{"id":1025,"date":"2015-02-24T12:19:13","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T12:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/?p=1025"},"modified":"2015-03-10T10:59:37","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T10:59:37","slug":"news-and-updates-from-www-palliativedrugs-com-73","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/2015\/02\/24\/news-and-updates-from-www-palliativedrugs-com-73\/","title":{"rendered":"News and updates from www.palliativedrugs.com"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Selected items from the News and Latest Additions sections of<a href=\"%20www.palliativedrugs.com\" target=\"_blank\"> www.palliativedrugs.com<\/a>, the world\u2019s leading palliative care website.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Safety alerts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Patient Safety Alert for Potassium Permanganate<\/strong><br \/>\nNHS England has issued a patient safety alert (NHS\/PSA\/W\/2014\/18) warning of the risk of death or serious harm\u00a0from accidental ingestion of potassium permanganate products. Potassium permanganate products are for external\u00a0use only and are available as a solution for further dilution and as a tablet preparation, which is dissolved in water. For\u00a0more information, click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cas.dh.gov.uk\/ViewandAcknowledgment\/ViewAttachment.aspx?Attachment_id=102062\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Patient Safety Alert for LMWH<\/strong><br \/>\nNHS England has issued a patient safety alert (NHS\/PSA\/W\/2015\/001) warning of the risk of harm from using low\u00a0molecular weight heparin (LMWH) when contra-indicated, and highlighting the importance of assessing each patient\u00a0individually as to whether the benefits of using LMWHs outweigh the risks. This follows several reports of harm or\u00a0death. Contra-indications include but are not limited to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><font size=\"2\">active bleeding<\/font><\/li>\n<li><font size=\"2\">acquired bleeding disorder, e.g. acute liver failure<\/font><\/li>\n<li><font size=\"2\">concurrent use of anticoagulants known to increase risk of bleeding<\/font><\/li>\n<li><font size=\"2\">concurrent use of antiplatelets and other interacting medicines<\/font><\/li>\n<li><font size=\"2\">lumbar puncture\/epidural\/spinal anaesthesia within the previous four hours, or expected within the next 12 hours.<\/font><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more information, click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cas.dh.gov.uk\/ViewandAcknowledgment\/ViewAttachment.aspx?Attachment_id=102088\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Hot topics<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>MHRA Website has Moved<\/strong><br \/>\nThe UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) website has moved to become part of the UK\u00a0government website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.gov.uk<\/a>. For more information, click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/organisations\/medicines-and-healthcare-products-regulatory-agency\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Drug updates<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Oral Diclofenac Restricted to a POM<\/strong><br \/>\nAs of 15th January 2015, oral diclofenac is available only as a Prescription Only Medicine (POM) in the UK. In\u00a02013 a Europe wide review concluded that systemic diclofenac is associated with a small increased risk of arterial\u00a0thromboembolic events, similar to that of COX-2 inhibitors. Following a public consultation (see our news item <a href=\"http:\/\/www.palliativedrugs.com\/news\/august\/mhra-consultation-on-diclofenac-as-a-pharmacy-medicine.html\" target=\"_blank\">8th\u00a0August 2013<\/a>), the UK Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) has concluded that patients need to have a medical\u00a0assessment before taking oral diclofenac. Topical formulations containing diclofenac will continue to be available\u00a0without a prescription. For more information, click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mhra.gov.uk\/Publications\/Safetywarnings\/DrugAlerts\/CON500350?utm_source=Royal+Pharmaceutical+Society&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=5234272_Class+2+medicines+recall+%28action+within+48+hours%29%3a+Recall+of+all+oral+diclofenac+presentations+with+legal+staus+%e2%80%98P%e2%80%99&amp;utm_content=$LINK_KEYWORD$&amp;dm_i=EQ,346SG,1SSUF,B67LD,1\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Metformin Changes<\/strong><br \/>\nDetailed dosing recommendations for the use of metformin in renal impairment have been added to the SPCs for\u00a0Glucophage 500mg and 850mg tablets (Merck Serono). The maximum daily dose in Stage 3a moderate renal\u00a0impairment is 1000mg, given as 2 divided doses. It is contra-indicated in patients with creatinine clearance &lt;45mL\/min. Note the SPCs for Glucophage SR and generic formulations of metformin have not yet been updated. In addition\u00a0Glucophage oral powder sachets have now been discontinued. For the Glucophage tablet SPC, click here.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Prepared by Sarah Charlesworth and Andrew Wilcock.<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Selected items from the News and Latest Additions sections of www.palliativedrugs.com, the world\u2019s leading palliative care website. &nbsp; Safety alerts Patient Safety Alert for Potassium Permanganate NHS England has issued a patient safety alert (NHS\/PSA\/W\/2014\/18) warning of the risk of death or serious harm\u00a0from accidental ingestion of potassium permanganate products. Potassium permanganate products are for [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/2015\/02\/24\/news-and-updates-from-www-palliativedrugs-com-73\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2833],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-updates-from-www-palliativedrugs-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/spcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}