Improving Pharmaceutical Care for Older People Conference

1. Improving Pharmaceutical Care for Older People Conference Key note speakers • Identified priorities.. • Health & social care integration • Safe and effective use of medicines at home • Health literacy 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”. • 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. • Putting the patient at the heart of care is essential and becomes even more of a priority when we consider the pharmaceutical care • needs of older people. We need all leaders • from all sectors and agencies to work • together to share solutions and best practice. • Best wishes, • Dr Catherine Duggan • Director of Professional Development & Support, • Royal Pharmaceutical Society • How do we achieve these? • Increased support for community pharmacists • Work collaboratively • Patient focused services 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.” • Examples of innovative practice • Polypharmacy review home visits • Shared space on the knowledge network 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 either stay stable or decline, so we have a fall in the number of people who 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 people are likely to have more years in their lives; we also need to ensure they have more life in their years.” Kingsley and Aileen Matthews Patient representatives & ALLIANCE involvement network “Pharmacists should promote themselves. We had to Google what training a pharmacist had. We didn’t know. We were amazed. Most patients don’t know. Pharmacists should educate us on our drugs and signpost us to services.” Please use the contact details provided to find out more about these topics and share your learning and good practice! Contact: Lisa Birch, Project Officer Ailsa Power, Assistant Director of Pharmacy 0131 623 4725 /lisa.birch@nhs.net 0141 223 1539 / Ailsa.Power@nes.scot.nhs.uk

2. 69% of attendees rated workshops 1-4 as excellent 75% of attendees rated workshops 5-8 as excellent 83% of attendees rated the speakers as excellent or very good Workshops 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.” 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.” 80% of attendees felt the objectives of the conference had been met 131 attendees! 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.” 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 “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.” Pharmacy home based medication review for the elderly falls patient Mary McGovern, Falls and Osteoporosis Pharmacist, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde marymcgovern@nhs.net “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.” 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. 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.”