Improving Pharmaceutical Care for Older
People Conference
Key note speakers
Dear colleagues,
On 20th June 2013 an event was held to discuss
how we can improve pharmaceutical care for
older people. This event was jointly run by
Healthcare Improvement Scotland, NHS
Education for Scotland, the NHS Scotland
Directors of Pharmacy and The Royal
Pharmaceutical Society.
Identified priorities..
• Health & social care
integration
• Safe and effective
use of medicines at
home
• Health literacy
How do we achieve
these?
Putting the patient at the heart of care is essential • Increased support
for community
and becomes even more of a priority when we
pharmacists
consider the pharmaceutical care
• Work collaboratively
needs of older people. We need all leaders
• Patient focused
from all sectors and agencies to work
services
together to share solutions and best practice.
Best wishes,
Examples of
Dr Catherine Duggan
innovative practice
Director of Professional Development & Support, • Polypharmacy
review home visits
Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• Shared space on the
knowledge network
Laura McIver
Chief Pharmacist, Healthcare Improvement Scotland
Laura.Mciver@nhs.net
“It was recognized by the Directors of Pharmacy that there was a need to
strengthen our strategic approach and the sharing of best practice to improve
pharmaceutical care of older people. The collaborative is hosted by the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society and includes pharmacy practitioners and
organisations that play a pivotal role in providing pharmaceutical care”.
Alison Taylor
Policy Lead, Integration Division, Scottish Government
Alison.Taylor@Scotland.gsi.gov.uk
“The government vision is for supported care for people to live well at home
for as long as possible and to have a positive experience of any care they
receive. We shouldn’t lose sight of the fact it is both important and difficult to
achieve. 42% of the Scottish Government budget is on health and social care.
Integration will have to cause some “constructive disruption” as it happens,
but the door is open to us all to show professional leadership in driving it
forward.”
Phil Mackie
Lead Consultant, Scottish Public health Network
Phil.Mackie@lhb.scot.nhs.uk
“The population aged over 90 years is forecast to rise by 148% in the next 20
years. Not only will the older population increase, but the younger groups will
Kingsley and Aileen Matthews
either stay stable or decline, so we have a fall in the number of people who
Patient representatives & ALLIANCE involvement network
currently perform a significant proportion of the formal and informal caring
roles. This shows us that methods of care will have to change. We know that
“Pharmacists should promote themselves. We had to Google what training a
people are likely to have more years in
pharmacist had. We didn’t know. We were amazed. Most patients don’t
their lives; we also need to ensure they
know. Pharmacists should educate us on our drugs and signpost us to
Please use the contact
have more life in their years.”
services.”
details provided to find out
more about these topics and
share your learning and
Contact: Lisa Birch, Project Officer
Ailsa Power, Assistant Director of Pharmacy
good practice!
0131 623 4725 / lisa.birch@nhs.net
0141 223 1539 / Ailsa.Power@nes.scot.nhs.uk
Polypharmacy Guidance
Alpana Mair, Deputy Chief Pharmacist,
Scottish Government
Alpana.Mair@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
“Polypharmacy is hard to define; it’s not just
about the number of drugs a person is
taking although that can be used as a proxy
to allow targeting of our efforts. It’s really
more about a person being on more
medicines than they need or can get benefit
from.”
Dementia - Promoting Excellence from
framework to frontline
Anne Watson, Assistant Director of
Pharmacy, NHS Education for Scotland
Anne.Watson@nes.scot.nhs.uk
“All pharmacists should be aware of the
`Promoting Excellence’ learning framework
and feel confident to go away and up-skill
themselves to develop pharmaceutical care
for this patient group.”
Royal Pharmaceutical Society Guidance;
Improving Patient Outcomes-the better
use of multi-compartment compliance
aids
Annamarie McGregor, Professional Support
Pharmacist, Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Annamarie.McGregor@rpharms.com
“To support person-centred care, MCAs
should not be provided without a robust
holistic assessment. Hospital pharmacists,
community pharmacists and primary care
pharmacists all have a role and need to work
together to support the changes necessary.
Workshops
Throughout the conference, we
ran parallel workshops on ‘hot
topics’. These sessions are
summarised here with the contact
details for the speakers, should you
wish further information on these
topics.
Hospital at Home - The Fife Experience
Evelyn McPhail, Director of Pharmacy, NHS Fife
Chair, NHS Scotland Directors of Pharmacy Group
evelyn.mcphail@nhs.net
“This is a consultant geriatrician led service where
the patient is still in their own home.
Communication is paramount and there is a need
to engage with all of the multidisciplinary team.”
Macmillan Community Pharmacy Facilitators
and the role of pharmacies in palliative care
Janet Trundle, Project Lead, Macmillan Pharmacist
Facilitator Project, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
Janet.Trundle@nhs.net
Pharmacy home based medication
review for the elderly falls patient
Mary McGovern, Falls and Osteoporosis
Pharmacist, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
marymcgovern@nhs.net
“Palliative care is just good care focused on the
patient and, importantly, focused on supporting the
carer, especially as the end of life approaches.
Remember little things matter; communicate with
health and social care colleagues and know what
resources are available to support safe practice.”
“The best way to prevent osteoporotic
fractures is to stop people falling! There
should be a fully integrated system looking
at all the different factors which can lead to
falls as this would provide the best outcome
for the patients. This isn’t just about
prescribing bisphosphonates.”
Putting Life into the Dementia Strategy
Annamarie McGregor, Professional Support
Pharmacist, Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Annamarie.McGregor@rpharms.com
“It is really important to support patients who are
newly diagnosed with dementia and their family /
carers. A Scottish Government framework for the
reduction of psychoactive medication is planned
and pharmacists in all sectors must champion its
implementation. Communication and collaboration,
eg with dementia champions, is key to success.”
Resources: www.knowledge.scot.nhs.uk/dementia
Mental Health of Older People - It’s not
just Dementia
Lorna Hammond, Lead Clinical Pharmacist,
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde
Lorna.Hammond@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
“Mental health illness (other than
dementia) in older adults is more prevalent
than you would at first imagine and, due to
the physical changes and ill health
associated with the aging process,
treatment can be complex.”