News Helping Kent, Surrey and Sussex approach polypharmacy – success and resources 5 November 2025 Share Share on Linkedin Share on X Share via email News Medicine safety & optimisation As the Health Innovation Network’s Polypharmacy: Getting the Balance Right programme draws to a close, figures from Kent, Surrey and Sussex reveal its impact on a local level. The national initiative began in April 2022 in response to the pressing and increasingly widespread issue of problematic polypharmacy — where individuals are prescribed multiple medications, some of which may be unnecessary or potentially harmful. As of March 2025, over 718,000 people aged 65 and older in England were taking 10 or more prescribed medicines. Without targeted action, this number is expected to rise to more than 1.1 million by 2035. In Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, we worked with all three of our systems to deliver the three areas of the national polypharmacy programme. Identifying patients most at risk Education and training Changing public behaviour Our regional impact in numbers 346 health professionals attended NHS Business Services Authority Polypharmacy Prescribing Comparators webinars 110 participated in National Polypharmacy Action Learning Sets (structured training sessions) 5 polypharmacy trainers were accredited 12 Communities of Practice events were attended by 506 stakeholders 2 sites were funded to engage seldom-heard groups and evaluate the impact on Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs) uptake and outcomes. Examples of work across the region Involving seldom heard groups Medway Valley Primary Care Network was one of the two sites that received funding to engage seldom-heard communities. It ran a targeted initiative to help patients from ethnic minority backgrounds to access Structured Medication Reviews. The project addressed barriers such as language and unfamiliarity with SMRs by offering tailored appointments, translated resources, and video guides. Face-to-face consultations were prioritised to ensure patients felt supported and understood. The results were encouraging: This intervention led to several medicines being changed, reduced or stopped in patients who received an SMR. The impacts included reducing the anticholinergic burden score, changes to opioid and antidepressant prescriptions, changes to improve kidney safety and stopping statins where clinically appropriate. The project highlighted the effectiveness of culturally sensitive approaches in beginning to tackle health inequalities. Building on this success, the practice is now planning to incorporate these resources when inviting patients from all cohorts to participate in SMRs. Accrediting polypharmacy trainers Five health professionals in KSS were trained to become accredited polypharmacy trainers. They have facilitated group discussions, created quality improvement projects, and shared resources to support colleagues in managing polypharmacy. The training has helped shift mindsets: Clinicians report increased confidence, enabling conversations about reducing medicines to be more collaborative and patient centred. Early outcomes include better engagement with patients, safer prescribing, and examples of improved quality of life, demonstrating the value of continuing this work across primary and secondary care. Evaluating economic benefit Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care Board (ICB) focused on antiplatelets and anticoagulants as a comparator group during the programme. The initiative aimed to reduce inappropriate prescribing among patients aged 65 and over, where combined use of the drugs significantly increases bleeding risk and hospitalisation. The ICB implemented targeted interventions, including medication reviews and clinician engagement, to address these risks and support more informed prescribing practices. Economic analysis highlighted health and potential cost benefits. Read the report here Addressing complex prescribing issues As the programme draws to a close, its impact on Kent, Surrey, and Sussex is unmistakable — it has elevated understanding of the challenges around polypharmacy, equipped professionals with actionable resources, and shown that even complex prescribing issues can be effectively addressed. National Clinical Lead for the Polypharmacy Programme, Pharmacist Clare Howard – “This work has been developed, delivered and evaluated by the Health Innovation Network and is starting to show how, by taking this three pillar approach, we can identify patients at risk from harm and improve the quality of Structured Medication Reviews to ensure that patients, but particularly our older people, are only taking the medicines that they need.” Polypharmacy resources to maintain the momentum Discover how health professionals in Kent, Surrey and Sussex benefited from the polypharmacy programme on our case studies page. Access patient materials, webinar recordings and guides from the Health Innovation Network website. Stay connected with future work by joining the Health Innovation Network Polypharmacy Shared Learning Network.