Lay summary
By 2028, NZ's ageing population will reach 1 million, with one-third taking five or more medicines (called polypharmacy). Polypharmacy increases the risk falls, injuries and hospitalisation. In addition, inequities in quality medicines use cause a three-fold risk of not getting the necessary medicines and a 1.5-fold hospitalisation rates in older Māori. There is currently no efficient method in NZ to quantify spectrum of medicines-related harm that older adults face including having inappropriately prescribed polypharmacy or not the necessary medicines prescribed, which disproportionately affect older Māori. This project aims to develop NZ’s first digital tool to guide safer use of medicines in older adults. The tool will use algorithms to systematically gather and intelligently analyse information and produce customised patient specific summary to generate recommendations that align with the patient’s goals of care. This helps to provide personalised (de)prescribing, reduce inequities in medicines use and healthcare costs associated with medicines-related harm.