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Found 205 results
  1. Content Article
    An infrastructure of support opportunities exists that MSOs should utilise to deliver their role most effectively The The Medication Safety Officer (MSO) role will receive managerial and professional support from their line manager and other individuals working collaboratively within the organisation. In addition, there are several external support channels.
  2. News Article
    Pharmacists have warned that "one of the worst" examples of medicine shortages is affecting cancer patients. Creon, a pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (Pert), helps digestion and is required by patients with pancreatic cancer, cystic fibrosis, and chronic pancreatitis. It is thought more than 61,000 patients in the UK need the medicine. Some patients are said to be "skipping meals" to ration their medication due to a shortage of it, according to the National Pharmacy Association (NPA). A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said there were "European-wide supply issues" and it was "working closely with industry and the NHS" to mitigate the impact on patients. Without the drug, patients lose weight and strength, which means their ability to cope with treatment such as chemotherapy is reduced. Some experts have predicted shortages continuing until next year. The Department of Health and Social Care has extended a serious shortage protocol for Creon which has already been in place for a year. This indicates concern about shortages of a medicine and allows pharmacists to give patients an alternative - though they argue other drugs are also in short supply. A spokesperson for the department said the "European-wide supply issues" were caused by manufacturing supply constraints. Read full story Source: BBC News, 2 June 2025 Related reading on the hub: Medication supply issues: A pharmacist’s perspective Medicines shortages: minimising the impact on patients
  3. News Article
    Pharmacists are facing inappropriate demands for antibiotics every day, with some patients stockpiling them for holidays despite the threat posed by antimicrobial resistance, a report says. Staff receive requests for the drugs to treat minor ailments such as coughs and colds even if they are not needed, according to the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which represents 6,000 independent community pharmacies in England. Its survey found 79% of pharmacists were having to refuse requests for antibiotics from patients at least once a day. A quarter of pharmacists said patients frequently returned partially used antibiotics, while 37% were aware of patients regularly hoarding them for a later date. Half-used courses of antibiotics were being posted on local social media groups, the NPA said. Other issues include patients requesting antibiotics from their pharmacy before going on holiday just in case of illness, and people returning from abroad with huge quantities of antibiotics for conditions not treated by them in the UK. Olivier Picard, the chair of the NPA, said: “These are concerning findings and shows there are widespread misconceptions about the role that antibiotics can play among some patients. “Although antibiotics may be an appropriate course of treatment for some conditions, for other ailments like viral coughs and sore throats, they may not be effective. This could also mean antibiotics may not be effective for treating more serious conditions, posing a risk to patient safety." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 6 May 2025 Related reading on the hub: Top picks: Key resources on antimicrobial resistance
  4. News Article
    Medicines management teams should not be targeted by imminent cost cuts and must remain a “fundamental component” of the new model for integrated care boards, NHS England has been told. An open letter sent on behalf of ICB chief pharmacists to the new NHS England leadership last week stressed the need to keep tight control of the service’s £20bn medicines spend. ICBs have been told they must cut their running costs in half by October, and there is considerable debate at local and national level over where the axe should fall. The letter said: “Prescribing is one of the most volatile expenditures in the NHS, and we are collectively keen to work with you to maintain grip on the management of this precious resource.” The letter’s authors claim ICB medicines management teams made savings worth £500m in 2024-25. Reducing spend on medicines - which is the second-largest area of NHS expenditure after staffing - features prominently in ICB cost improvement plans across the country. The letter continues: “We recognise that we need to continue to transform how the system and individual people use medicines effectively (including alternatives to prescribing).” This requires, it suggested, “professional pharmacy leadership in all sectors” to “navigate the conflicting complexities of supporting financial balance”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 25 April 2025
  5. Content Article
    The new Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Greener Pharmacy Toolkit is easy to use and provides prompts to introduce more sustainable practices to reduce emissions, improve patient care, prevent ill health, tackle medicines waste and achieve efficiency savings. The Greener Pharmacy Toolkit is a pioneering digital self-assessment tool designed to help community and hospital pharmacy teams take practical action to reduce the environmental impact of pharmacy services, pharmaceutical care and medicines, while supporting patient care. The toolkit outlines three levels of accreditation—bronze, silver, and gold—based on various actions that pharmacy staff can voluntarily take to make their pharmacies more sustainable. Achieving the target accreditation triggers a certificate, which can be displayed to demonstrate the pharmacy’s commitment to environmental sustainability. Commissioned by NHS England and supported by Greener NHS, the toolkit is free and open access, available for use by hospital and community pharmacy teams throughout Great Britain. The digital toolkit and accompanying guidance aligns closely with RPS’ work on sustainability which recognises the impact of climate change on health.
