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Showing results for tags 'Pharmacy / chemist'.
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Content Article
Sarah Kay and Jaydee Swarbrick are involved in the Patient Safety in Primary Care Project in Dorset. In this blog, they summarise a recent event they held to share learning from medicines incidents. -
News ArticleShortages and rising costs of medicines could result in patients not receiving important prescriptions, community pharmacists have warned. Commonly prescribed drugs used to treat conditions such as osteoporosis, high blood pressure and mental health are among those affected. The Department of Health (DoH) said a support package worth £5.3m for the sector is being finalised. But Community Pharmacy NI said this "falls way short of what is needed". David McCrea from Dundela Pharmacy said the price of some medicines had been raised "fiftyfold". "As a community pharmacist for over 30 years, I have never witnessed the price of medicines rise this sharply," Mr McCrea said. "It is becoming increasingly hard for us to afford to buy the medicines from wholesalers because we are not being paid the full cost of these drugs by the department." Mr McCrea added the current situation was causing "financial stress" and was becoming unsustainable. "The bottom line is that we are now facing the situation where we will not be able to afford to supply our patients with essential medicines, within weeks." Read full story Source: BBC News, 18 October 2022
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News ArticleDoctors have criticised new health secretary Therese Coffey over reports that pharmacists will be allowed to prescribe antibiotics without the approval of a doctor. According to The Times, Ms Coffey’s “Plan for Patients” will give pharmacists the power to prescribe certain drugs, such as contraception, without a prescription in an effort to reduce the need for GP appointments and tackle waiting lists. Responding to reports of the plans, Rachel Clarke, an NHS palliative care doctor and writer, wrote on Twitter: “This is staggeringly irresponsible of Therese Coffey and will cause so much more harm than good. “Doctors do not – unlike Coffey – dish out spare antibiotics to our family and friends because we’re painfully aware of the harms of antibiotic resistance. Utter recklessness.” Stephen Baker, a professor at Cambridge University and an expert in molecular microbiology and antimicrobial resistance, branded the health secretary’s plans “moronic”. He told the newspaper that the more antibiotics were used “the more likely we are to get drug-resistant organisms”. He added that it was “nuts” to consider widening access to drugs, adding that resistance against antibiotics is “clearly one of the biggest problems humanity is facing in respect of infectious disease at the moment”. Read full story Source: The Independent, 17 October 2022
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Content ArticleThe mandated reporting of medication-related errors in community pharmacies including incidents resulting in inappropriate medication use and near misses intercepted before reaching the patient can be utilised as learning opportunities to aid in the prevention of future events. This study examined reporting uptake, trends, and initial learnings from medication errors reported by community pharmacists to the Assurance and Improvement in Medication Safety (AIMS) Program based in Ontario, Canada between April 1st, 2018, and June 30th, 2021. Key findings Community pharmacy engagement with the AIMS Program has grown since implementation. Commonly reported events involved the incorrect drug, concentration, or quantity. In most cases no patient harm was reported. Reporting by pharmacy teams will help develop strategies to prevent future events.
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Content ArticleA key priority for all involved in the development, manufacture and prescription of medicines is safety. To keep patients safe, regulators and pharmaceutical manufacturers have a statutory obligation to provide product information covering the most important instructions on how to take medicines correctly. This report by Kent Surrey Sussex Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) outlines the findings of a project around the accessibility of medication information. Patients, carers, healthcare professionals (HCPs) and senior healthcare system stakeholders were asked what they think about current medicines product information, and if it could be improved using digital solutions.
