care homes and other providers. Sundus was recently elected Chair of the National Pharmacy Care Home Faculty and is a NICE Medicines and Prescribing Associate. Her professional and research interests focus on medicine optimisation in care homes, frailty, medication review, polypharmacy, and medication safety. Currently, she is in her fellowship year of the NIHR SPCR Primary Care Clinician Career Progression programme at the University of Oxford.In this episode, Jonathan and Sundus discuss some of medicines safety issues she has come across in her career and how care home settings produce particular challenges.  She shares some stories that have stuck with her - some of them will make your eyes water! All in all, this emphasises the need for good training and support for staff working in care settings, and how pharmacy professionals can help with this.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:PrescQIPP Care Homes WebkitOther resources mentioned in this episode:National Pharmacy Care Home Faculty in partnership with PCPAPharmaceutical Journal - How we reduced anticholinergic prescribing by 52%NICE Guideline on Managing medicines in care homesCare Quality Commission Medicines information for adult social care servicesA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Philip Newland-Jones about new treatments for obesity and the updated NICE guideline from January 2025.Philip is a Consultant Pharmacist in Diabetes and Endocrinology and leads a large dynamic team at University Hospital Southampton. He works at a National level on various committees including being the lead pharmacist for the NHS England Diabetes and Endocrinology Clinical Reference Group.Jonathan and Philip discuss various challenging and sometimes controversial issues around the management of obesity. The evidence for the effectiveness of some of the medicines options is impressive, but they are not without side effects - careful and appropriate use is key. Many new medicines are in development and Philip gives us an insight into what we can expect on the horizon.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:Bulletin 323: Bariatric surgery July 2023PrescQIPP Prescribing Mastery; Prescribing Hot topics 26th March 2025Useful NICE obesity resources:Tirzepatide: local formulary informationA practical guide to using medicines to manage overweight and obesityOther resources mentioned in this episode:NHS England Interim commissioning guidance fortirzepatide (Mounjaro®)A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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, introduces the first episode of a new series called 'Caring about medicines in Care Homes with Jonathan and Sundus'. We meet Sundus Jawad, who works for NHS Frimley, and has over 25 years' experience working closely with GP practices, care homes and other providers. In this episode, our hosts discuss some of issues she comes across commonly in her everyday work in care settings, which will be covered in more detail in future episodes. These include specific medicines safety challenges, common medication errors, the importance of nutrition and hydration as well as dealing with some of the behavioural aspects of dementia. The role of pharmacy professionals within the wider multidisciplinary team is at the heart of all of this and Sundus shares some memorable stories of people living in care settings she has met along the way.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:PrescQIPP Care Homes webkitPrescQIPP Clinical Masterclass - September 2024 - Antipsychotic prescribing in people with dementiaPrescQIPP Bulletin 268: IMPACTPrescQIPP Bulletin 356: Stopping over-medication of psychotropic drugsPrescQIPP Bulletin 331: Medication reviews in patients with multi-morbidityOther resources mentioned in this episode:NICE Guideline on Managing medicines in care homesCare Quality Commission Medicines information for adult social care servicesRepeat Prescribing ToolkitNational Polypharmacy Programme from Wessex Health Innovation NetworkGet details of upcoming ALS cohorts and book your place here.A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Hadeel Mohamed about a fantastic programme she co-leads to provide mentorship for female pharmacists from an ethnically diverse background – ENIGMA.Hadeel is a senior pharmacist prescriber with a background in hospital and general practice. She is currently Deputy Head of Clinical Pharmacy and Education Lead for a GP Federation in Leeds and Polypharmacy Clinical Lead for Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber. Hadeel is also in her final year of a PhD at The University of Bradford, which is exploring medication self-management behaviours in older people using multiple medicines at the hospital-to-home transition.Jonathan and Hadeel first met via the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Mentorship scheme - https://www.rpharms.com/development/mentoring. Mentoring is important to both of them and they talk about Hadeel's inspiration to set up and lead (with fellow pharmacist Emily Turner) the ENIGMA programme. ENIGMA stands for ‘ENhancing leadershIp amonGst ethnically diverse feMale phArmacists’. In particular they discuss why such programmes are important to overcome some of the rather stark workforce figures (32% of the UK pharmacy workforce are women from an ethnically diverse background, yet only 6% of NHS Band 9 posts are made up of people) from this group). They discuss the initial success stories from this and how it is important that this work continues on a firm footing.