Preventing Problematic Polypharmacy: Getting the balance right in older people and those with frailty

Addressing problematic polypharmacy - the use of multiple medicines that may no longer be necessary or may cause harm - remains a critical national priority and a major challenge for the NHS.

Studies indicate that up to 50% of medications prescribed to older people could be inappropriate. Currently more than 765,000 people aged 65 and over in England were taking 10 or more medicines, a figure projected to exceed 1.1 million by 2035 without effective intervention, and bringing with it a possible 77,000 additional unplanned hospital admissions.

In response to this and contributing to the delivery of the NHS 10 Year Plan, the Health Innovation Network has remodelled its successful polypharmacy programme with a stronger focus on frailty and repeat prescribing, building on a proven three-pillared approach to population health management, workforce education and public behaviour change.

Initially covering East Midlands, Wessex and the West of England, the new programme for 2026/2027 is well-placed to help integrated care boards (ICBs) deliver their five-year prevention plans and will support efforts to address frailty and ageing. Neighbourhood teams will be supported to implement an evidence-based approach to tackling problematic polypharmacy. Colleagues will have access to workforce education and learning opportunities and a suite of patient-facing resources for Structured Medication Reviews, translated into 12 community languages with audio and Easy Read versions.

Preventing Problematic Polypharmacy: online launch event – 13 May 2026

Join our relaunch webinar on Wednesday 13 May to find out more about the new polypharmacy programme and to hear from key partners involved in this work. Register for a place here.

Tom Gentry, Head of Health and Care Policy for Age UK, will be one of the guest speakers at the launch event. Tom said: “In a period of significant change in the NHS, optimising medicine for older people remains as important as ever. Getting this right is crucial to supporting older people to live well at home, avoid admissions to hospital and get the best therapeutic benefit from their treatments. We are very happy to continue our collaboration with the programme and helping to make a difference to older people’s care.”

Polypharmacy Action Learning Sets

The Polypharmacy Action Learning Sets (ALS) are a cornerstone of the Health Innovation Network’s approach to tackling problematic polypharmacy through workforce education and development. This evidence-based training model has upskilled over 1,300 GPs, pharmacists and prescribers to date, resulting in 83% of participants making tangible changes to their prescribing practice.

This aspect of the new programme is being delivered in partnership with the Vivensa Foundation, who are funding a new ALS series for 2026.

Katy Saunders, Chief Executive of the Vivensa Foundation said: “One of our core aims is to strengthen the collective understanding of what works. The evidence is clear: structured medication reviews and evidence-informed deprescribing can safely reduce medicines for up to half of older people, improving quality of life without increasing risk. But evidence alone is not enough. It must be translated into everyday practice – across primary care, community services and the systems that fund and shape them.”

Our next Action Learning Set starts on 3 June 2026. Find out more and register for a place.

Population health management

Integral to the programme’s approach to encouraging better conversations about medicines and shared decision-making is population health management. To help healthcare professionals understand and utilise available data, the Health Innovation Network is again partnering with NHS Business Services Authority (BSA) to offer educational webinars.

The first webinar will take place on Tuesday 12 May 2026. Find out more and register here.

Polypharmacy masterclasses

Polypharmacy masterclasses are also making a return as part of the new programme, providing a comprehensive deep dive into a specific topic.

The first session takes place on 7 May 2026 and will focus on anticholinergic medicines, which are prescribed for a wide range of conditions. In older people, who are exposed to lots of medicines, the impact of anticholinergic burden can be severe. Find out more and register for a place.

Changing public behaviour

The third pillar of the Health Innovation Network’s polypharmacy work is changing public behaviour. A menu of practical resources have been co-produced with patients, academics and the VCSE sector to support patients in both primary care and care homes to have better, shared-decision-making conversations about their medicines.

Improving access to Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs) for seldom heard or marginalised communities, the patient resources have been translated into 12 community languages and made available in Easy Read and audio formats. Access the resources here.

Find out more about Preventing Problematic Polypharmacy here.

Find out more about Medicines Optimisation in the Wessex region