MOIC alongside Department of Health and Pharmacy Management jointly organised Northern Ireland’s first dedicated Medicines Safety Conference in Belfast on Wednesday 28th November.
The event brought together healthcare staff to share and learn from examples of best practice in medication safety and showed how Northern Ireland is leading the way in medication safety. In addition, the conference considered the WHO Challenge, Medication Without Harm which aims to reduce medicine related harm by 50% over a 5 year period
The conference was chaired by Cathy Harrison Acting Chief Pharmaceutical Officer at the Department of Health, who said
“The occasion of Northern Ireland’s first ever dedicated Medicines Safety Conference gave us the opportunity to recognise examples of new and innovative practice from all sectors aimed at ensuring the safe use of medicines in Northern Ireland. By bringing healthcare staff together to share and learn from examples of best practice, we aim to use that energy and inspiration to improve the quality of care and make our system even safer for the benefit of our population.
The Conference gave us the opportunity to share our journey to date in developing Northern Ireland’s response to the WHO Third Global Patient Safety Challenge “Medication without Harm”, and to build support for our ambitious vision to build on our solid foundations and past successes using collective leadership to deliver system wide improvements.”
The conference welcomed some international experts , including Ciara Kirk Clinical Lead, National Medication Safety Programme, HSE National Quality Improvement Team who presented on developing and delivering the challenge with WHO and what the evidence says is working to improve safety in this area. Dr Catherine Duggan, Chief Executive Officer, International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), based in the Hague provided an International view on the WHO Challenge.
The day closed with Angela Carrington Medication Safety Lead, Department of Health providing an update on Northern Ireland’s response to date on the Medication Without Harm challenge and showcased how we are prioritising patient safety in the delivery of medication.