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:PrescQIPP Skills training: MentoringPrescQIPP Leadership at Lunch webinarsOther resources mentioned in this episode:Royal Pharmaceutical Society Mentorship schemeENIGMA programmeFind out more and contact Hadeel or Emily on LinkedInA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Julian Treadwell, an academic GP who has developed the absolutely fabulous resource GP Evidence.Julian has worked for many years in UK General Practice and is keenly interested in polypharmacy, multiple long-term conditions and evidence-based practice. He developed the website GP Evidence which provides easily accessible and understandable information on the benefits and harms of treatments for long-term conditions. He has additional roles with NICE as a moderator of their GP Reference Panel, was a founding member of the Royal College of General Practitioners standing group on Overdiagnosis (see below if you want to join) and is an associate editor of the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin.PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:PrescQIPP webinar March 2023: Making evidence understandable - why you need to use GP Evidence.PrescQIPP Clinical Masterclass 25th February 2025:  The GP Evidence website: user-friendly clinical evidence to support shared decision making about treatments for long-term conditions.Other resources mentioned in this episode:GP Evidence websiteDo clinicians overestimate benefits and underestimate the risks of treatments? BJGP Open - GPs’ understanding of the benefits and harms of treatments for long-term conditions: an online surveyNICE Shared decision making guideline and eLearning:Shared decision making NICE guideline [NG197]Shared decision making eLearning packageSeminal paper by Gabbay and Le May (and their updated book as reviewed by Trish Greenhalgh)Original BMJ paper from 2004 - Evidence based guidelines or collectively constructed “mindlines?” Ethnographic study of knowledge management in primary careMindlines: making sense of evidence in practice, John Gabbay and Andrée le May, BJGP 2016Knowledge Transformation in Healthcare: Putting Mindlines to Work edited by John Gabbay and Andrée le MayA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

In this episode of Talking Meds we continue the series ‘Sensible prescribing in Older people with Jonathan and Lucy' with a discussion between Jonathan Underhill and Dr Lucy Pollock about the prescribing of statins.So we meet Mrs Evans, an 87 year old lady who lives with her daughter in a ‘granny flat’ annex of her house. She has several co-morbidites including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and has recently had a stroke. Her daughter is concerned about her mum who she says ‘the sparkle has gone from her eyes’. Mrs Evans often looks at her daily handful of medicines and asks ‘what’s the point?Mrs Evans has recently been prescribed atorvastatin 80mg a day - in line with the guideline from NICE. Mrs Evan’s daughter asks Lucy - ‘are these new tablets worth my mum’s time?’ To try and help answer this, Jonathan and Lucy look at the icon arrays on the statins tab of GP Evidence where it shows how, out of 100 people like Mrs Evans who don't take a statin, around 29 will have a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years. If all 100 take a statin, then 7 will be prevented from having a cardiovascular event but 22 will still have one. So the majority, 78, will not have a heart attack or stroke, but 71 wouldn’t have had one anyway without taking a statin!Explaining risks and benefits using numbers can often help some people - but not everyone. The important thing is to ask and find out 'what is it that really matters to you?'PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:PrescQIPP Lipid modification e-learning course (pay per use)PrescQIPP Prescribing Mastery webinar 'Cholesterol management' Other resources mentioned in this episode:BBC Podcast with Rory Stewart - the long history of ignoranceCardiovascular disease: risk assessment and reduction, including lipid modification (NG238)Risk communication: NICE Shared Decision making guideline recommendations 1.4Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin - How to communicate evidence to patients by Baroness Alex FreemanA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Prof Anna Murphy and Rajijyot Saggu – two talented and eminent pharmacists who work in the field of respiratory disease. We discuss the latest update the asthma guideline from NICE - a milestone as for the first time, this integrates NICE, BTS and SIGN guideline as a collaboration between the three organisations.Anna, is Professor of Pharmacy Practice at DeMontfort University, and a Consultant Respiratory Pharmacist for University Hospitals of Leicester. She has over 25 years experience working in the field of Respiratory Medicine and sits on several national committees, most notably on the BTS council, as co-chair of the medicine optimisation working group of the Taskforce for Lung Health and a member of the NHSE Inhaler working group.Anna has published widely in peer reviewed journals, is author of Asthma-in-Focus and produced the “7-Steps to Success” inhaler education materials. Ravijyot has a background as a hospital pharmacist is an honorary clinical lecturer for the London School of Pharmacy at UCL. She was the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer’s clinical fellow in 2021/22. She is chair of the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association respiratory committee and has been part of NICE/British Thoracic Society (BTS) & European Respiratory Society guideline development committees.  She is a coach as well as a NICE Associate, and is passionate about sustainable, personalised and holistic care for patients, population health/integrated care to reduce health inequalitiesWe discuss the main highlights of the update and some of the challenges that may arise when implementing these recommendations, particularly around the person-centred approach needed and the sustainability implications.Resources mentioned in this episode include:Asthma: diagnosis, monitoring and chronic asthma management (BTS, NICE, SIGN)Patient decision aid on asthma inhalers and climate changeAAC uncontrolled asthma pathwayGreener practice asthma QI toolkitA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Meds and the Presqipp podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today, your host Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, continues the series within the Talking Meds podcast called ‘Sensible prescribing in Older people with Jonathan and Lucy. Today Jonathan and Lucy talk about the sensible management of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. They discuss the so-called ‘Four Pillars’ of heart failure, remembering that the key is to consider what matters most to people and tailor our approach accordingly. The important words in the NICE Quality Standard on Heart Failure being ‘appropriate’ and ‘optimal’ – not simply following the protocol by rote!The people in the big heart failure trials tend to be people aged in their 60s and men. So how do we apply this to older people or those who are women. Carefully, sensibly and by agreement is the answer...So we meet Janet, an 86 year old lady who Lucy has seen. She lost her husband recently and misses him terribly. She is lonely and is just starting to show signs of cognitive impairment. We discuss the importance of getting to know your patients. And perhaps their beloved pet cat or dog.See the tab for HFReEF in GP Evidence https://gpevidence.org/ to illustrate this with icon arrays.Resources mentioned in this episode include:Show me your meds, please - Deb GompertzNICE Quality Standard (QS9) Chronic heart failure in adults NICE CKS Topic Scenario: Confirmed heart failure with reduced ejection fractionThe Cinnamon TrustThe Name of the DogUseful related resources from PrescQIPP:PrescQIPP bulletin 347. Chronic Heart FailurePrescQIPP e-learning. Chronic Heart Failure in Adults (pay per use)A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Meds and the Presqipp podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today, your host Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at Presqipp, talks to Professor Neal Maskrey about his new book, Rebalancing Medicine. Neal was a GP in Yorkshire for 20 years and continues to work extensively supporting postgraduate training with GP Trainers and their registrars. He then worked for North Yorkshire Health Authority developing primary care, was an early editor of Clinical Evidence (BMJ Publications), and then spent 14 years as a director of the National Prescribing Centre and Programme Director of the Medicines and Prescribing Centre at NICE. He still has a chair as Visiting Professor of Evidence-informed decision making at Keele University where Jonathan and Neal still collaborate on innovative stuff on shared decision making such as us using avatars to allow people to hone their consultation skills with feedback in a safe space (as its a computer it doesn’t have any feelings – not yet they don’t anyway!) Jonathan and Neal discuss what influenced him to write his book, what the key themes are as well as the sources, experiences and stories that influenced the writing. They then provide some food for thought as to the future of healthcare, what this means for NICE and other organisations, and how individual healthcare professionals can make sure they are prepared for the future.Resources mentioned in this episode include:Review of Rebalancing Medicine from Dr Richard LehmanHow Doctors Think by Jerome GroopmanEra 3 for Medicine and Health Care by Don BerwickYoutube video of Keynote presentation of thisApplying the time needed to treat to NICE guidelines on lifestyle interventions - Minna Johansson and colleagues  Population-health impact of new drugs recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in England during 2000–20: a retrospective analysis – Huseyin Naci et al.Useful related resources from PrescQIPP:Information Mastery face to face Workshops in March and April 2025A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to this special festive edition of Talking Meds and the Presqipp podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today, your host Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at Presqipp, and Dr Lucy Pollock, consultant geriatrician and author, talk about drug holidays, often known as treatment breaks. Sometimes it can be helpful to consider temporarily stopping a person’s medicines in order to take into account what really matters to them at a particular point of their lives. Jonathan and Lucy discuss when this might be appropriate, particularly around the festive period where everyday life might be slightly different for some people.This includes situations where, for example, symptoms that were previously troublesome are controlled and the person wishes to see if they can manage without the medicine for a short time. They discuss the types of medicines or conditions this may apply to, in particular those where there is limited prognostic value (that is, where stopping taking them is unlikely to affect their chances of having a relapse of their condition or having an event that will affect their longer term health). This can help reduce the overall burden of the medicines someone takes, reduce the risk of them having an adverse event, and probably improve their overall quality of life.They also discuss the age-old question of whether its ok to have an alcoholic beverage of your preference at Christmas, always in moderation of course!PrescQIPP have recently published a bulletin with accompanying resource pack on treatment breaks, available to subscribers here:Bulletin 358. Medicine treatment breaks The Aural Apothecary podcast is available on all the usual podcast media channels. You can find the website here with an archive of episodes. The episode with John Seddon which is discussed by Jonathan and Lucy can be found here.A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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 Hayley Berry about the update to the NICE Guideline on the identification and management of the menopause, published in November 2024. Hayley has a background in community pharmacy and general practice and now works for CPPE at the University of Manchester as a Lead learning development pharmacist. As a pharmacist independent prescriber, she works at a private menopause clinic and was a member of the NICE Menopause guideline development committee.Jonathan and Hayley discuss the important aspects of the update and touch on some of the somewhat controversial issues that surround this subject. The choice about whether to take HRT or not is a highly preference sensitive decision, where the values and preference of each woman needs to be taken into account. They discuss the various tools available to help facilitate those conversations, particularly the discussion tool published by NICE to accompany the guideline update, as well as the excellent GP Evidence website and the upcoming patient decision aid being developed by the Winton Centre.They also discuss the research recommendations within the guideline, highlighting how relatively poor the existing evidence base is for the management of the menopause.Resources mentioned in this episode include:NICE Guideline on Menopause: identification and management. NG 23 – updated November 2024Tools from NICE to communicate the benefits and risks of HRTGP Evidence has summarised the evidence on the benefits and risks of HRT for menopause.Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication – watch this space for the upcoming menopause patient decision aidNICE CKS Menopause topic (excellent for a quick summary of the guidance)Useful related resources from PrescQIPP:PrescQIPP Bulletin 299. MenopausePrescQIPP Clinical Masterclass on 29th January 2025 on the NICE Menopause GuidelineA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Meds on the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today, your host Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, continues the series within the Talking Meds podcast called ‘Sensible prescribing in Older people with Jonathan and Lucy’. Today, Jonathan and Lucy talk about the identification AND sensible management of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction. They discuss how we need to have a different approach than that for heart failure where the ejection fraction is reduced by a significant amount. But that the key is to consider what matters most to people and tailor our approach accordingly. Its guidelines not tramlines!The importance of ‘sick day rules’ are also discussed – stopping medicines for a short period where volume depletion or a urinary tract infection (UTI) is present.We also meet Marjory, who has recently been started on dapagliflozin but is admitted to hospital with a raging UTI and delirium. The EMPORER study found that for every 100 people on a flozin, one of them would get a UTI due to the flozin. But this risk may be higher in older people as they are at higher risk of this happening in the first place than those included in the EMPORER study. Medicine is tricky eh?See the tab for HFPrEF in GP Evidence https://gpevidence.org/ to illustrate this with icon arrays.Resources mentioned in this episode include:P Moorhouse, K Rockwood. Frailty and its quantitative clinical evaluationNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Urinary tract infection (lower): antimicrobial prescribingNICE guideline [NG109]Published: 31 October 2018PrescQIPP bulletin 347. Chronic Heart FailurePrescQIPP e-learning. Chronic Heart Failure in Adults (pay per use)A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Meds on the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today, your host Jonathan Underhill talks to Clare Howard, Clinical Lead for Medicines Optimisation at Health Innovation Wessex, about the development of the Repeat Prescribing Toolkit she led on behalf of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Royal College of General Practitioners. The toolkit was commissioned by NHS England in answer to recommendation 7 of  the National Overprescribing Review, to help practices improve the consistency of their repeat prescribing processes. There are 1.18 billion medicines prescribed and dispensed in Primary Care in England each year. While most people get their medicines without any issues, there are around 20-30,000 ‘probable avoidable’ harm incidents each year, of which around a quarter are related to medicines. Clare and Jonathan discuss the multiple ways this toolkit can help reduce the risk of these errors.The NHS is a complex system, and repeat prescribing is a ‘WICKED’ problem (difficult or impossible to fix) as it involves human to human interactions. Clare and Jonathan acknowledge that while you can’t ‘fix’ it and completely prevent any errors, having a structured approach can help reduce the risk of those errors and make for a more efficient process (and happier patients and healthcare staff!)Resources mentioned in this episode include:Repeat Prescribing Toolkit:https://www.rpharms.com/resources/repeat-prescribing-toolkitNational Polypharmacy Programme from Wessex Health Innovation Networkhttps://thehealthinnovationnetwork.co.uk/programmes/medicines/polypharmacyGet details of upcoming ALS cohorts and book your place here. Useful related resources from PrescQIPP:The PrescQIPP 'Practice Medicines Coordinators' e-learning course is recommended as a training resource for prescription clerks in the RPS/RCGP Repeat Prescribing Toolkit.PrescQIPP Practice Medicines Coordinators e-learning course (Pay per use)PrescQIPP Bulletin 325: Empowering patients to manage their repeat prescriptionsPrescQIPP Bulletin 292: Repeat prescriptionsA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

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, continues the series within the Talking Meds podcast called ‘Sensible prescribing in Older people with Jonathan and Lucy’.Jonathan and Lucy discuss Brenda, an older lady who has become frail and has significant dementia that is affecting her ability to cope with everyday life and living. She has been taking aspirin, originally intended to reduce her risk of a further heart attack, but which hasn’t been thought about for a while. They discuss how clinicians are prone to overestimate benefits of medicines, but underestimate harms. The importance of finding out a patient’s (and their carer’s) expectations are key to sensible prescribing. Sometimes the tablets aren’t worth our precious older people taking them, as the harms may well outweigh the potentially small benefits.Resources mentioned in this episode include:GPs’ understanding of the benefits and harms of treatments for long-term conditions: an online