  6. Content Article
    In a letter to NHS England leaders, the Integrated Care Board (ICB) Chief Pharmacists propose a vision for how the new iteration of the NHS gets the greatest clinical quality, safety, productivity and efficiency impact from the use of medicines.
  7. Content Article
    A resource collating the latest medication safety communications and publications to inform, support and inspire medication safety improvements. Each month the SPS Medicines Advice team gathers and reviews recent medication safety communications, reports, publications and practice research. The slide deck resource includes items considered pertinent to supporting or delivering against the medication safety agenda. Items include: Medication related safety alerts and notifications. Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC) changes. Risk minimisation materials. Medication shortages and discontinuations. Publications and reports. Prevention of Future Death Reports (Regulation 28) recommendations. Primary research papers on medication safety.
  8. News Article
    Independent pharmacies in England have been advised to slash their opening hours in a row over funding. The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) said it had “been left with little choice” but to recommend its 6,000 members take collective action for the first time in its history, unless the government provides “new and sufficient” funding to cover significant new costs. About 90% of an average pharmacy’s work is funded via the NHS, including dispensing medication and vaccinations. But the NPA, which represents community pharmacies, says members have yet to receive any confirmation of funding for the 2024-25 or the 2025-26 financial years. Increases in employers’ national insurance rates, the national living wage and business rates from April, on top of these unresolved funding issues could “jeopardise patient safety”, it says. Significant numbers of pharmacies have already ceased trading, with 1,300 pharmacies shutting since 2017. Nick Kaye, chair of the NPA, said the move was necessary “to safeguard patient services for the long term”, adding: “It is better that we temporarily reduce access in the short term than let pharmacies collapse." Read full story Source: The Guardian, 18 March 2025
  9. Content Article
    The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued both CVS and Walgreens, along with dozens of their state subsidiaries, for allegedly aiding and abetting the US opioid epidemic. The country’s two largest pharmacy chains collectively operate more than 17,000 stores. The civil lawsuits by the DOJ rest on the allegation that the pharmacy chains violated both the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and the False Claims Act (FCA). The CSA states that narcotics can only be used for “a useful and legitimate medical purpose.” By filling prescriptions that were invalid, the pharmacies “made choices that caused these millions of violations of federal law,” the DOJ alleged in the Walgreens lawsuit. The FCA states that entities cannot knowingly present a “false or fraudulent claim” for government payment—either due to “deliberate ignorance” or “reckless disregard” of the claim’s falsehood. The DOJ alleged that by requesting reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid for illegitimate prescriptions, the pharmacies broke the law. They unlawfully dispensed “massive quantities of opioids and other controlled substances to fuel its own profits at the expense of public health and safety,” the lawsuit against CVS stated.
  10. Content Article
    In the US, compounding drugs are medications produced by compounding pharmacies, who typically make personalised versions of medications, such as custom dosages, combinations or allergen-free options. In this JAMA article, US journalist Kate Ruder looks at patient safety concerns linked to the rapid increase in demand for anti-obesity medications including semaglutide and tirzepatide. Kate highlights how high demand, ensuing scarcity, prohibitive costs and restrictive insurance coverage have fuelled the production of compounded versions of these medications under a provision allowing compounding pharmacies to make copycats during drug shortages. Concerns have been raised about the quality of ingredients, accuracy of doses and the supply of counterfeit medications by companies selling fake products, as well as about the potential for user error when they give themselves the medication.
