Natasha Swinscoe Senior Responsible Officer
Natasha is the Senior Responsible Officer for the Polypharmacy programme. Natasha is also Chief Executive Officer of the West of England AHSN (which hosts the Polypharmacy programme on behalf of the AHSN Network) and the Network’s lead for Patient Safety.

Natasha has worked in both commissioning and provider organisations gaining experience of leading adult and child mental health, children’s community and acute services, adult surgical and specialist renal and transplantation services. Natasha has an MSc in Leadership and Development of Public Sector Organisations and has completed development programmes focussed on leadership, coaching and mentoring. Natasha joined the West of England AHSN in 2014.

Clare Howard FFRPS FRPharmS Clinical Lead
Clare is the Clinical Lead for the AHSN Polypharmacy Programme.

Clare is a senior pharmacist with a long history of working on Polypharmacy, including as the chair of the National NHS BSA Polypharmacy Comparators Group, lead author of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Polypharmacy guidance and co-developer of the Polypharmacy Action Learning Set programme. Clare has a passion for helping patients get the most from their medicines and addressing the complex issue of multiple medicines taking, especially in older people.

Amy SempleProgramme Manager
Amy is the Programme Manager for the AHSN Polypharmacy Programme.

Amy has led on a wide range of national and local innovation improvement across the AHSN portfolio including mental health, healthy ageing and musculoskeletal programmes. Amy’s background is in Public Health and health research, working as a Researcher for several national charities and local authorities before joining the NHS.

Laura SempleDirector for National Programmes
Laura is Director for national programmes at the AHSN Network, where she works with all 15 AHSNs in England to deliver innovation programmes selected for national adoption. Laura’s previous roles include Assistant Director for Improvement at the Health Foundation, and Programme Director for Diabetes and Cardiovascular at Health Innovation Network South London. Laura volunteers with King’s Global Health Partnerships in Zambia.

Working alongside the national polypharmacy programme team are polypharmacy or medicines optimisation leads in each of the phase one AHSNs.

If you would like to get involved in your region’s polypharmacy programme, or have any questions, contact your local AHSN.