Deprescribing as part of a person-centred approach

As a result of undertaking person-centred medication reviews using the 7-Steps process, some medicines may be identified as no longer being appropriate, and so stopped. This is often referred to as ‘deprescribing’, which is defined as the ‘planned and supervised process of dose reduction or stopping of medication that might be causing harm, or no longer be of benefit’.⁵¹

A national programme found that when taking this approach, on average one to two medicines were stopped per person per review, and the rates of polypharmacy decreased.^52,53 Further work in the European iSIMPATHY project, across Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, found an average of 11 interventions per review from 6,481 patients. These included patient education, medicines reconciliation, medication changes and monitoring.  Recommended interventions were accepted in 94% of interventions. The average number of medications reduced from 12 to 11, with 92% of the reviews resulting in more appropriate medication use, therefore decreasing the likelihood of medication-related harm. Inappropriate medications were stopped (i.e. deprescribed), reduced or altered to improve appropriateness.⁹