Optimising medicines in primary care – do mental health conditions make it harder?

Medicines are the commonest therapeutic intervention used in general practice to improve health and wellbeing, with over a billion prescription items dispensed each year. However, it is also well-recognised that medicines can cause harms and are not always used appropriately. As a result, a number of approaches have been developed to optimise the safe and effective use of medicines in primary care. But how are these issues affected by mental health? This talk will consider the ways in which mental health impacts both patients’ use of medicines and current medication optimisation strategies, alongside the gaps in evidence and how we might do things better in the future.