Care of older people
Old age brings with it an increased likelihood of long-term conditions, as well as the prospect of taking multiple medicines. Frailty, dementia and mobility problems all contribute to the challenges faced by healthcare services when caring for ageing populations. Much can be done to improve the lives of older people – through innovative care pathways, evidence-based medicine and research into ageing and the delivery of care. Here, you can find news stories and articles on topics ranging ...
Case-based learning: palliative and end-of-life care in community pharmacySubscription
Community pharmacists encounter patients at all stages in their life; however, patients who require palliative care require dedicated time and special consideration.
Heart failure, older people and frailtySubscription
Diagnosis of heart failure and frailty can often be masked by other long-term conditions, making the delivery of treatment goals complicated.
Managing osteoporosis in older peopleSubscription
How to understand bone health in the context of the older person, including risk assessment, prevention and the management of osteoporosis in patients likely to have multiple comorbidities.
Putting insomnia to bedSubscription
An estimated 30–50% of the population will experience insomnia symptoms at some point in their lives and, in the UK, insomnia rates steadily rise with age. With a 2% increase in sales of over-the-counter sleep aids during 2017, pharmacists are seeing more patients with insomnia symptoms. Here we discuss the health implications of not getting enough sleep and what can be done to help people drift off.
How Kayt Blythin established a pharmacist-led medicines optimisation service in East Sussex care homes Subscription
Kayt Blythin is a principal clinical pharmacist for medicines optimisation for care homes at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust.
Diagnosis and management of hospital-acquired pneumonia in older adults Subscription
Hospital‑acquired pneumonia increases the length of in-patient hospital stay and is associated with high mortality rates, particularly in older people. Pharmacists and healthcare professionals need to know how to diagnose and manage the condition, and be cognisant of the gaps in the evidence base.
How to support patients with sight loss in pharmacy
More than two million people are affected by sight loss across the UK, which may impact on their ability to use and take their medicines correctly and safely. Here, the Royal National Institute of Blind People, Medicines Use and Safety team and Moorfields Eye Hospital provide advice and recommendations for pharmacy to provide appropriate support for people with sight loss.
Deprescribing drugs for care home residents could improve quality of lifeSubscription
The use of multiple medicines is still a major problem in British care homes, from the impact on residents to the strain on NHS resources, but ‘deprescribing’ can mitigate these risks.
Antidepressant use soars despite static depression prevalence, study findsSubscription
Use of antidepressants among older people has more than doubled over the past 20 years, despite little change in the prevalence of depression, research published in The British Journal of Psychiatry has shown.
Individualised approach to care reduces overtreatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in frail older people Subscription
Intensive treatment with insulin and sulfonylureas in older people with low HbA1c (<53mmol/mol) can increase the risk of hypoglycaemia, morbidity and mortality. Older people are less likely to benefit from the long-term protective effects of good glycaemic control and are at risk of inappropriate polypharmacy owing to co-morbidities.
Medication dosing could be 'poisoning' older people because of age exclusion in clinical trials
Older patients are often being ‘poisoned’ because licensed doses of drugs are only tested in younger, healthy populations, witnesses have told a House of Lords Science and Technology Committee inquiry.
Stopping statins in older patients increases risk of cardiovascular-related hospital admission
Statin discontinuation in patients aged 75 years and over is associated with a 33% increased risk of hospital admission for a cardiovascular event, a study published in European Heart Journal has found.
Less than 10% of eligible adults had NHS health check last year
Fewer than one in ten eligible adults had a NHS Health Check over the past year, figures published by the NHS have revealed.
Long-term diuretic use may reduce fracture risk in people with Alzheimer’s diseaseSubscription
Use of thiazide diuretics for three years or more may reduce the risk of low-energy fracture in people with Alzheimer’s disease, study results have suggested.
NHS England fails to fill 240 pharmacy posts in care homes by March 2019 deadline
NHS England has recruited just over 200 pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to work in care homes, despite suggesting that 240 roles would be filled by March 2019.
‘One-size-fits-all’ treatment targets harm frail older patients with diabetesSubscription
HbA1c targets that ignore differences in the physiology of older patients put them at risk of severe hypoglycaemia, harm and death.
