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Supporting healthcare professionals to identify patients at risk from problematic polypharmacy and improve conversations about medicines.
Health Innovation East Midlands is supporting healthcare professionals across all East Midlands ICSs to identify and reduce harm from problematic polypharmacy, particularly for older adults and those living with frailty.
This programme aligns with NHS England policy, the National Overprescribing Review, and the national frailty strategy. It uses a Five‑Pillar Implementation Model designed to improve safety, reduce unnecessary medicines, and support better outcomes for patients.
We're holding a series of events, webinars, masterclasses and action learning sets. Click the links below to find out more and register.
Polypharmacy Action Learning Set Cluster Cohorts 2-4
Polypharmacy Action Learning Set Cluster Cohort 2 - 16 September
Polypharmacy Action Learning Set Cluster Cohort 3 - 4 November
Watch the latest polypharmacy masterclasses.
Expression your interest for future ALS cohorts here.
Join our national community of clinicians, researchers and people with lived experience who are committed to making medicines safer.
Membership provides access to:
Sign up to the Polypharmacy Shared Learning Network
Polypharmacy is common in older people and those living with frailty. While many medicines are necessary, taking multiple medicines increases the risk of:
National data shows increasing numbers of people aged 75+ are prescribed ten or more medicines, with rates expected to rise further. Addressing this is a national NHS priority supported by:
Our programme supports these aims through data, education, patient-facing resources, digital innovation and multi-agency learning systems.
Our approach has expanded from the original three-pillar model to a comprehensive five-pillar framework aligned to national priorities for prevention, frailty and medicines optimisation.
Using NHSBSA Polypharmacy Prescribing Comparators, oversupply dashboards and falls‑risk indicators to identify patients most at risk.
Upskilling primary care teams, community pharmacists, care homes and junior prescribers through Action Learning Sets, masterclasses and national educators.
Providing patients with translated resources, animations, awareness campaigns and tools embedded in the NHS App to support preparation for Structured Medication Reviews.
Identifying and supporting digital and AI tools that improve deprescribing, medicines safety, risk stratification and SMR workflow.
Building local and regional learning systems, strengthening national collaboration, and developing a national deprescribing network.
We provide a range of multilingual patient information materials to help people prepare for a Structured Medication Review (SMR). These resources are available for GP practices, PCNs, community pharmacies and care homes.
If you use the materials, please inform us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. so usage can be tracked across the region.
Read more
Watch how a PCN used these resources to improve patient engagement and understanding.
A short animation is available to help patients understand what an SMR is and how to prepare for their appointment.
As the programme continues, we expect to see:
Further evaluation results will be published as they are generated.
1. Polypharmacy– Prof Tony Avery, Dr Ben Pearson and Alex Spurling discuss what Polypharmacy is, and the issues problematic polypharmacy causes
2. Care Homes – Prof Adam Gordon and Anita Astle MBE discuss the issues Care Home residents and staff face with polypharmacy
3. Mental Health – Stephen Jones, Dr Miland Thanki and Hannah Godden have an insightful conversation around the issues mental health patients and clinicians face with polypharmacy
4. Pain Management & Opioids – Prof Roger Knaggs and Michelle Butler, a lived experience expert, discuss polypharmacy, pain management and opioids
5a. Psychosis in the Older Person – Prof Adam Gordon interviews Matt Roberts about the troubles that staff and patients face in this area
5b. STOMP / STAMP – Pamela Mariga presents the Midlands regional STOMP/STAMP framework
6. Pharmacogenomics – National leads Dr Judith Hayward and Dr Imran Rafi discuss Pharmacogenomics; the branch of genetics concerned with the way in which an individual’s genetic attributes affect the likely response to therapeutic drugs
7. Frailty - Prof Tony Avery, Dr Ben Pearson and Frankie O’Halloran discuss polypharmacy in Frailty
Our colleagues in Wessex have recorded a number of polypharmacy masterclasses such as heart failure, anticholinergic burden and NSAIDs. You can access the masterclasses here.
The Impact and Interventions of Frality Pharmacists within the Emergency Department Fraility Team of an Acute NHS Hospital Trust.
Read the case study here.
PCN 4 (Radford and Mary Potter PCN, Nottingham) improved the uptake of SMRs using the Me and My Medicine materials and you can view the video explainer here.
HIEM and the HIN have also supported two other sites (Victoria Park Health Centre, Leicester and Larwood and Bawtry PCN, Nottinghamshire) to improve access, uptake and quality of SMRs by implementing the resources as well.
Read the case study for Victoria Park Health Centre
Read the case study for Larwood and Bawtry PCN
HIEM worked with two PCNs (Grand Union PCN, Northampton & City South PCN, Nottingham) in implementing a targeted approach to deprescribing. This included identifying patients using NHSBSA polypharmacy comparators, training pharmacists using ALS training and assessing the impact. These case studies showed positive changes for patients, with both improvements in the selected comparator as well as reductions in other potentially harmful medicines.
Read the Grand Union case study here.
Read the City South case study here.
Watch the video on how to use the Polypharmacy Prescribing Comparators.
To find a colleague interested in Polypharmacy have a look at our directory. You can also add your name to the list by contacting This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For more information on the Polypharmacy Programme, please contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.