The Patient Safety Improvement Programmes are a key part of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy, which was launched in July 2019 and updated in February 2021, to deliver safety and quality improvements across the NHS in England.

The Medicine Safety Improvement Programme (MedSIP) was part of a three-year programme that aimed to reduce severe medication-related harm by 50% by 2024.

The current programme ‘Improving the care of patients living with chronic, non-cancer pain by reducing harm from opioids’ is anticipated to end on 31^st March 2025.

Project summary

As part of the national MedSIP Programme led by NHS England, our key national ambitions are:

By the end of March 2025 PSCs, working with willing ICSs, will collectively contribute to the following outcomes:

At least 50% of ICBs are:

1. Progressing through the phases of the whole systems approach framework
2. Identifying change ideas/ initiatives with data to support adoption into business as usual and/ or spread
3. Providing visible and sustainable system leadership of this priority.

Programme ambitions

We anticipate this will mean that by 31^st March 2025 HIWM will contribute to the following collective national ambitions across England:

1. 25,000 fewer people are prescribed oral or transdermal opioids (of any dose) for more than 3 months (NNH 62) compared to 31^st March 2024, preventing ~400 deaths.
2. 4,500 fewer people are prescribed high dose opioids (>120mg OME/day) compared to 31^st March 2024 (aOR 2.2)

Project partners

Supporting resources

Find out more

For further information on projects relating to the MedSIP programme, or to find out how you can get involved, please contact one of the project team below.

• Caroline Maries-Tillott, Assistant Programme Manager: caroline.maries-tillott@healthinnovationwm.org
• Claudia Li, Assistant Project Manager: claudia.li@healthinnovationwm.org
• Jodie Mazur, Associate Director Implementation & Improvement & MedSIP co-lead: jodie.mazur@healthinnovationwm.org