  11. News Article
    Pharmacies are demanding tougher regulation of the online sale of weight-loss jabs amid a predicted new year’s boom in demand. The National Pharmacy Association (NPA), who represent independent community pharmacies, urged the regulator to require greater consultation with patients before dispensing weight-loss jabs and other high-risk medication online. Current rules, the NPA said, “leaves the door open for medicines to be supplied without appropriate patient consultation and access to patient records”. Nick Kaye, chair of the NPA, said: “Obesity is one of the biggest challenges facing our country and pharmacies want to play their part in helping patients lose and maintain a healthy weight. Weight-loss injections can play an important role in efforts to tackle obesity when prescribed as part of a carefully managed treatment programme for patients who are most in need of support. “However, we are concerned that the current regulations allow some patients to inappropriately access weight-loss injections without proper consultation or examination of historical medical records.” The NPA urged regulators to require that pharmacies conduct a full two-way consultation with patients before dispensing “higher-risk” medication such as weight-loss jabs. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 27 January 2025
  12. Content Article
    Despite various initiatives to tackle the problem, safety incidents linked to the late administration of medicines, or medicines that have been omitted entirely, have remained stubbornly high for decades. In this article (link at bottom of page) for the Pharmaceutical Journal, David Lipanovic says a national focus may finally deliver a solution. Related reading: HSSIB investigation report: Medication not given: administration of time critical medication in the emergency department (5 December 2024)
  13. Content Article
    Catherine Picton is a health and policy consultant who has worked for over 25 years for the NHS, professional bodies, health think tanks and patient charities. A pharmacist by professional background, her policy work is often connected to medicines. In this blog, Catherine talks about the recent report she co-authored for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society; Medicines Shortages Policy: Solutions for empty shelves, and minimising the risk to patient safety.  At the end of 2023 I was contacted by The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), the professional leadership body for pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists. As an organisation they were increasingly hearing from their members about the number and extent of medicines shortages and the impact that was having on teams managing the shortages and the corresponding impact on patient care. The RPS decided that addressing medicines shortages was a priority for them and so commissioned me to ’hold the pen’ on a thought leadership report. A complex issue It soon became apparent that medicines shortages are a problem that touch all parts of the system from the regulation, manufacture and distribution of medicines through to the clinical teams prescribing and the pharmacy teams supplying those medicines. Not to mention the direct impact on patients. We wanted to produce a report that showed how all these parts of the system fit together and where problems arise. Ultimately, we wanted to highlight the need for collaboration across the system, to enable the UK to prevent and mitigate medicines shortages and to minimise the impact on patients when shortages do occur. Collaboration was key We engaged with many people and worked with an expert advisory group of stakeholders from across the medicines supply chain. Our engagement activity involved: Manufacturers Wholesalers. The Department of Health and Social Care. Think tanks. Academics. NHS teams managing medicines shortages nationally. NHS staff with expertise of procurement and managing shortages locally in both hospitals and in primary care. Most importantly, with the help of National Voices and their members, we worked with patients. and this gave us insight into the impact that medicines shortages are having on patients and their families. The impact on patient safety Patient safety concerns are multifactorial with medicines shortages. In the report we saw that different shortages can have different levels of safety risks, and therefore need to have different measures in place. Deterioration - At a fundamental level, if a patient is rationing or missing doses of their medicines because they are unable to obtain a supply, as has been reported with the current shortage of Pancreatic Enzyme Replacement Therapy, there is a significant risk of deterioration in the patient’s clinical condition. Dosing errors - In other cases, there may be a risk of dosing errors. For example, where one medicine is being substituted for another or a different route of administration is being used and healthcare professionals are less familiar with the guidelines for using these medicines. Delays - At another level, where professional staff