Imperial College tool featured in case studies for medicine optimisation

The POCAST project aims to improve management of infection in primary care.

Imperial College Health Partners have published a selection of case studies of tools and initiatives designed to help improve the prescribing of medicines in the UK. In his foreword to the study Dr Adrian Bull, Managing Director of Imperial College Health Partners, says more needs to be done to support patients to get the best outcomes from their medication. “We urgently need to address issues such as patients receiving insufficient information about their medication, not understanding how to take their medicines properly, as well hospital admissions cause by preventable medication reactions.” This practice is known as medicine optimisation.

The published case studies outline a number of medicine optimisation projects including POCAST, a point of care antimicrobial stewardship tool, developed by Dr Christianne Micallef and her team at Imperial College.

It is widely accepted that over prescription of antibiotics is a leading cause of antimicrobial resistance. Bacteria and other organisms that are resistant to antimicrobial drugs are harder to treat than ordinary infections, leading to increased hospital stays and a greater chance of death for patients. Dame Sally Davies, the UK Chief Medical Officer, has warned that antimicrobial resistance could have catastrophic consequences. If we don’t act quickly, we will soon run out of effective antimicrobial drugs, meaning that diseases such as TB will be impossible to treat.

Public Health England (PHE) has produced comprehensive guidance on the management of infections in primary care. The aim of the POCAST project is to present that guidance in a user-friendly digital format where infections and treatments can be easily found by clicking on the relevant body part. The guidance is currently available on an interactive website. Apps for Android and iOS are in development.

At the moment the website is targeted at GPs in North West London Clinical Commissioning Groups, but the aim is to launch it nationally and then internationally.

For more information about the project please contact Dr Christianne Micallef.