Polypharmacy and medication reviews with pharmacists Dr Hayley Croft (UON) and Adeline Tan (PSA)

In this podcast NDS is joined by Dr Hayley Croft – University of Newcastle (UoN) and Adeline Tan – Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) to share some key information and tips with Disability Support Workers including:

• What polypharmacy is and when might workers identify polypharmacy
• Complications and challenges that may occur with polypharmacy
• Accessing government funded medication reviews including the Home Medicines Review and MedsCheck (Community Pharmacy)
• What to expect and how to support a person prepare for a medication review
   

Resource list
Medication review programs:  

• Home Medicines Review - Pharmacy Programs Administrator (ppaonline.com.au) 

• MedsCheck and Diabetes Medscheck - Pharmacy Programs Administrator (ppaonline.com.au) 

Resources:  

• Talking to my GP and pharmacist about my medicines, Medicines Advice Initiative Australia 2024 

• Me and my Medication – easy read, Council of Intellectual Disability 2024 

• Polypharmacy Practice Alert (PD and Word doc easy read version), NDIS Commission 2020 

• Practice Alert (Video resource) - Polypharmacy (youtube.com), NDIS Commission  2020

• NDIS Commission Resources for people with disability: Resources for people with disability 

Services:  

• 1300 MEDICINE is a free Australian government-funded service staffed by pharmacists. 1300 MEDICINE is available by telephone (1300 633 424) to answer consumer questions about medicines and help consumers report adverse reactions to medicines and vaccines to TGA.  

• Health Direct: National Health Services Directory 
  A national directory of health services and the practitioners who provide them General Practice, Pharmacy, Hospital including emergency department 

• Health Direct: Online medicines information service| 
  Online medicines information service  

Medicines and disability reports:  

• NDS Safety and Quality use of Medication Sector Round Table Report 2024

• Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA): Medicine safety: disability care report 2021  

• NDIS Commission 2019 Report: Scoping review of causes and contributors to deaths of people with disability in Australia 

This podcast is part of the NDS Positive Health Outcomes Project funded by the Australian Government.