Polypharmacy Guidance: appropriate prescribing, making medicines safe, effective and sustainable 2025 - 2028
2. Medication reviews for those receiving care at home and in care homes
| Our recommendations | Strength of recommendation |
|---|---|
| 1. Prescribers responsible for those living in care homes could utitlise information from different sources, to identify those appropriate for review to reduce polypharmacy, e.g. the polypharmacy case finding indicators | Conditional recommendation |
| 2. Relevant tools can be utilised to prioritise medication review, such as polypharmacy case finding inficators or criteria based on START/STOPP | Good practice point |
| 3. People in care homes should have a multidisciplinary medicines review on admission and then at least yearly, in particular for PIMS and antipsychotics | Good practice point |
| 4. Small educational group sessions can lead to a decrease in prescribing of a range of medications, including antibiotics, and neuroleptics | Strong recommendation |
| 5. Care home staff and healthcare professionals (HCP) should be aware that certain medications can increase the risk of falls and harm caused by falls. | Conditional recommendation |
| 6. Medication Sick Day Guidance should be discussed with care staff so harm can be prevented during an episode of acute dehydrating illness. | Conditional recommendation |
| 7. Shared decision making (part of 7-Steps process) reflecting the stated wishes of individuals and families, to improve quality of care, is important as part of a medication review. | Strong recommendation |