Skip to Main Content
The first stop for professional medicines advice

MSATS – Safe use of medicines in palliative and end of life care

Event 24 September 2025Location Online via WebEx at 12:30-14:00
Topics: Medication SafetyPalliative and End of Life CarePast EventsPrimary Care

Discussion of medication safety challenges within palliative and end of life care; inspiring partnership across the system.

Contents
  1. Date
  2. Location
  3. About the event
    1. Why it’s important
    2. What was covered
    3. Learning outcomes
  5. Speakers
    1. Non-SPS speakers
    2. SPS Speakers
  7. Resources
    1. Recordings
    2. Presentation resources
  9. Contact us
  10. Update history

Date

24 September 2025

Location

Online via WebEx at 12:30-14:00

About the event

This interactive session was part of the ‘Medication Safety Across the System’ (MSATS) series aimed at healthcare professionals, working in any sector with a role or passion for medication safety and/or involved in medicines use. 

Our speakers shared innovative practices addressing the challenges in medicines use in palliative and end of life care to inspire and equip the audience, ready for translation and replication across systems. 

Why it’s important

Palliative and end of life care is complex, involving a wide range of patient groups and professionals across the healthcare system. Safe management of medicines requires knowledge and skills across all sectors. Treatment often includes unlicensed, off-label, and controlled drugs with potential for misuse. Timely access, especially out of hours, adds further challenge, making safe medication use challenging during these highly emotive periods.

Implementation of safety strategies to support the safer use of medicines in palliative and end of life care requires a collaborative and system-wide approach to ensure safe and sustainable improvements. 

This 8:45 minutes podcast explores some of the known issues which challenges the safe use of medicines in services and, the impact these have for patient, carers and loved ones.

What was covered

  • A discussion of factors that add complexities to the safe prescribing, supply and administration of medicines for palliative and end of life care 
  • Shared exemplar practices related to the safer use of medicines in palliative and end of life care, which will allow for reflection on local practice and consideration for replication at a local and wider healthcare system level 
  • Opportunities to network with peers to inform the development of appropriate local and system wide responses to safety concerns 

Learning outcomes

  • Articulate key safety issues related to the prescribing, supply and administration of medicines for palliative and end of life care 
  • Understand the importance of clear communication and documentation accessible to all healthcare professionals involved in the care of these patients 
  • Understand the benefit of clear guidance, procedures and policies to support safer use of medicines in palliative and end of life care 
  • Reflect on examples shared and identify actions or responses to recommend locally, in order to improve safe practice

Speakers

A range of speakers from SPS and other organisations helped to run this event.

Non-SPS speakers

Melinda Presland

Consultant Pharmacist, Palliative & End of Life Care, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; co-lead for the Ambitions for Palliative and End of Life Care

Janki Patel

Lead Pharmacist Medicines Value at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, Clinical Pharmacist and NMP Lead at St Micheals Hospice and St Wilfrids Hospice, East Sussex

Dr Rosanna Fennessy

Research Associate, University of Cambridge

Dr Hannah May-Miller

Specialty Registrar in Palliative and General Internal Medicine, St Christopher’s Hospice

Siobhan Abrahams

Advanced Pharmacist for Virtual Wards, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust

Tanya Siriwimala 

Lead Pharmacist for Palliative & End of Life Care, GSTT

Sophie Bhandary 

Lead Pharmacist South East London ICB

Rachel Melsom

Macmillan Palliative and End of Life Care Transformation Lead, Sussex

Lisa O’Hara 

Nurse Consultant PEoLC

Jennifer Scott-Green

End of Life Care Lead Southe East Coast Ambulance Service

SPS Speakers

Learn more about SPS team members who are speaking.

Resources

Information presented in these resources is correct at time of recording. Current guidance should be followed.

Recordings

Webinar Recording

Palliative and end of life care in community pharmacy

Paul Jenks is a Community Pharmacist, Healthcare Capability Manager for Boots and Chair of Community Pharmacy Lincolnshire – Local Pharmaceutical Committee.  In this short presentation, he discusses the role of community pharmacy in palliative and end of life care including the supply of medicines, providing advice and ensure safe disposal of medicines.  This video is useful for community pharmacy teams but also for the wider healthcare professionals to understand the role.

Presentation resources

Slides from the presentation are now available below.

Contact us

Please contact the admin team if you have any questions. 

Update history

  1. Added presentation
  1. Added webinar recording and presentations
  1. Republished
  2. Additional speaker added
  3. Event changed to past tense, registration block removed
  1. Associate resource recording added
  1. Additional speaker added
  1. Additional speaker added
  1. Additional speaker added
  1. Additional speaker added
  1. Published

Print this page