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National Medication Safety Dashboard
Following recommendations in the report of the Short Life Working Group on reducing medication-related harm, the Department of Health & Social Care Medicines Safety Programme has developed an open-access Medication Safety Dashboard with a series of preliminary prescribing indicators. A more granular & detailed version of the Medication Safety Dashboard is available via EPACT2. The aim of the indicators is to: support local reviews of prescribing minimise unnecessary prescribing identify where alternative medicines or medicines that reduce risk could be prescribed reduce the number of patients who are potentially at increased risk of harm from medicines and the number of hospital admissions associated […]
Influenza Season 2017/18: Antiviral Medicines No Longer Recommended
The Department of Health & Social Care has issued the following advice via the Central Alerting System: The most recent surveillance data from Public Health England (PHE) indicates that circulation of influenza in the community has returned to baseline levels. GPs and other prescribers working in primary care should no longer prescribe antiviral medicines, for the prophylaxis and treatment of influenza on an FP10 prescription form. This is in accordance with NICE guidance and Schedule 2 to the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Prescription of drugs etc) Regulations 2004), commonly known as the Grey List or Selected List […]
AHSN Atrial Fibrillation Card Deck_2018 Refresh
The Academic Health Science Network for the North East & North Cumbria have refreshed the Anticoagulant Treatment in Atrial Fibrillation Card Deck distributed to GPs across the region in 2017. The refreshed Card Deck, produced jointly with Northern England Clinical Networks and endorsed by the Atrial Fibrillation Association and the Stroke Association, has been designed to help GPs manage AF more effectively. The cards contain top tips, self-assessment checklists, anticoagulant information and references to patient and professional material.
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 of childbearing potential, provide the Patient Guide and check they have been reviewed by a specialist in the last year and are on highly effective contraception Specialists must book in review appointments at least annually with women and girls under the Pregnancy […]
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 alternatives to specials or precautions to be taken when administering drugs via enteral feeding tubes.
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 Amlodipine / Nimodipine The MHRA offer the following Advice for healthcare professionals: be extra vigilant when prescribing and dispensing medicines with commonly confused drug names to ensure that the intended medicine is supplied if pharmacists have any doubt about which medicine is intended, […]
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 and improve medicine safety and identifies the following fifteen priorities: Improved shared decision making so that patients and carers are encouraged to ask questions about their medications and health and care professionals actively support patients and carers in making decisions jointly, including […]
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 Challenge to be held on 12th July at the NCVO in London.