are diverted from front line care to manage medicines shortages, access to healthcare professionals is delayed. This can subsequently cause delays to necessary treatment. Case study: medication for schizophrenia There has been a recent shortage of olanzapine which is given as a slow release injection monthly. It is typically used to manage symptoms of schizophrenia such as hallucinations, delusions, and disordered thinking. It is used in forensic settings to help people recover and return to the community. Slow release injections of olanzapine are also essential for patients once in the community, to help them remain stable. National medicines supply teams cascaded a Medicines Supply Notification about the shortage with management recommendations. Local pharmacy teams, working with their clinical colleagues, introduced a range of these solutions to manage the shortage. These included moving stock around the country and delaying starting olanzapine for new patients to conserve supplies for those already on established treatment. As a last resort when shortages were severe, vials of olanzapine were split so that two patients could be treated with one vial. A process that added an increased risk of error in medicine dosing as nursing teams were unfamiliar with the process. Pharmacy and clinical teams spent significant amounts of time looking for supplies of olanzapine and managing patients unable to be effectively treated. As well as pulling them away from seeing other patients, this took a toll on clinical teams who were aware that their decisions could lead to deteriorations in their patient’s mental state. The impact of deteriorations could, for example, lead to: readmission to forensic settings assaults on other patients or staff general decline in function which would likely delay their discharge. Reducing risk and improving communication Medicines shortages present a real risk to patient safety. On a national level we need to look across the supply chain to see how we can put systems into place that enable the UK to protect against these risks. It also means making sure that we have systems in place locally to manage medicines and communicate better with individual patients. When a medicine is in shortage patients need to know what steps to take and when their medicines will be available. We can work more closely with patient charities and the voluntary sector to ensure that accurate and reliable messages get out to patients and head off misinformation. For teams managing increases in medicines shortages the impact on their workloads has been substantial. This is coming on top of already busy stressed working environments. Anything we can do to help teams manage this new level of shortages and help to take away some of that load will benefit patient safety. The report recommendations include: Reducing unnecessary duplication of effort. Providing easily accessible, trusted information about the causes and expected duration of shortages. Facilitating easier communication between healthcare teams. Final reflections The causes of medicines shortages are complex and the current increase we are seeing is driven by a range of different factors. There is a lot of work already going on nationally to help local NHS organisations manage medicines shortages, but we do need to do more. From my perspective, I don’t see medicines shortages reducing any time soon. We need to be better at communicating with healthcare teams and patients about the causes of shortages, and what we all have to do to help ensure that the impact on patients is minimised. Now the report has been published RPS are continuing to raise the profile of medicines shortages within parliament and working collaboratively with stakeholders to take forward recommendations. The RPS also committed to review the implementation of the recommendations in the report in twelve months to establish the extent of progress made. Related reading Medication supply issues: A pharmacist’s perspective Medicines shortages: House of Commons Research Briefing Medication supply issues: Mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS)
  14. Content Article
    The three national pharmacy boards at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) identified medicines shortages as a key policy area that is impacting patients, pharmacy teams, clinicians and wider groups throughout the NHS. As a result, in January 2024, RPS commissioned a report into medicines shortages. This report is the culmination of extensive engagement and collaboration with patients, the pharmacy profession, wider healthcare professionals and the key local, regional and national stakeholders integral to ensure the continuity of medicines supply. The report concludes by setting out 19 recommendations. Recommendations UK National Policy Recommendation 1: Publish a UK-wide strategy for shortages The UK government should develop a cohesive cross-government and NHS strategy to improve medicines supply chain resilience and medicines security in the context of changing pharmaceutical market dynamics and the ongoing increases in medicines