Care of older people

High dose vitamin D has no increased benefit for bone mineral density

Monthly dosing of vitamin D3 supplements in older adults does not increase bone mineral density, the results of a recent study show.…

Think outside the box: replacing multicompartment compliance aids

In January 2019, Boots announced that it was changing the way it dispenses medicines to care homes — from multicompartment compliance aids to original packs.…

Pharmacists should manage medicines during transitions of care to improve medicines safety, NHS Improvement proposes

A nominated pharmacist should be designated to manage medicines during patient transitions between all settings, NHS Improvement has proposed as part of a consultation on medicines safety.…

Emollient packaging should include fire risk warning, says MHRA

People who use emollient creams to treat dry and itchy skin conditions should be warned about the potential fire hazard, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has said.…

Hospital admissions ‘important driver’ of potentially inappropriate prescribing, study finds

More than half of older patients were exposed to potentially inappropriate prescribing, a study of almost 40,000 patients published in The BMJ has found.…

Older people with hand disabilities struggle to open blister packs

This is a plea for the designers of blister pill packs to consider the increasing numbers of older people (and others) who have serious problems removing pills from the blister packs in which they are supplied. Before their advent, you would go to the pharmacy with your prescription and the ph…

No benefit to daily aspirin in healthy older people

Daily low-dose aspirin does not increase the duration of disability-free life in healthy older people, trial results published in the New England Journal of Medicine have shown.…

Pharmacist interventions may not improve polypharmacy, study shows

There is no clear evidence that pharmaceutical care-based interventions improve appropriate polypharmacy in older people, results of a recent Cochrane Review show.…

The challenge of tackling social isolation among older people through community pharmacy

Ageing Better in Camden, London, is one of 14 Big Lottery Fund Ageing Better programmes across England that are working to tackle social isolation and loneliness among older people by drawing on existing skills and resources in the local community. Here, we share what we learned as part of a two-yea…

GP-based audit intervention helps cut high-risk prescribing

Results from a pharmacist-delivered audit pilot show that it reduced levels of high-risk prescribing in general practice, study results have shown.…