NHS Arden & GEM CSU and NHS Norwich CCG have been successful at this year’s Patient Safety Awards in the 'Improving Safety in Medicines Management Initiative' category.
The Patient Safety Awards - which recognise, reward and thank hardworking teams and individuals for their commitment to improving safety, culture and experience in patient care - took place in Manchester on 2 July 2019. The CSU’s medicines optimisation team was recognised for a highly effective medicines optimisation project, run in partnership with and on behalf of NHS Norwich CCG, to improve patient safety in care homes through a medication review service.
Commenting on the entry, the awards judges said: “The judges were impressed with these deserving winners and are hoping that this will help them to recognise the outstanding work in this part of the system they are covering. It is clear that they are making a real difference to individual patients.”
“We are absolutely delighted for the team to have received this recognition for what we do every day. It is essential that medicines being administered are regularly reviewed to ensure they remain safe and effective and we are proud that our service is helping to achieve this for elderly care home residents in Norwich. Our winning entry demonstrates what can be achieved through holistic, multidisciplinary partnership working and, above all, maintaining a patient-centred approach.”
Jenny Desborough, Senior Clinical Pharmacist at Arden & GEM
In order to ensure that care home residents throughout Norwich were receiving annual multidisciplinary medication reviews, Norwich CCG approached Arden & GEM’s medicines optimisation team to support their locally commissioned service (LCS) for care homes. By working in partnership, the team has designed and delivered a consistent and effective care home medication review service which has improved quality, increased the appropriateness of medicines, reduced polypharmacy and had a direct impact on patient safety.
Read more about the project to improve safety in Norwich care homes here.