This guidance sets out 16 national medicines optimisation opportunities and signposts to resources to support integrated care boards (ICBs) to choose at least five to deliver alongside their local medicines optimisation priorities.

The list of 16 is not provided in any priority order and reflects the breadth of opportunities that can be selected by ICBs to best reflect the needs of their population and expertise of health and care providers. ICBs can explore all the opportunities to secure improvements for their populations, tailoring local implementation accordingly aligned to their four key objectives covering outcomes, inequalities, value, and socioeconomic development.

Some future medicines optimisation opportunities that may be considered for 2024/25 are listed in the guidance. Please share any others with regional chief pharmacists and by contacting the NHS England medicines policy team at england.medicines@nhs.net.

Responsibilities and accountabilities for delivery of the opportunities are set out in the separate Regional arrangements for medicines optimisation guidance. Regional teams will support ICB leaders to select at least five of the opportunities, and NHS England will use available data to review progress against those chosen. These arrangements sit alongside implementation guidance that underlines the importance of shared decision making, between professionals and patient, which is fundamental to the success of these opportunities. The regional arrangements guidance replaces the previous Regional Medicines Optimisation Committee (RMOC) operating model.