15. Caring about medicines in care homes with Jonathan and Sundus; Introduction to the series

Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Meds and the PrescQIPP podcast, engaging conversations about medicines-related dilemmas. Today, your host Jonathan Underhill, Medicines Clinical Adviser at PrescQIPP, introduces the first episode of a new series called 'Caring about medicines in Care Homes with Jonathan and Sundus'. 

We meet Sundus Jawad, who works for NHS Frimley, and has over 25 years' experience working closely with GP practices, care homes and other providers. 

In this episode, our hosts discuss some of issues she comes across commonly in her everyday work in care settings, which will be covered in more detail in future episodes. These include specific medicines safety challenges, common medication errors, the importance of nutrition and hydration as well as dealing with some of the behavioural aspects of dementia. The role of pharmacy professionals within the wider multidisciplinary team is at the heart of all of this and Sundus shares some memorable stories of people living in care settings she has met along the way.

PrescQIPP resources mentioned in this episode:

• PrescQIPP Care Homes webkit
• PrescQIPP Clinical Masterclass - September 2024 - Antipsychotic prescribing in people with dementia
• PrescQIPP Bulletin 268: IMPACT
• PrescQIPP Bulletin 356: Stopping over-medication of psychotropic drugs
• PrescQIPP Bulletin 331: Medication reviews in patients with multi-morbidity

Other resources mentioned in this episode:

• NICE Guideline on Managing medicines in care homes
• Care Quality Commission Medicines information for adult social care services
• Repeat Prescribing Toolkit
• National Polypharmacy Programme from Wessex Health Innovation Network
• Get details of upcoming ALS cohorts and book your place here.

A new episode of Talking Meds will be available every other Friday.
If you have feedback or suggestions for future topics and guests please submit them to talkingmeds@prescqipp.info

PrescQIPP is funded by the NHS for the NHS, and our aim is to improve medicines-related care for patients. We do this by producing high quality evidence-based resources and training, and by facilitating networks between NHS organisations and professionals.

The majority of pharmacists and other healthcare professionals across the UK can access our resources by registering and logging on to our website. If you have any difficulty accessing the website you can email help@prescqipp.info and we’ll aim to sort things out for you.

Find out more about PrescQIPP here