About the programme

The prescription of a medicine is the most common intervention in healthcare, however over 50% of medicines are not taken as prescribed. Avoidable medication errors cost 1,700 lives and more than £98 million to the NHS in England every year. Medication errors are recognised as a global issue, with the World Health Organisation (WHO) aiming to halve the level of severe avoidable harm caused by the mistakes between 2017 and 2022.

The MO programme aims to improve the appropriate prescribing, administration, dispensing and monitoring of medicines while putting patients at the very heart of their care. The WMAHSN will seek to reduce unwarranted variation and inequalities in access to medicines and align with AHSN business priorities, strategic health goals, NHS Long-Term Plan, WHO medicines safety targets and relevant to local system deliverables.

The WMAHSN will work with all sectors in our emerging Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) to deliver a diverse set of projects which address the following areas of priority for MO in the West Midlands region:

• Transfer of Care Around Medicines (TCAM),
• High Risk Drugs,
• Polypharmacy,
• Women’s Health,
• Antimicrobial Stewardship,
• Environmental sustainability of medicines,
• Integrated Pharmacy and Medicines Optimisation (IPMO).

Find out more

Click on the links below to find further information relating to specific projects under the MO programme.