shortages globally. The strategy should incorporate current national policy, ongoing work and existing measures, and create greater alignment in managing shortages across primary and secondary care. Recommendation 2: Recommendation 2. Support UK manufacturing infrastructure for medicines The Government should boost UK medicines manufacturing infrastructure, in both commercial and NHS manufacturing units –particularly generic manufacturing, which accounts for 80% of medicines prescribed in the NHS. UK manufacturing infrastructure offers the potential for a more rapid response from manufacturers to help mitigate acute national medicines shortages. Recommendation 3: Flexibility in existing medicines regulations to speed up access Building on the learning applied during the COVID-19 pandemic, existing and potential regulatory flexibilities should be explored with the MHRA. Recognising that nothing should be done to undermine the purpose of regulation, timely opportunities to flexibly use existing regulations in acute supply challenges associated with national shortages should be identified. For example, enabling medicines manufacturers to reactivate dormant market authorisations more rapidly so they could potentially supply medicines in acute shortage. Recommendation 4: Make better use of pharmacists’ skills The Government should enact legislation to enable community pharmacists to make minor amendments to prescriptions in line with existing hospital practice, RPS policy and the recommendation of the Health and Social Care Select Committee report into pharmacy. Organisations, professional bodies and regulators should identify where pharmacist prescribers can use their prescribing qualification to help manage the impact of medicines shortages on patients and develop pathways to enable this role. Recommendation 5: Reiterate the legal and ethical responsibilities of the supply chain Organisations and professionals in all parts of the supply chain, from manufacturers to wholesalers, pharmacists and prescribers, should understand their responsibilities to patients to enable appropriate, equitable and ethical access to medicines. The 2013 guidance published by the Department of Health Supply Chain Forum – Best practice for ensuring the efficient supply and distribution of medicines across the supply chain (2013) – should be refreshed (or an equivalent developed) and re-promoted to reinforce the behaviours expected in all parts of the supply chain. Recommendation 6: Review the community pharmacy contractual framework The community pharmacy contract in each of the UK nations should be reviewed to ensure that, while acknowledging a pharmacists professional and contractual responsibilities, it minimises the risk of individual contractors incurring a potential loss on the purchase of medicines and supports a stable supply of medicines to patients. Predicting, reporting and responding to shortages Recommendation 7: Earlier reporting of shortages by Marketing Authorisation Holders Timely and accurate information on supply disruptions and shortages should be provided by medicines manufacturers. Marketing Authorisation Holders should work with DHSC to find ways to improve the reporting of medicines shortages and the provision of ongoing information to help mitigate shortages, with a focus on early and consistent information sharing. Developing a more meaningful performance management approach to reporting that promotes good practice, distinguishes between planned and unexpected shortages and actively penalises repeated poor performance would facilitate this. Recommendation 8: Enable greater data sharing to support planning and predict demand The NHS and manufacturers/wholesalers should proactively collaborate to share data, for example, NHS data that enable manufacturers/wholesalers to better predict demand for their products and manufacturer/wholesaler supply chain data that enable the NHS/DHSC to proactively manage the medicines supply chain to minimise disruption and increase resilience of supply. Information flows Recommendation 9: Expand and develop information cascades Information cascades about medicines shortages from DHSC and relevant NHS national medicines supply teams to the wider healthcare system should be reviewed to ensure that they are reaching the right people at the right time. All organisations that cascade or need to act upon information about national shortages should review and develop systems to ensure that information is cascaded to and accessed by those that need it. Equally, healthcare professionals should be aware of their responsibility to access this information and act promptly. Recommendation 10: Further Involve patient groups to support information sharing Patient groups should be a fundamental part of information cascades to facilitate the appropriate sharing of consistent and accurate information to patients. This will enable patient groups to provide support for patients experiencing acute national shortages of their medicines. Recommendation 11: Fund, promote and develop the DHSC/NHS Medicines Supply Tool The DHSC/NHS medicines