survey. Julian Treadwell in British Journal of General Practice. https://bjgpopen.org/content/4/1/bjgpopen20X101016A brilliant resource to help illustrate likely benefits and harms for some commonly used medicines - GP Evidence https://gpevidence.org/PrescQIPP webinar recording. How well do GPs understand the benefits and harms of treatments for long term conditions?Dr Julian Treadwell.https://www.prescqipp.info/our-resources/clinical-webinars/how-well-do-gps-understand-the-benefits-and-harms-of-treatments-for-long-term-conditions/A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Meds and the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, talks to Dr Mark Horowitz about how to safely stop antidepressants and the importance of tapering dose reduction slowly to reduce the risk of withdrawal symptoms.Dr Mark Horowitz  is a training psychiatrist and Visiting Lecturer in London, and  the lead author of the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines (see below). Mark co-authored the recent Royal College of Psychiatrists’ guidance on ‘Stopping Antidepressants’, and has been commissioned by Health Education England to prepare a teaching module on how to safely stop antidepressants for the NHS (coming soon!). Mark has experienced the difficulty of coming off psychiatric medications first hand which has informed much of his work.Useful sources referred to in this episode include:Dose response curves/Law of Mass action illustrated here (see figure 1)https://pharmaceutical-journal.com/article/ld/case-based-learning-safe-withdrawal-and-tapering-of-antidepressantsThe Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines: Antidepressants, Benzodiazepines, Gabapentinoids and Z-drugshttps://www.wiley.com/en-gb/The+Maudsley+Deprescribing+Guidelines%3A+Antidepressants%2C+Benzodiazepines%2C+Gabapentinoids+and+Z-drugs-p-9781119823025RPS members can get free access to the Maudsley Deprescribing Guidelines here:https://www.vlebooks.com/Account/Logon/RPSMaudsley Prescribing GuidelinesThe Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines in Psychiatry eBook Register for an NHS England OpenAthens account.NICE guidelinesNICE guideline on depression in adults – see section 1.4.12 to 1.4.21 for information on stopping antidepressants.NICE guideline on medicines associated with dependence or withdrawal symptoms - further recommendations on withdrawing antidepressants.Clinical Knowledge Summary (CKS)NICE clinical knA new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the 2nd episode of Talking Meds and the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today your host Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, introduces a new series within the Talking Meds podcast called ‘Sensible prescribing in Older people with Jonathan and Lucy’. Jonathan and Dr Lucy Pollock outline their plan to share some real patient stories that may help us think about how to ensure we consider what really matters to patients when we are reviewing their medicines.  Lucy grew up in Northern Ireland, read medicine at Cambridge University and St Bartholomew’s Hospital and is eternally grateful for the advice of an early boss who hoped she would not be offended if he suggested she should become a geriatrician. She trained in general and geriatric medicine in London before taking up a consultant post in Somerset in 2001. She lives with her husband and dog Rose near Langport. They have three grown-up children.  Lucy writes about her patients, their families and the complicated, funny, sad problems that arise as we age. The Book About Getting Older (2021) and The Golden Rule (2024) are both published by Penguin Random House.  @lucypollock | LinktreeIn this episode, Jonathan and Lucy talk how about we need to be really careful when starting some medicines, making sure we are considering some of the potential, perhaps unintended consequences. Lucy tells about her experiences where sometimes the very best of intentions to try and help treat symptoms may lead to ‘prescribing cascades’ and how tricky that can be for our patients.Useful sources referred to in this episode include:Introduction to ‘prescribing cascades’ from Canadian Medication Appropriateness and Desprescribing Network: https://www.deprescribingnetwork.ca/blog/prescribing-cascadeBMJ Open Adverse drug reactions, multimorbidity and polypharmacy: a prospective analysis of 1 month of medical admissionshttps://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/bmjopen/12/7/e055551.full.pdfUseful PrescQIPP resources (need to be registered and logged into the website to access):Polypharmacy and deprescribing webkit https://www.prescqipp.info/our-resources/webkits/polypharmacy-and-deprescribing/IMPACT Bulletin 268https://www.prescqipp.info/our-resources/bulletins/bulletin-268-impact/Clinical Masterclasses on Multimorbidity, Frailty and Polypharmacy in Older People https://www.prescqipp.info/our-resources/clinical-webinars/clinical-masterclass-dec-2021/ A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

