On Tuesday, 5 March 2024, we hosted the first SafetyNet medication safety meeting in Leeds. All six Patient Safety Research Collaborations (PSRCs) were represented, reflecting the importance of medication safety in today’s healthcare and its integration within each PSRC’s agenda. At the meeting, representatives from each PSRC summarised the work they were doing in this area, which span all areas of healthcare – primary care, secondary care and care homes, utilising a diverse array of research methods. The studies discussed addressed key areas, such as polypharmacy and high-risk prescribing, deprescribing, transfers of care, use of clinical decision support systems, use of technology to reduce medication administration errors, and the redesign of prescribing guidelines.

The presentations were followed by a lively discussion about potential areas of collaboration. Various models for collaboration were proposed, such as co-supervision of PhD candidates, representation on advisory panels, informal visits, mentorship and facilitating recruitment at study sites across different regions in England. For future studies, grant applications could draw on the diverse expertise across the PSRCs, employing a model of joint principal investigators and/or co-investigators.

The next steps involve arranging workshops and seminars, conducting a skills audit to map our collective expertise in medication safety, and exploring opportunities to submit joint research grants.

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