Can AI help reduce polypharmacy? (Part 1)

About this episode

Steve Williams discusses his approach to tackling polypharmacy and the potential role of AI in reducing medication-related issues.

Steve Williams is a senior clinical pharmacist with 35 years of NHS experience, and a co-host of the Aural Apothecary Podcast - a show that takes "an authentic yet light-hearted take on the world of medicines and healthcare in the UK". Steve shares his approach to tackling polypharmacy with us, having moved from acute hospital settings to general practice specifically to address the root causes of medication-related hospital admissions. Working with a 21,000-patient practice, he describes a systematic approach to structured medication reviews - stratifying patients by risk (those on 8+ medications, high-risk combinations, or dependence-forming medicines), allocating pharmacist time to proactive reviews, and combining medication reviews with long-term condition management in single 30-minute appointments. The discussion explores the scale of the problem in the UK: a thousand pills dispensed per second, a million people on 10 or more repeat medicines, and an estimated million hospital admissions annually due to medication issues. Steve advocates for training and empowering "competent prescribers" - whether GPs, pharmacists, or nurses - to confidently review and deprescribe…

People in this episode

Hosts: Steve, Jessica Morley

Guest: Steve Williams

Topics covered

• polypharmacy
• AI in healthcare
• medication management
• clinical pharmacy

Keywords

• NHS
• structured medication reviews
• competent prescribers
• Dorset system

Mentioned in this episode

Places: UK, Dorset

More episodes of Scottish National Users' Group (SNUG) Podcast

• 21st Century solutions for telephony, triage and GP consulting · May 27, 2026 · 41 min
• Rediscovering GP innovation with Professor George Crooks · April 29, 2026 · 44 min
• Orkney needs IT... that works! · March 20, 2026 · 30 min
• Can AI help reduce polypharmacy? (Part 2) · February 18, 2026 · 36 min
• From information overload to actionable knowledge · December 21, 2025 · 34 min
• Will ye gang tae the Highlands? · November 26, 2025 · 32 min