15/09/2015
Selected items from the News and Latest Additions sections of www.palliativedrugs.com, the world’s leading palliative care website with over 30,000 members from 169 Countries.
Hot topics
CQC annual report: safer management of controlled drugs
The UK Care Quality Commission (CQC) has published their 2014 annual report on the safer management of controlled drugs and made the following recommendations.
CQC should:
- make information available to small organisations to advise them of the exemption provision in the regulations for the need to appoint a controlled drug accountable officer.
NHS England should:
- provide guidance for occurrence reporting so that organisations understand what they need to report to the CD LIN.
NHS England lead controlled drug accountable officers should:
- use the changes to the regional structure from April 2015 as an opportunity to work more collaboratively so that there is greater national consistency of approach to delivering their controlled drug responsibilities
- engage with and formalise the support of clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) so that monitoring controlled drug prescription activity is a higher priority
- determine how best to engage with social care organisations in their area and should encourage local authorities to be engaged in controlled drug local intelligence networks (CD LINs).
All controlled drug accountable officers should:
- share organisational learning from controlled drug-related incidents with their CD LINs and, where possible, develop links with their Medication Safety Officers to maximise these opportunities for learning.
For more information, click here.
PCF5 – Highly commended by BMA
We are delighted to announce that the Palliative Care Formulary 5th edition (PCF5), has been highly commended in the 2015 British Medical Association, Medical Book Awards in the category of medicine. We are proud of this achievement and thank all our contributing editors for their hard work. For more information, click here.
Drug updates
Pregabalin 75mg capsules: MHRA batch alert
There is a printing error on the foil of some blisters in the following batch of pregabalin 75mg capsules from Teva UK (Batch number: 018111). The strength is printed in several positions, however in some of the positions it is printed incorrectly as 25mg instead of 75mg. Stock is not being recalled. For more information, click here.
FDA authorizes Oxycontin for use in children 11−16 years
In the USA, Oxycontin tablets (oxycodone modified-release; Purdue) are now authorized for use in children aged 11−16 years experiencing pain severe enough to require daily, around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment, when alternatives are inadequate.
In the UK, Oxycontin tablets (oxycodone modified-release; Napp) are currently only authorized for use in patients over 18 years. However, Lynlor capsules (oxycodone immediate-release; Actavis) and Reltebon tablets (oxycodone modified-release; Actavis) are authorized for use in children over 12 years.
Latest additions
Parenteral anti-epileptics – What is your experience?
For results from our survey (May – July 2015), click here.
PCF updated monographs summary (August 2015)
The online Palliative Care Formulary is being continually updated. The following monographs have been updated during August 2015 and supersede those in the publication of the 5th edition of the Palliative Care formulary (PCF5) and PCF5 2014 pdf. They can be accessed from the formulary section of the website.
Chapter 01: H2-receptor antagonists, Proton pump inhibitors, Antimuscarinics (minor change)
Chapter 04: Phenobarbital (minor change)
For further details of minor changes, see the individual notifications in the Latest additions section of the website. For a full list of all the monographs updated since the publication of PCF5, click here. Follow us on twitter @palliativedrugs for the latest updates.
PCF5+ 2015 pdf available soon!
PCF5+ 2015 pdf version is anticipated to be available in October 2015. This annual version of the Palliative Care Formulary will contain the updates made to the on-line PCF over the last 12 months, and will reflect the content of the website as of 1st September 2015. We are pleased to announce that we will be able to keep the cost of this version at £25.
The on-line formulary will still be continually updated, providing the most up to date version of the Palliative Care Formulary. The more members subscribe, the more we can reduce the cost of subscription.
We would like to thank you for your support over the last 12 months. Please note if you require bulk purchases of the pdf format please contact hq@palliativedrugs.com to discuss your requirements.
Prepared by Sarah Charlesworth and Andrew Wilcock