Valproate Pregnancy Prevention Programme
The MHRA has determined that valproate medicines should now be contraindicated in women & girls of childbearing potential unless the conditions of a new Pregnancy Prevention Programme are met. The April 2018 edition of the MHRA Drug Safety Update includes the following advice for healthcare professionals: GPs must identify and recall all women and girls who may be Continue Reading »
New Guide to Prescribing Specials
The NECS MO Quality and Governance group recently approved a comprehensive guide to the use of pharmaceutical specials in primary care. The guide includes general advice on governance issues – including establishing special need, sharing decision making and making arrangements for monitoring & review – as well as practical tips – such as where to find information on Continue Reading »
MHRA Warning – Watch out for look-alikes & sound-alikes
The MHRA have recently highlighted the dangers associated with medicines with look-alike or sound-alike names – including cases with fatal outcomes, in which patients received the wrong medicine due to confusion between similar names. Drugs pairs known to have been linked to errors include: Clobazam / Clonazepam; Atenolol / Amlodipine; Propranolol / Prednisolone; Risperidone / Ropinirole; Sulfadiazine / Sulfasalazine and Continue Reading »
Reducing Medication-Related Harm
The Department of Health and Social Care have published a Short Life Working Group report on reducing medication-related harm. The report, which was informed by a review of the evidence on medication errors in England produced by the Policy Research Unit in Economic Evaluation of Health and Care Interventions (EEPRU), makes recommendations for a programme of work to tackle medication error Continue Reading »
Medicines Use and Safety Update – March 2018
The Medicines Use and Safety Division of the Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS) have published a March 2018 update on the SPS website with information on a range of topics, including: Recent Resources Collaborative Audits Work in Progress Network Events Publications The Network Events section includes details of a forthcoming meeting dedicated to Delivering the WHO “Medication With Out Harm” Patient Safety Continue Reading »