Welcome to the first 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 Magnus Hird about his role, how he prioritises people for medication review as well as two current safety issues that have recently been in the news.Magnus is a pioneer of clinical pharmacists working in General Practice and one of the first ever pharmacist independent prescribers. He was one of the first cohort of NPC Trainers, running educational events in the North West. He now works 2 days per week in a busy general practice in Blackpool, with the rest of his week occupied as clinical lead for ambulance commissioning, covering the 999 paramedic emergency service, NHS111 and patient transport services across the northwest, and as a clinical advisor for urgent care to the NHS England regional team. He also runs a smallholding farm in the North West of England (follow his antics on various social media outlets via https://sites.google.com/view/monkhallfarm/homeJonathan and Magnus discuss what a typical day in general practice could look like for Magnus, how he prioritises his workload, deals with complexity and what particular skills a clinical pharmacist brings to the primary care team. Useful sources discussed include: PINCER - Pharmacist-led Information technology iNtervention for the reduction of Clinically important ERrors in medicines managementhttps://healthinnovationwessex.org.uk/projects/56/pincer Estimating the economic effect of harm associated with high risk prescribing of oral non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in England: population based cohort and economic modelling study. BMJ 2024;386:e077880https://www.bmj.com/content/386/bmj-2023-077880 Asthma: effect of excess short-acting β2-agonist (SABA) inhaler prescriptions on healthcare resource utilisationMark L Levy, Toby GD Capstick and Thomas AntalffyBritish Journal of General Practice 2024;  74 (745): 374-376.https://doi.org/10.3399/bjgp24X739089 NICE Guideline - Asthma: diagnosis, monitoring and chronic asthma management (Expected publication date: 27 November 2024)https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/gid-ng10186/documents/450Useful PrescQIPP resources (need to be registered and logged into the website to access):Asthma bulletin 251https://www.prescqipp.info/our-resources/bulletins/bulletin-251-asthma/PrescQIPP Asthma e-learning course (pay per use) A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here

We are excited to share a clip of our new podcast, 'Talking Meds' with our host Jonathan Underhill and guests, which launces on 20 September.Talking Meds will be available to listen to via your usual podcast system and a new episode will come out every fortnight, on the first and third Friday of each month.Jonathan Underhill has a background as a hospital clinical pharmacist but worked for many, many years at the National Prescribing Centre (NPC) developing innovative ways of teaching therapeutics, evidence-based medicine and clinical decision making to prescribers and their support teams. Until recently, he worked at NICE as a consultant clinical adviser in their Medicines Optimisation Team.Episode 1 launches on Friday 20th September and features guest Magnus Hird to discuss his role, how he prioritises people for medication review as well as two current safety issues that have recently been in the news. Magnus is a pioneer of clinical pharmacists working in General Practice and one of the first ever pharmacist independent prescribers. He was one of the first cohort of NPC Trainers, running educational events in the North West. He now works two days per week in a busy general practice in Blackpool, with the rest of his week occupied as clinical lead for ambulance commissioning, covering the 999 paramedic emergency service, NHS111 and patient transport services across the northwest, and as a clinical advisor for urgent care to the NHS England regional team. He also runs a smallholding farm in the North West of England (follow his antics on various social media outlets via https://sites.google.com/view/monkhallfarm/home)Future episodesA series on ’Sensible prescribing in Older people with Jonathan and Lucy’, with consultant geriatrician and author Lucy PollockPenicillin allergy de-labelling with Phil Howard OBENew NICE Menopause guideline with NICE committee member Hayley BerryAs well as topics such as the NICE/SIGN Asthma guideline, depression deprescribing and insomnia So subscribe now to make sure you don't miss an episode.A new episode of Talking Meds will be available on the first Friday of the month.If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to [email protected] is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email [email protected] and we’ll aim to sort things out for you. Find out more about PrescQIPP here