supply tool hosted on the SPS website (sps.nhs.uk). should be the single source of accessible, consistent, accurate and rapidly updated information about medicines shortages for healthcare teams across the UK. As well as promoting the current tool more widely to healthcare teams, its utility should be increased. There should be funding for the integration of the tool into prescribing systems to alert prescribers to shortages and enable alternatives to be prescribed in real time to provide proactive updates, for example, when medicines are no longer in shortage, and to developing an app-based format to enable easier access to the information. Recommendation 12: Improve systems that provide timely information at the point of dispensing Wholesaler and community pharmacy IT systems should be developed to provide resupply dates for medicines out of stock to enable more meaningful communication with patients and help pharmacists to more rapidly distinguish short-term supply disruptions from national shortages. This is only possible with the provision of accurate and timely information from medicines manufacturers. Local systems Recommendation 13: Develop patient-centred pathways to manage shortages in local systems Continuity planning in local systems should account for the resources required for healthcare teams to manage medicines shortages. Local systems should have protocols for the management of a medicines shortage that works across a locality, particularly between GP surgeries and community pharmacies, to ensure that they continue to minimise the impact of shortages on patients and do not exacerbate health inequalities. Recommendation 14: Invest in the resources needed to manage medicines shortages NHS organisations should review whether they have sufficient resources in pharmacy teams to mitigate and manage medicines shortages. Any investment required needs to be weighed against the opportunity costs of healthcare teams managing a shortage and the impact on patients’ health outcomes and quality of life, not just the cost of alternative medicines. Recommendation 15: Develop cross-sector protocols for shortages of life-critical medicines Cross-sector emergency protocols for life-critical medicines where patients have no alternative treatment should be developed. This will require collaborative working across local systems and the use of regulatory flexibility to allow medicines to flow between primary and secondary care. There should be national/regional oversight to ensure this happens. Recommendation 16: Fund and recruit regional procurement specialists to work across sectors In England, NHS specialist pharmacy services’ regional network of procurement specialists should be funded to work with ICBs to facilitate the development of cross-sector approaches to acute medicines shortages. In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, equivalent arrangement should be established. Recommendation 17: Prioritise supply chain resilience within secondary care contracts Supply chain resilience measures and management of lead times should be further developed and incentivised in awarding secondary care and homecare contracts, which should be proactively managed with suppliers to minimise avoidable causes of supply disruptions. Education, training and research Recommendation 18: Educate healthcare professionals, patients and the public on shortages Joint education programmes for healthcare professionals should be developed to support wider understanding of how UK systems operate end-to-end to mitigate and manage medicines shortages, and highlight common misconceptions about their causes and how to manage them. This will improve transparency and understanding across the supply chain and improve opportunities for shared education and training. All pharmacy teams and students should be trained in where to find accurate information about medicines shortages, and in how to have proactive, informed and supportive conversations with individual patients and the wider public regarding medicines shortages. Recommendation 19: Understand the economic cost of shortages to healthcare organisations and systems The research base on the costs of medicines shortages should be developed to inform resourcing decisions and underpin investment in resources and the implementation of quality improvement programmes. This should include not just the cost of alternative medicines but the wider costs to the healthcare systems and the clinical impact on patients in terms of their health outcomes and quality of life. Recommendation 20: Understand the impact of speculation and digital purchasing systems on the supply chain Further work needs to be done to understand the extent to which speculation exists within wholesale and medicines brokering activities and the extent to which the use of automated purchasing platforms is disrupting demand prediction and purchasing patterns. These factors have the potential to confuse the issue of medicines shortages locally. Read the full report on the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's website via the link below.