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News Article
Scarlet fever cases rise tenfold as parents struggle to find Strep A antibiotics
Patient-Safety-Learning posted a news article in News
Scarlet fever cases have surged by tenfold in a year, official data shows, as pharmacists grapple with a shortage of antibiotics during a Strep A outbreak. Strep A bacteria usually only causes mild illness, including scarlet fever and strep throat, which is treated with antibiotics. But in rare cases, it can progress into a potentially life-threatening disease if it gets into the bloodstream. Infections are higher than normal for this time of year, and at least nine children have died after contracting the bacteria in recent weeks. Pharmacists say they are struggling to get their hands on antibiotics to treat Strep A infections – despite the government insisting there is no shortage. “We are worried because we are having to turn patients away,” said Dr Leyla Hannbeck, the head of the Association of Multiple Pharmacies (AIMP). Read more Source: The Independent, 8 December 2022 -
News Article
Not enough pharmacists are aware of the yellow card scheme
Clive Flashman posted a news article in News
Every pharmacist must report adverse drug reactions using the yellow card scheme, says chair of the Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group, Janice Perkins Polypharmacy, when different medications are used by an individual at the same time, is becoming increasingly common because people are living for longer and with multiple different illnesses. One study, published in 2018 by the Oxford University Press, found that over half (54%) of those aged 65 years and above who took part in the study had two or more long-term conditions, for which they could have been taking a range of medicines. Read full story Source: Community Pharmacy News, 17 February 2020 -
News Article
‘Plug-and-play’ regtech solution enhances patient safety
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
With a focus on pharmaceutical supply chain regulation, Bonafi is one of the latest companies to launch within the regtech startup sector. “Companies operating in the global pharma industry must verify that those they are buying from and selling to are authorised to handle medicinal products for human use in their own countries,” explains its founder, Katarina Antill. “At present, this verification process is manual. Companies are using screenshots as proof and relying on spreadsheets to track verification activities, which increases the risk of errors.” “Manual processes are very labour intensive not least because companies must deal with multiple registries across multiple countries,” she says. “Most pharma manufacturers and wholesalers don’t have the resources to reverify their trading partners more than once a year, which is the current minimum legal requirement, and this too creates a potential vulnerability that can ultimately have an impact on patient safety and increase corporate risk. “I could see that this huge volume of manual work was a threat to patient-safety and extremely inefficient,” she adds. “Our solution gives companies much greater control over their compliance activities because they no longer have to rely on manual processes. It can also retrieve and aggregate data from multiple registers across multiple countries and has a constant monitoring and alert system, quality management dashboards, electronic signatures and workflows and will strengthen the attributes of traceability, transparency and security. It is all designed to help companies to be pro-active in their compliance activities, enabling them to go beyond compliance alone to reduce corporate risk and patient risk.” Read full story Source: The Irish Times, 13 February 2020 -
News Article
Community pharmacists to expand role in patient care
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Greater Manchester community pharmacies have signed up to a new national scheme, which will see patient consultations booked via NHS 111 for the very first time. The scheme launched on the 29 October is part of major plans to boost the role of pharmacists in patient care, outlined in the national NHS Long Term Plan. People who call the free NHS 111 phone service can now be offered same day consultation with their local community pharmacist, if they need an urgent supply of a prescription medicine or advice on minor illnesses. The aim of the scheme is to leverage pressure on GP practices and A&E departments, which come under increasing strain when the winter hits. Early stages of the initiative in other parts of the country found that an estimated 6% of all GP consultations could be handled by a community pharmacist, freeing up around 20 million GP appointments each year nationally. Sarah Price, Executive Lead for Population Health and Commissioning at Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership said: “Our health services are facing unprecedented challenges and that means finding new ways to deliver the standard of care that patients expect, whilst ensuring that services are sustainable and fit for the future. Doing things the way we’ve always done, is no longer an option. Greater Manchester pharmacists are rising to the challenge and becoming more closely involved in patient care, often in close partnership with other health and care professionals." Read full story Source: National Health Executive, 4 December 2019 -
Content ArticleThis National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) booklet presents information concerning how better design can be used to make the dispensing process safer in community pharmacies, dispensing doctor practices and hospital pharmacies. There are a number of new factors that will impact on the dispensing process, such as: electronic prescription services; auto-id and automation technologies; more responsibilities for pharmacy technicians; and enhanced pharmacy services. These factors have been incorporated into these safer design recommendations Organisations, managers and healthcare workers involved in dispensing medicines should use this booklet as a resource to help introduce new initiatives to further minimise harms from medicines.
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Content ArticleThe Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group conducted this anonymous survey on patient safety culture in Autumn 2021 and invited pharmacy staff from across the UK to participate. The aim of the survey was to understand patient safety practice from the perspective of frontline pharmacy teams. Both the full results and an infographic of key results are available to download.
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Content ArticleThis report by Save the Children's Global Medical Team (GMT) shares the results of independent audits conducted in 2021. The audits aimed to assess the safety and quality of clinical and pharmacy services delivered by the organisation across seven countries. The team strategically focused on higher-risk programmes where Save the Children staff deliver services directly, with an aim to ensure that services remain safe and fully assured.
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Content Article
This is part of our new series of Patient Safety Spotlight interviews, where we talk to people about their role and what motivates them to make health and social care safer. Roohil talks to us about the vital role of pharmacists in making sure medications help patients, rather than causing harm. She highlights the global threat of substandard and counterfeit medicines, the need to improve access to medicines and the importance of having pharmacists 'on the ground' to help patients understand how to take them. -
Content ArticleAs the global population ages, more people are likely to suffer from multiple long term illnesses and therefore take multiple medications. This report by the World Health Organization highlights the importance of leadership in nurturing a culture that prioritises safe, high-quality prescribing, provides guidance on medication review, and emphasises the role of the patient in prescribing decisions. It also examines the role of multi-professional teams across the healthcare system, including amongst policy makers. The report includes tools and case studies which illustrate a systematic approach that can be followed across the health and care system to ensure that patients are integral to the decisions about their medications.
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Content Article
Belfast Healthy Cities: Pharmacy Schools Programme (2021)
Patient-Safety-Learning posted an article in Medication
The Pharmacy Schools Programme is an innovative teaching resource developed by Belfast Healthy Cities. Using a health literacy approach, it is designed to be used in primary schools in Northern Ireland to help educate children about self-care, medication safety and community pharmacy services. -
Content ArticleThe government commissioned Dr Keith Ridge, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, to lead a review into the use of medication and overprescribing.
