Medicine optimisation & safety Our medicines optimisation & safety programmes aim to help patients get the maximum benefit from their medicines, ensure medicine use is as safe as possible and reduce waste. Medicines play a crucial role in maintaining health, preventing illness, managing chronic conditions, and curing disease, which is why they are the most common intervention in healthcare. Most people take medicines at some point in their life. Medicines are beneficial and we want people to get the best from them. Medicines optimisation looks at the value that medicines deliver, making sure they are clinically-effective and cost-effective. It is about ensuring people get the right choice of medicines, at the right time, and are engaged in the process by their clinical team (NHS England). Medication-related incidents remain one of the most frequently reported categories of patient safety incidents, accounting for about 10% of reported incidents. Medicines safety focuses on reducing risks of errors and harm associated with medicines and keeping patients safe. Our work We are working with pharmacy colleagues in our three ICSs to implement medicines optimisation across our region. This includes helping to strengthen the way partner organisations work together across community, primary and acute care, to ultimately ensure safe and appropriate use of medicines. We also work with innovators in the pharmacy space as part of our Innovator support. Our Polypharmacy programme is supporting healthcare professionals to identify patients at potential risk and facilitate better conversations about medicines. As part of our Patient Safety Collaborative, we are also focusing on Medicines Safety to reduce avoidable harm from medicines, especially from opioids, and improve chronic pain care. Our team are working closely with ICSs and stakeholders to deliver meaningful change. Our portfolio of work is growing and evolving, and if you are interested in working with us, please get in touch. Current programmes 1/2. Polypharmacy Supporting healthcare professionals to identify patients at potential risk and facilitate better conversations about medicines. Read more 2/2. Medicines safety Patient Safety Collaborative programme supporting healthcare professionals to improve chronic non-cancer pain management by reducing high-risk opioid prescribing. Read more News and case studies Fractional exhaled Nitric Oxide (FeNO) testing FeNO is a non-invasive test to measure the amount of nitric oxide in an exhaled breath, a biomarker for airway inflammation Case Study 1 Feb 2023 More Transfer of Care around Medicines (TCAM) When some patients leave hospital, they can need extra support taking their prescribed medicines. Case Study 1 Jan 2022 More Is it time to reimagine patient information? New report highlights urgent need to modernise and improve understanding of the patient information leaflets (PILs). News 28 Mar 2023 More Preventing prescribing errors with PINCER Pharmacist-led INformation technology intervention for reducing Clinically important ERrors (PINCER) Case Study 31 Mar 2022 More Transforming Asthma Pathways – FeNO Impact Report New report shows impact of FeNO national programme on asthma care in England A new report is showcasing the impact of... News 30 Jun 2023 More FeNO testing used in breathlessness pathway At KSS AHSN, we have been driving the local adoption and implementation of innovations and pathway transformation, and have engaged... News 8 Dec 2022 More ← → Contact us If you’d like to find out more about our work in medicine safety & optimisation or are interested in collaborating with us, get in touch. Meet the team Get in touch