Deprescribing – is less more?

The 2017 Annual Scientific Meeting of Prescribing and Research in Medicines Management (PRIMM)was held at Coventry University London Campus, attended by 45 delegates. PRIMM’s tradition of high quality speakers continued with three outstanding presentations on polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) and how to address it. Invited speaker Professor Nina Barnett, Consultant Pharmacist in the care of older people, Medicines Use and Safety Team and NHS Specialist Pharmacy Service, (https://www.sps.nhs.uk/) entertained while informing us about the background to polypharmacy and its associated jargon. Most importantly, she emphasised how essential it is to use appropriate language/terminology when communicating with patients. She also described the cyclical approach to delivering patient-centred care, which she has developed with colleagues.

Dr Joanne Reeve, Clinical Reader in Primary Care at the University of Warwick, described some of her early work carried out in Liverpool which led her to develop the SAGE consultation model for individually tailored prescribing. This model includes the need …