Cluster page — medicines optimisation
NICE guidance and MO frameworks
The scaffolding
Why MO has more guidance than any other primary care domain
Medicines optimisation sits at the intersection of patient safety, prescribing evidence and population cost — which is why it has more NICE guidance, professional framework and NHS England programme content behind it than almost any other primary care domain. This page maps the core documents every PCN Lead Pharmacist should have at their fingertips.
NICE guidance
The core NICE references
- NG5 — Medicines optimisation (2015)
- NG56 — Multimorbidity: clinical assessment and management
- NG67 — Managing medicines for adults receiving social care in the community
- NG97 — Dementia: assessment, management and support (BPSD prescribing)
- NG109 — UTI antimicrobial prescribing
- NG136 — Hypertension in adults
- NG181 — Cardiovascular disease: risk assessment and reduction
- NG197 — Shared decision making
Professional & NHS frameworks
The framework layer
- RPS Medicines Optimisation: Four Principles (2013)
- NHS England Polypharmacy: Getting our medicines right toolkit
- NHS Scotland Polypharmacy Guidance (cross-border reference)
- PrescQIPP bulletins, deprescribing tools and audit templates
- STOPP/START version 3 (2023)
- Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) scale
- PINCER intervention framework (University of Nottingham)
- RCGP TARGET antibiotics toolkit
Frequently asked questions
NICE & frameworks — FAQs
What is NICE NG5?+
Medicines optimisation: the safe and effective use of medicines (2015). The foundational NICE guideline establishing what NHS organisations must do to ensure medicines optimisation — the reference document for ICB MO function and PCN MO delivery.
What is NICE NG56?+
Multimorbidity: clinical assessment and management. Provides the framework for managing patients with multiple long-term conditions — directly informs polypharmacy review and SMR practice.
What is NICE NG197?+
Shared decision making. Codifies the patient-centred decision-making approach that the RPS Four Principles describe — required reading for every clinical pharmacist running SMRs.
What is PrescQIPP?+
An NHS-funded community interest company providing prescribing improvement resources — bulletins, deprescribing tools, switch protocols, audit templates — used widely by ICB MO teams and PCN Lead Pharmacists.
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