Health Innovation East Midlands and Health Innovation West Midlands are jointly leading a programme of work, commissioned by NHS England (NHSE), which includes a national scoping exercise across the 15 health innovation networks to identify innovations in medicines safety.  The aim is to develop a potential national medicines safety improvement programme for 2025-2026.

NHSE has identified two areas they want to explore to improve patient safety and reduce medicine related harm:

1. Psychotropic prescribing in learning disability and/or autism patients
2. Medication optimisation to reduce falls and / or fractures in frail patients

Nationally, Health Innovation Networks (HINs) have invited people with experience of introducing innovation in these areas to contact them about their experiences.

1. Psychotropic prescribing in learning disability and/or autism patients

We are interested in all psychotropic prescribing which includes the following medicine groups:

• Antipsychotics
• Antidepressants
• Anxiolytics and hypnotics
• Lithium
• Anti-convulsant medication when used for non-epileptic indications (including valproic acid and carbamazepine)
• Stimulants e.g. methylphenidate

Or alternatives to any of these medicines.

2. Medication optimisation to reduce falls and / or fractures in frail patients

We are broadly looking at the following areas:

• Stopping medicines that cause falls
• Stopping medicines that reduce bone strength
• Starting medicines that increase bone strength
• Alternatives to medicines in any of the above

For both topic areas, HINs are interested in hearing about any Quality Improvement work undertaken whether big or small, in planning stage or fully implemented, whether it has been successful or stopped due to experiencing challenges.

This year-long project is underway, and we’ll share more information once it is complete.