29 August 2025
Over 150 healthcare professionals from across Wales attended the annual Best Practice Day, this year jointly hosted by the All Wales Therapeutics and Toxicology Centre (AWTTC) and Yellow Card Centre (YCC) Wales.
This year’s event, held at the All Nations Centre in Cardiff on 2 July 2025, focused on the theme of Medicines Safety and featured a packed programme of expert talks, a poster competition, and breakout sessions, all aimed at improving prescribing practice across NHS Wales.
Dr Laurence Gray, Chair of the All Wales Prescribing Advisory Group and Consultant in Clinical Pharmacology at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (UHB), welcomed delegates before introducing the first speaker.
In the opening keynote, Emeritus Professor Phil Routledge of Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, and former Clinical Director of AWTTC, posed a central question: "Medicines safety: Who is responsible?" His talk set the tone for the day’s discussions, emphasising shared accountability in the safe use of medicines.
Following this, Dr Helen Cordy, a Consultant in Chemical Pathology with Metabolic Medicine at Cardiff and Vale UHB, examined the safety concerns associated with the growing use of injectable weight-loss medications. Her talk highlighted the need for careful monitoring and robust clinical oversight.
“The GLP weight loss has been really helpful to understand.”
Renal pharmacist, Swansea Bay UHB
Next Dr Emma Morrison, Consultant in Clinical Pharmacology from the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, joined the meeting via Teams and co-presented a session with Dr Laurence Gray on the risks of propranolol prescribing, advocating for more cautious and patient-centred approaches to its use.
“I found the propranolol most interesting – that was something I wasn’t aware of but it’s on my radar now.”
Pharmacist, Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB
The morning sessions concluded with a presentation by Lelly Oboh, Consultant Pharmacist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Lead for Overprescribing in South East London, on “problematic polypharmacy”, urging a shift in mindset to support patients with multiple long-term conditions.
“Lelly Oboh’s talk was phenomenal.”
Renal pharmacist, Swansea Bay UHB
“I thought that everybody could take some messages from it and put it into practice.”
Medicines Optimisation Lead for Primary Care, Cardiff and Vale UHB
“The polypharmacy talk was fantastic. It’s interesting to have different aspects.”
Advanced Pharmacist, Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB
The afternoon featured a poster competition, judged by Professor Routledge and Mrs Fiona Woods, the former Head of YCC Wales, showcasing innovative projects and research from across the prescribing community. The judges had the challenging task of selecting just three winners from the 21 excellent submissions received. Congratulations to the following prize winners:
1st place: Adherence to DPYD testing – Velindre Cancer Centre – Georgia Adams, Velindre University NHS Trust
2nd place: UTI Friday: A review of antibiotic prophylaxis in the management of recurrent urinary tract infection in primary care – Avril Tucker, Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB
3rd place: Chronic pain: A pharmacy-led harm reduction clinic in general practice – Dixita Leigh, Cwm Taf Morgannwg UHB
After lunch, delegates participated in a series of breakout sessions covering a wide range of practical strategies to enhance medicines safety:
Dr Gray closed the event by emphasising the importance of collaboration, continual professional development, and innovation in making prescribing safer for all patients in Wales.
Feedback, both on the day and afterwards, was overwhelmingly positive, with delegates praising the quality of the speakers and the informative, interesting and insightful sessions. Attendees appreciated the variety of relevant topics covered and the opportunity to network, and complimented the well-organised, varied, and engaging structure of the day.
“The standard is very high and relevant to practice.”
Associate Professor of Pharmacy and Honorary Consultant Cardiologist, Swansea Bay UHB
“Really useful – meeting colleagues from other health boards and the speakers has been very interesting.”
Medicines Access Pharmacist, Cardiff and Vale UHB
“All the speakers have been really good and so relevant. It’s a good mix of people and it has been a fantastic networking opportunity to put faces to names. It doesn’t matter what your job is or what sector you’re in – we are all seeing the same issues.”
Medicines Safety Officer, Swansea Bay UHB
“Today has been brilliant and we need more sessions like these. I will be back next year.”
Advance Nurse Practitioner, Cardiff and Vale UHB
If you would like to learn more, recordings and slides from the sessions are available to view at: https://awttc.nhs.wales/news-meetings-and-events/events/best-practice-day-2025/.
The organisers would like to thank all the contributors and attendees who made this year's event a success.
Next year’s event will return to the All Nations Centre in July. Please keep an eye on our website for information on how to register.