PRESS RELEASE
People should be more involved in decisions about their medicines to ensure best outcomes from them.
New guideline on medicine optimisation published today outlines that having people at the centre of decisions about their care may enable them to use their prescribed medicines safely and effectively so getting the best possible outcomes from them.
People should be at the centre of decisions about their care. Shared decision making (across health and social care where relevant) should be based on best available evidence and take account of the patient’s individual needs, preferences and values.
Around 15 million people in England now have at least 1 long-term condition, such as heart failure or diabetes, that cannot currently be cured but can be controlled by medicines and other therapies.
Figures suggest that up to half the medicines prescribed for people with these conditions are not taken as intended. It is estimated that the number of people living with several long-term conditions (multimorbidity) being managed with a number of medicines (polypharmacy) will rise from 1.9 million in 2008 to nearly 3 million by 2018.
As life expectancy increases, more people are taking more medicines than before.
This NICE guideline on medicines optimisation sets out what health and social care practitioners and organisations need to do to have people centred systems and processes required for the optimal use of medicines. …more