guidelines

multimorbidity: clinical assessment & management (nice ng56)

a clinician-facing summary of nice ng56: who benefits from a multimorbidity approach, how to reduce treatment burden, and how to run an outcomes-driven medication review.

last reviewed: 2026-02-13
based on: NICE NG56 (published 21 Sep 2016)

High-yield “polypharmacy triage” prompts

Frequently asked questions

Is NG56 only for older adults?
No — it targets adults with multiple long-term conditions, but the “treatment burden” lens is particularly useful in frailty and complex polypharmacy.
What’s the safest deprescribing posture?
Change a small number of medicines at once, document goals/risks, and arrange timely review. Prioritise removing high-harm/low-benefit medicines first.

Transparency

This page is an educational, clinician-written summary of publicly available NICE guidance intended for trained healthcare professionals. It uses original wording (not copied text) and should be used alongside the full NICE source, local pathways, and clinical judgement. Doses provided are for general reference; always check the BNF/SPC.