Helping older people get the right medicine
- 7 hours ago
- 1 min read
Over one million people in England take ten or more medicines, particularly older adults with frailty, dementia, or multiple long-term conditions. This exposes them to increased risks of falls, functional decline, hospitalisation, and premature death, with polypharmacy contributing to 16.5% of unplanned admissions and costing the NHS £2.21 billion annually.
1 in 3 people aged 65 and older take 5 or more medicines every day (polypharmacy). Some of these drugs may no longer be appropriate. They could increase the risk of falls, hospital admission, or even death, especially among people who are frail (and less able to recover from injury and illness). Deprescribing (reducing, stopping or switching drugs) is safe for some conditions, medications and in settings such as primary care.
ARC Wessex collaborated with Primary Care Networks, Integrated Care Boards, Wessex Health Innovation Network, national polypharmacy leads, primary care practitioners, and patient groups to co-design structured medication reviews (SMRs) and deprescribing approaches tailored to high-risk populations like people living with frailty.
Dr Kinda Ibrahim was joined by health and care professionals at an event in February to look at how to support people to safely lower or change their medication.
In March 2026, a new publication for the MODIFY project was published showing evidence that deprescribing in primary care is possible - Implementing a medication review and deprescribing intervention for older people living with frailty and polypharmacy in general practice: a feasibility study
Images from the polypharmacy event in Southampton, February 2026.
Find out more about MODIFY
More about desprescibing in ARC
