Patient Safety Awards 2016: Improving Safety in Medicines Management

Winner: Portsmouth Hospitals Trust with Wessex Academic Health Science Network

If patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease can be recognised before they arrive in hospital in a crisis, there is a lot that can be done to improve their lives, their health and the cost to the NHS of looking after these individuals.

It has delivered significant outcomes, including a 15 per cent reduction in admissions and dramatic improvements in medicines management

Portsmouth’s MISSION-COPD does just that, working across primary, community and secondary care. It is a quality improvement programme supported by the Health Foundation and others.

It has delivered significant outcomes, including a 15 per cent reduction in admissions and dramatic improvements in medicines management.

The judges said: “This was an impressive project which demonstrated clear evidence based outcomes. The project demonstrated how improving safety in medicines management works alongside broader initiative to provide a system approach to improving health outcomes.”