  15. Content Article
    In partnership with patients and partners, the Health Innovation Network have developed a range of patient information materials in different community languages to support and prepare people who have been invited for a medication review with their GP, pharmacist or other healthcare professional. These materials are free to use and can be printed and used in paper format, or shared electronically with patients by email, text or any other electronic systems used within your workplace. People who may benefit from a medication review are those who are taking several medicines regularly or are taking medicines for long term conditions. The medication review can help to identify any medicines that are no longer appropriate or any that may need a change in dose. An animation is available to help patients think about their medicines and to prepare for a Structured Medication Review. The resources available in each language are: Patient invitation letter, which you can edit to add the patient’s name and your contact details. ‘Me and My Medicines’ or ‘Are Your Medicines Working?’ information – to be shared with patients invited to attend a Structured Medication Review. Safely stopping your medicine leaflet – to be shared with patients if you agree to stop or gradually stop any medicines. There are information sheets for GP practice staff and other healthcare professionals about the various materials and how to use them: Information sheet for healthcare professionals (Are Your Medicines Working? version) Information sheet for healthcare professionals (Me and My Medicines version)
  16. Content Article
    Near misses are incidents that could have led to harm but were detected and addressed before reaching the patient. Learning from these incidents reveals processes that help in detecting errors and also illuminates opportunities for continuous quality improvement. At present, limited Canadian data are available concerning interventions by community pharmacy teams to correct errors before they reach the patient (also known as “good catches”). The multi-incident analysis reported here highlights practices and processes that resulted in successful interception of errors in the community pharmacy setting.
  17. Content Article
    It has been suggested that 1 in 30 patients are affected by preventable medication-related harm, with the highest prevalence (around 50%) occurring during prescribing. If you consider this statistic in the context of an average prescriber, a pharmacist who prescribes for ten patients a day could potentially cause a medication-related harm every six days. This article in the Pharmaceutical Journal outlines how human factors can help in developing safe prescribing practices and reduce error risk. It aims to help pharmacists: describe the prevalence and types of prescribing errors that commonly occur; understand the relationship between human factors and patient safety; apply knowledge of human factors in a clinical or professional setting; recognise unsafe prescribing practices and develop potential strategies to reduce the risk of prescribing errors. It looks at James Reason's Swiss cheese model and outlines how the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) model can be applied in prescribing. The article is free to access, but you will need to sign up for a free Pharmaceutical Journal account to view it.
  18. Content Article
    This case example in the Pharmaceutical Journal explores how off-label drug holidays and other behavioural changes can be used to treat a patient with obsessive compulsive disorder taking sertraline who is experiencing sexual dysfunction. It demonstrates the importance of open communication, shared decision making and consistent follow up in finding ways to mitigate the impact of medication side effects on patients' lives. The article is free to access, but you will need to sign up for a free Pharmaceutical Journal account to view it.
  19. Content Article
    At several points during a hospital stay, a patient may receive a medication review with a pharmacist to reduce the risk of medication errors. This review characterises themes and components of pharmacist-led medication reviews associated with positive patient outcomes. Patient involvement in goal setting was identified as a successful component that would benefit from additional research.
  20. Content Article
    Medication safety is a significant concern around the world. Patient participation in the medication process is effective in reducing the incidence of medication errors and improving medication safety. However, the role of outpatients with chronic conditions in ensuring medication safety is often neglected. This study aims to explore the perspectives and experiences of GPs, pharmacists, and outpatients by qualitative interviews in Beijing, China. The study involved a series of interviews with eight GPs, seven pharmacists, and 18 outpatients living with noncommunicable diseases. The interview revealed five themes: (1) mutual trust between patient and GP, (2) communication with healthcare professionals, (3) acquisition of knowledge about medication safety, (4) implementation of medication self-management at home, and (5) different attitudes toward participation in medication decisions. The findings might help propose suggestions for patient participation in medication safety. Integrating these findings into future studies can help healthcare professionals formulate interventions and better support patients in participating in the medication process.
  21. Event
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    This webinar hosted by the Patients Association provides an opportunity to hear about the new Pharmacy First Service. Speakers include: David Webb, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England Pallavi Dawda, Head of Delivery, Clinical Strategy Community Pharmacy, NHS England Leighton Colegrave, member of Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB's Patient Engagement Forum Tunde Sokoya, community pharmacist, Essex Lindsey Fairbrother, community pharmacist, Derbyshire. The Patients Association Chief Executive Rachel Power will chair the webinar. Register for free.