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Content Article
WHO Pharmaceutical Newsletter
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in WHO
The aim of the World Health Organization (WHO) pharmaceutical newsletter is to disseminate information on the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical products, based on information received from networks of "drug information officers" and other sources such as specialised bulletins and journals. Download all issues from the link below. To subscribe and automatically receive the electronic version of every new issue of the WHO Pharmaceuticals Newsletter, please send an email to: join.whophn@mednet-communities.net (do not enter subject or message text). -
Content ArticlePharmacovigilance is the science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects or any other medicine/vaccine related problem. This article, published in the journal Drug Safety, outlines how the Egypt Chapter of the International Society of Pharmacovigilance (ISoP) approached raising awareness of the importance of pharmacovigilance and reporting adverse drug reactions during MedSafetyWeek 2020.
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Content ArticleThis research focused on the Clinical pharmacist (CP) interventions from the PROTECTED-UK cohort. Data was collected from 21 adult critical care units over 14 days and interventions were catergorised as an error, optimisation or consults, with pharmacy service demographics also being collected by investigator survey.
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Content ArticleThe present research conducted a prospective observational study in 21 UK critical care units (CCU's) from 5-18 November 2012 with the aim to describe clinical pharmacist interventions. Data was collected via a web portal where specialist critical care pharmacists could make their reports, with each intervention classified as medication error, optimization or consult. A total of 20, 517 prescriptions were reviewed with 3294 interventions recorded during the weekdays. Results demonstrated that both medication error resolution and pharmacist-led optimisation rates were substantial.
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Content ArticleThis article describes the case studies of a 65-year-old woman with a history of acute myeloid lymphoma called her oncology physician's office with symptoms of chemotherapy-induced nausea and a 66-year-old woman was prescribed estradiol vaginal tablets for post-menopausal symptoms. Cynthia Li and Katrina Marquez discuss how both patient cases resulted from human error by pharmacy staff and how although most medication errors can be directly attributed to human error, human error is often a result of poor system design and recommend 'The 8 R's' approach to reduce the risk for errors includes development of safeguards at every level of the medication use process.
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Content ArticleThis qualitative study in Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy examined how staff working in UK community pharmacy during the first waves of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 responded and adapted to new pressures on their services to maintain patient safety. From responses gathered from 23 community pharmacy staff in England and Scotland, the authors identified five themes: Covid-19, an impending threat to system Patient safety stressors during the first waves of Covid-19 Altering the system, responding to system stressors Monitoring and adjusting Learning for the future. They found that pharmacy staff responded and adapted to the evolving situation, monitoring the success of measures and protocols adopted in response to the pressures of the pandemic.
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EventuntilThis Westminster Health Forum conference will focus on next steps for pharmacy services in healthcare delivery, and opportunities to develop the role of community pharmacy as part of the health service in England. It comes amidst proposals to increase prescribing powers for pharmacists and reform training to enable pharmacists to work as independent prescribers immediately following graduation, as well as the Health Secretary announcing additional pharmacy services within the Primary Care Recovery Plan, and also indicating that implementation of a Pharmacy First system in England is being considered. The conference takes place against the backdrop of an evolving healthcare landscape, including developments in integrated care systems and digital transformation, an expected update to the NHS Long Term Plan, and wider strategic initiatives to implement alternatives to medicine, such as the Overprescribing Review. We expect discussion on opportunities to develop pharmacy services as a key component of future NHS and community care delivery. It will include keynote sessions with Gisela Abbam, Chair, General Pharmaceutical Council; Andrew Lane, Chair, National Pharmacy Association; Matthew Armstrong, Senior Manager, Pharmacy Contracts and Project Developments, Walgreens Boots Alliance; and a senior speaker confirmed from the Professional Record Standards Body. Overall, areas for discussion include: strategic ambitions: the opportunity for a Pharmacy First scheme in England - long-term aims for pharmacy services in the context of an updated NHS Long Term Plan. community pharmacy: future role in improvements to key service areas such as general practice, primary care and the ambulance service - delivering medicine optimisation in community care. the workforce: priorities for upskilling - improving training to increase the number of independent prescribers and develop the services that pharmacists can offer. digital pharmacy: key areas for expansion - supporting efficiency in prescription management - potential for digital services to allow patients more control over their care. further development areas: social prescribing services and non-medical treatments - the NHS STOMP programme - structured medicine reviews to support reduction of overprescribing. Register
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Event
Medication safety: Polypharmacy
Patient Safety Learning posted an event in Community Calendar
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Content ArticleUS endocrinologist Richard Plotzker shares a recent experience of buying over-the-counter medication from a grocery store. When he opened the outer packaging, the blister packs were empty apart from one pill in each being resealed by scotch tape. Richard called the manufacturer and returned the medication for investigation. He describes how the incident highlights the need to be vigilant about any unusual appearance in the packaging of medication.
