Non-adherence to medication is a \u201cwicked\u201d problem. Studies consistently report non-adherence rates of 50% or more particularly in people living with long-term chronic diseases. Non-adherence has been identified as a key target, for clinical interventions, for many years; I first learnt about it when I trained as a pharmacist over 30 years ago. Despite numerous policy initiatives and research studies it remains a challenge. If anything, it is getting worse perhaps as a consequence of a guideline disease specific approach to treatment and resulting polypharmacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prior to moving to academia in 2012, I spent 20 years plus working in the NHS including community pharmacy, acute sector and mental health. My roles included clinical and managerial; I was chief pharmacist in two NHS Trusts. Since moving to academia, I have led six studies funded by the NIHR and UKRI mainly focused on medication optimisation and the role of community pharmacy. I have also been a co-applicant on numerous other studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My presentation builds on my clinical, leadership and research experience; plus my personal experience. I will aim to illustrate the challenge of non-adherence linked with my journey across multiple clinical areas and as an academic. Building on this experience, I will present the evidence from my research and wider.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The presentation will particularly focus on two areas: older people including those living with dementia, and mental health. I will discuss the findings from the NIHR MEMORABLE<\/a> study and also the potential impact of anti-cholinergic burden<\/a>. The second clinical area is mental health which presents unique adherence challenges. The presentation will focus on some of the underlying tensions<\/a> and discuss recent research on medication optimisation, the NIHR MEDIATE<\/a> study, and managing anti-psychotic weight gain, the NIHR RESOLVE<\/a> study. Partly building on direct personal experience, one key focus will be the role of Family carers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, the presentation will offer practical solutions on how we can start to address this \u201cwicked\u201d problem of non-adherence and areas for future research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Non-adherence to medication is a \u201cwicked\u201d problem. Studies consistently report non-adherence rates of 50% or more particularly in people living with long-term chronic diseases. Non-adherence has been identified as a key target, for clinical interventions, for many years; I first learnt about it when I trained as a pharmacist over 30 years ago. Despite numerous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":989,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n