  22. Community Post
    In unit-dose dispensing, medication is dispensed in single doses in packages that are ready to administer to the patient. It can be used for medicines administered by any route, but oral, parenteral, and respiratory routes are especially common. The system provides a fully closed loop process where the patient, the drug and the healthcare professional are identified by machine readable codes and the drug administration process is linked directly to the electronic prescription. and is fully recorded There are many variations of unit-dose dispensing. As just one example, when physicians write orders for inpatients, these orders are sent to the central pharmacy . Pharmacists verify these orders and technicians place drugs in unit-dose carts. The carts have drawers in which each patient's medications are placed by pharmacy technicians—one drawer for each patient. The drawers are labelled with the patient's name, ward, room, and bed number. Sections of each cart containing all medication drawers for an entire nursing unit often slide out and can be inserted into wheeled medication carts used by nurses during their medication administration cycles. Alternatively, electronic medicine storage cabinets can be located on wards and these are attached to medicine carts which are then filled from the cabinets. Studies often compare unit-dose dispensing to a ward stock system. In this system, bulk supplies are issued from the pharmacy; the drugs are stored in a medication room on the ward. The correct number of doses must be taken out of the correct medication container for each cycle and taken to the patient for administration. Liquids must be poured by the nurse from the appropriate bottle and each dose carefully measured. Evidence for Effectiveness of the Practice Though the practice of unit-dose dispensing is generally well accepted and has been widely implemented, the evidence for its effectiveness is modest. Most of the published studies reported reductions in medication errors of omission and commission with unit-dose dispensing compared with alternative dispensing systems such as ward stock systems. Potential for Harm Unit-dosing shifts the effort and distraction of medication processing, with its potential for harm, from the ward to central pharmacy. It increases the amount of time nurses have to do other tasks but increases the volume of work within the pharmacy. Like the nursing units, central pharmacies have their own distractions that are often heightened by the unit-dose dispensing process itself, and errors do occur. Overall, unit-dose appears to have little potential for harm. The results of most of the observational studies seem to indicate that it is safer than other forms of institutional dispensing. However, the definitive study to determine the extent of harm has not yet been conducted. A major advantage of unit-dose dispensing is that it brings pharmacists into the medication use process at another point to reduce error. Yet about half of the hospitals in a national survey indicated that they bypass pharmacy involvement by using floor stock, borrowing patients' medications, and hiding medication supplies. Unit dose drug distribution is being introduced across Europe. In Germany, a recent study showed a saving of 2.61 WTE nurses per 100 beds. There is now growing interest in UK hospitals and pilot sites to develop the system are being established.
  23. Community Post
    NHS hospital staff spend countless hours capturing data in electronic prescribing and medicines administration systems. Yet that data remains difficult to access and use to support patient care. This is a tremendous opportunity to improve patient safety, drive efficiencies and save time for frontline staff. I have just published a post about this challenge and Triscribe's solution. I would love to hear any comments or feedback on the topic... How could we use this information better? What are hospitals already doing? Where are the gaps? Thanks
  24. Content Article
    Medication nonadherence - when patients don’t take their medications as prescribed - is unfortunately fairly common, with research showing that patients don’t take their medications as prescribed about half the time. The phenomenon has added consequences for patients with chronic disease. When this is the case, it is important for physicians and other health professionals to understand why patients don’t take their medications. This will help teams identify and improve patients’ adherence to their medications. This article by AMA, highlights eight reasons why patients don't take their medications.
  25. Content Article
    Community pharmacies are offering an increased range of services to support care for people in the community. It is therefore essential that they are able to record and share vital information about a person’s care with GP practices and other services. Using digital standards, we can ensure that care professionals and citizens have timely access to relevant information, leading to better, safer and more personalised care in the community. This Community Pharmacy Standard developed by the Professional Record Standards Body (PRSB) defines the information that should be recorded in the community pharmacy and sent to the person’s GP, for all the services covered by the English Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework. The standard covers the following services: New medicine service Appliance use review Vaccine administration Community pharmacy consultation service (CPCS) emergency supply of medications CPCS minor illness Smoking cessation Blood pressure check Contraception Hepatitis C
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