Professor David Alldred

Profile

I worked as a clinical pharmacist in secondary care for five years before joining the University of Leeds as a research clinical pharmacist conducting a randomised controlled trial of pharmacist-led medication review for care home residents; this research formed the basis of my PhD. Following this, I was Lecturer in Pharmacy teaching pharmacology, therapeutics, pharmacy practice, evidence-based medicine, patient safety and medicines partnership.

I was appointed as Senior Lecturer in Pharmacy Practice at Bradford School of Pharmacy in 2013, and in 2015 was awarded the Pharmacy Practice UK Research Award and became a Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. I was appointed as Associate Professor in Pharmacy Practice at the University of Leeds in 2015 and Professor of Medicines Use and Safety in 2017. I led the Safe Use of Medicines theme in the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Translational Research Centre and now co-lead the Decluttering Safely for Safety theme within the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Research Collaboration. I also lead the Medicines Optimisation research theme for the School of Healthcare.

Responsibilities

• Medicines Optimisation Theme Lead
• Deputy Lead for Safe Use of Medicines (Patient Safety Translational Research Centre)

Research interests

My research focuses on improving the use of medicines, particularly for frail, older people including those living in care homes using systematic reviews, mixed methods and randomised controlled trials. I managed the Care Homes' Use of Medicines study (CHUMS), a UK Department of Health funded national study of medication errors in care homes, which has had a significant on practice and policy. I was a member of the Guideline Development Group for the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) Medicines Management in Care Homes Good Practice Guidance.

I have lead work streams on three NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research - CHIPPS (testing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of pharmacist prescribing in care homes), ISCOMAT (improving the experiences and outcomes for heart failure patients post-discharge through best use of medicines), and CHARMER (testing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a behaviour change intervention for geriatricians and pharmacists for deprescribing in hospital). I work with NHS England to to provide expertise on developing and implementing programmes to improve the use of medicines, for example, the Medicines Optimisation for Care Homes scheme.

I am supervising NIHR-funded PhD students investigating the safe and routine implementation of deprescribing in primary care; and how adherence to oral medication be improved for the benefit of people with cystic fibrosis.

My work with the NIHR Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Research Collaboration focuses on reducing inappropriate polypharmacy and improving the safe use of medicines.

Qualifications

• PhD
• MSc (Clinical Pharmacy)
• PGCert (Learning and Teaching)
• BPharm (Hons)

Professional memberships

• Fellow of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Student education

I teach across the range of pharmacy programmes including the Postgraduate Diploma in Pharmacy Practice and Independent Prescribing for Nurses, Midwives, Pharmacists and AHPs. My teaching focuses on therapeutics, evidence-based medicine, patient safety and research methods.

Research groups and institutes

• Medicines optimisation