2026 PrescQIPP Awards

Entries are now open for the 2026 PrescQIPP Awards.

Our five categories for align with NHS priorities: 

  • Addressing health inequalities
  • Care homes/domiciliary care/carer medicines optimisation
  • Data tools and technology to support medicines optimisation
  • Enhanced productivity, sustainability and value for money
  • Patient safety and addressing overprescribing

Addressing health inequalities 

Projects might include how you targeted disadvantaged communities to improve their uptake of preventative medicines, or how you have improved your guidelines or patient pathway to address health inequalities. This may also cover how systems have overcome barriers to implement national guidance or supported an appropriate increase or change in prescribing in hard to reach communities: for example use of DOACs in preference to warfarin, use of SGLT2is in people with type 2 diabetes or heart failure.

Care home/domiciliary care/carer medicines optimisation 

This award category covers all things care home, domiciliary care or carer related. From addressing the medicine optimisation needs of individual patients to improving training of care home, social care staff or carers on medicine optimisation issues. It could also include projects specifically aimed at improving medicines optimisation in school settings.

Data tools and technology to support medicines optimisation

This award recognises how data tools or technology have been used to enhance medicines optimisation in the broadest sense. This could include, but is not limited to, the use of digital apps or web-solutions, widgets or technological gadgets, solutions to support your digital provision, health informatics or visualisation systems, in-house technical solutions or implementing guidance on NICE approved medical technologies. This category also includes trialling new technologies or using existing ones to get enhanced outcomes for patients.

Enhanced productivity, sustainability and value for money

In line with the NHSE national medicines optimisation opportunities work stream, we have created this new category so you can showcase the great work you have done on the national medicines optimisation opportunities. However, this category is not limited to England - we want entries from all the devolved countries which demonstrate enhanced productivity, tackle sustainability or value for money. This category includes any switch projects you have undertaken which have resulted in cost or carbon footprint savings or improvements in productivity.

Patient safety and addressing overprescribing

We are keen to see how you have improved outcomes for patients by addressing patient safety or overprescribing. Projects could focus on medication reviews or running clinics in practices to address patient safety and overprescribing, tackling antimicrobial resistance, adhering to patient safety alerts, reducing medication errors, safe transfers of care, Medication Safety Officer role, actions taken around the medication safety dashboard indicators, new or amended commissioning pathways, efficiency savings or public campaigns. Projects addressing implementing the national overprescribing guidance can also be entered into this category. 

Attendees at the awards ceremony on Friday 25th September 2026 will also vote on the winners from each category to decide our overall Gold and Silver winners.

Criteria

Early stage projects

Delivered / late stage projects

Score out of 4

How innovative is it? / Has this been done before?

This could be a new innovative project that hasn't been done before or an old problem/ project delivered in a new way which would be innovative. For example, new levers/ contractual solutions to solve an old problem.

 

Measurable evidence and impact

Does the project demonstrate clear plans for evidence generation, e.g. number of patients: reviewed, deprescribed, switched to be recorded. Prescribing items and costs to be measured. Patient health outcomes to be measured, e.g. patient satisfaction surveys planned, hospital admissions data to be reviewed.

Potential impact - Explain how you will evaluate what has been the impact of the project on outcomes and value. e.g. how will the patient satisfaction surveys show patient outcome benefits if there are any. How will the recorded changes in prescribing items and costs demonstrate value. How will review of hospital admission data show improvements in patient outcomes and value.

Does the project demonstrate good evidence generation, e.g. number of patients: reviewed, deprescribed, switched. Changes in prescribing items and costs. Patient health outcomes results, e.g. patient satisfaction survey results, hospital admissions data. 

Delivered impact - What has been the impact on patient outcomes and values as a result of the project. Link results obtained with impact on patient outcomes and value, e.g. prescription items and costs reduced representing better value for money; patient survey results showed improvements in pain scores and so improving patient pain management.

 

Does it meet the MO principles?

Does the project consider Medicines Optimisation principles such as patient safety, medicines review and reconciliation, shared decision making and a multidisciplinary approach to patient care?

Does the project take a patient-centred approach to meet the RPS guiding principles for Medicines Optimisation? The four principles are:

  • Aim to understand the patient’s experience
  • Evidence based choice of medicines
  • Ensure medicines use is as safe as possible  
  • Make medicines optimisation part of routine practice

 

Patient/ stakeholder involvement

Has there been patient and stakeholder involvement in the design and evaluation of the project?

 

Ease of adoption

How simple would the project be to replicate - is this something other areas can easily pick up and replicate? Have implementation tools such as business case, incentive scheme etc. been shared? Has the project been sponsored by MEGS?

 

Costs

Have the potential project costs and potential return on investment of the project been planned and are they clearly stated? This includes staffing costs as well as direct costs.

Are the project costs and potential return on investment of the project clearly stated? This includes staffing costs as well as direct costs.

 

Overall opinion of the project

Overall impression of the project including of how well it has been written up, how easy the information is to find and understand, quality of the documents included and how easily it can be replicated nationally.

 

Total score out of 28

 

 

 

 

We will let you know whether you have been shortlisted by INSERT DATE.

We will let award winning projects know by INSERT DATE, so that you can prepare your presentation for the awards ceremony. We will ask you to keep this confidential on a need to know basis only until after the award announcements on Friday 25th September 2026.

If you're a private sector company, then no, sorry.

However, we're happy to receive submissions from ICBs, PCNs, GP practices, acute trusts, community services, CSUs and community pharmacy. Essentially if you provide or are commissioned to provide NHS patient care, and your project is not a service you're looking to sell or promote (again excluding CSUs), then we encourage you to enter.

You'll be invited to give an 8-minute presentation on the highlights of your project at the ceremony on Friday 25th September 2026 in Nottingham.

To help you to prepare for this, our chair, Jamie Hayes, will be providing coaching on 'Presenting with impact' on INSERT DATE IF RUNNING AGAIN. Some of our previous winners have told us that this coaching had completely transformed their thinking on presentations, and gave confidence to one winner to present for the first time ever. We'll need your slides by INSERT DATE. We'll also invite you to deliver a webinar in late 2026 or early 2027 to provide further detail about your project and answer questions from others who will be looking to learn from your experience.

Winning teams will also receive a framed certificate and a coveted PrescQIPP trophy to adorn the office. Finally, you will be in with a chance to win one of our overall GOLD or SILVER awards which are decided by the attendees on the day of the awards after all the presentations have been made.

Yes, we'll prepare social media messages about shortlisted entries in each category and post these on X, Bluesky and LinkedIn.

Winning and highly commended projects will be announced on social media as soon as they have been revealed at the event on Friday 25th September 2026. We will ask for any social media handles you would like us to use and we would encourage you to like and share the posts to share your success.