A conference exploring how clinical research, medication safety and patient empowerment could impact national initiatives to support ageing adults takes place in Dublin today.

Attendees at the Ageing Medicine: From Clinical Insight to Ageing Better event will hear from healthcare professionals, patient advocates, policy makers and researchers on the importance of building on the evidence base and placing ageing adults at the centre of patient care procedures. Speakers will share evidence from research and personal experiences on how best to approach the challenges of multimorbidity, frailty and polypharmacy in older people.

Professor Denis O’Mahony, consultant physician in geriatric and stroke medicine at Cork University Hospital and Professor of Medicine at University College Cork, commented on the conference: “Ireland is a rapidly ageing society. The fastest growing sector of the population being those aged over 80 years, who are at highest risk of multiple chronic conditions or ‘multimorbidity’, which in turn drives multiple medications. This is commonly referred to as ‘polypharmacy’, which presents safety risks for older people since it is the strongest determinant of adverse drug reactions and events that lead to further healthcare demands in a system that is under increasing pressure for service delivery.”

Adding to this, Clinical Lead at the National Medication Safety Programme, HSE National Quality and Patient Safety, Ciara Kirke, said: “We know that most of these people have potentially inappropriate polypharmacy and that most admissions to hospital with adverse drug reactions are potentially preventable. The iSIMPATHY project showed that pharmacists employed to deliver person-centred medicines reviews in GP practices achieved reductions in the number of medicines, improved the quality and safety of prescribing and improved patient understanding and adherence, and reduced side effects. The team approach of patient, pharmacist and GP is crucial to achieving this impact.”

Dr Caitriona Cahir, Senior Lecturer at Data Science Centre, RCSI School of Population Health, spoke about her work as principal investigator on the 'Scope and nature of potential medication-related harm in older populations in Ireland' research project at RCSI, saying: “Our research is developing risk prediction models that will help identify the individuals and groups of older people where there is greatest impact from stopping/reducing high-risk medication. This is essential to enable the HSE and the health service target supports to those most likely to benefit from them.”

Other speakers at the conference included Siobhan Casey, Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland, who will discuss empowering older people to age better; Professor Roman Romero-Ortuno, Professor of Ageing Medicine and Frailty in the Discipline of Medical Gerontology, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin and Consultant Physician at St James's Hospital, who will address frailty as a focus for more appropriate prescribing in older people; Professor Frank Moriarty, Associate Professor at RCSI School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, who will explore the pharmacoepidemiology of inappropriate medications and Anne Mooney from Patients for Patient Safety Ireland, who will speak about medication management.

This event is funded by the Health Research Board (HRB) through a research grant awarded to RCSI and is held in collaboration with the Discipline of Medical Gerontology, School of Medicine, Trinity College Dublin.