ISSUE NO. 42 WEEK ENDING 6th November 2015

GENERAL INFORMATION

MANDATORY REPORTING FGM FOR ALL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

ALERT TO POTENTIAL DISPENSING ERROR RISK

The Royal Liverpool Hospital Ophthalmology Department has alerted us to a potential dispensing error which appears to have been identified in 4 separate patients. It appears that patients who were meant to have been prescribed Xailin products, ocular lubricants, have been dispensed Xalatan. We are not clear what has led to these incidents whether a contributing factor has been handwriting of prescriptions, but obviously it is not ideal to be supplying patients with a prostaglandin analogue when they don’t need one. Please can we advise caution when dispensing these products and where it is unclear or you are unsure to ensure you confirm with the prescriber.

COMMUNITY PHARMACY NON-MEDICAL PRESCRIBING - FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

Please see below for a funding opportunity from HENW to train Community Pharmacists in Non-Medical Prescribing.

Applicants must return the form to in the first instance by 27th November 2015, not direct to the university of application.

PUBLIC HEALTH CAMPAIGN – MOVEMBER

Thank you to those pharmacies already displaying the material.

If you have not already done so, please ensure you inform NHS England by email to when you are displaying the campaign material.

This will be your mechanism to report your compliance with this contractual obligation.

If you have not yet received your campaign materials, please contact

For those pharmacies who have reported non receipt of the pack, we have contacted the ‘Movember’ team and they will endeavour to get a pack out to you as soon as possible.

We have been approached by ‘Movember’ who are delighted to hear the positive feedback received from pharmacies so far. They have asked whether we could provide some photo’s of the displays in pharmacies so that they can showcase this piece of work. If you would like to send in any photographs of your Movember display or activities, that you would be happy to have included in any promotion by the charity or future NHS England publications of good news stories, please send these to . Please indicate whether you consent to your pharmacy branch being identified in the photos or whether you would prefer to remain anonymous.

WARRINGTON

TABLETS NEWSLETTER

WARRINGTON MEDICINES MANAGEMENT TEAM WORK PLAN

A summary of the work the medicines management team are currently working on or plan to start in the next few months is detailed below:

Project
Oxycodone MR – switch to Longtec®
Quetiapine MR review- switch to Quetiapine IR or branded generic
Switch venlafaxine CR to Vensir®
Gaviscon preparations switch to Peptac®
Ciprofibrate review
Ezetimibe review
Topical NSAID switch to Fenbid®
Brand to generic review
Review of Domperidone and Metoclopramide following updated MHRA advice
Special unlicensed medications review
Ascorbic acid review
Review of medication that should be prescribed by brand
Fentanyl and Durogesic® patch switch to Matrifen®
Dicyloverine review
Stepping down PPIs
Switching Omeprazole tablets to capsule
Review of orlistat prescribing
Prescribing ICS/LABA inhalers by the brand the patient is currently receiving

WESTERN CHESHIRE

TABLETS NEWSLETTER

CCG BULLETIN

WIRRAL

TABLETS NEWSLETTER

Please find the latest edition of Tablets newsletter (Issue 19) at the link below:

http://mm.wirral.nhs.uk/newsalerts/thetablet.html

WIRRAL MEDS MANAGEMENT TEAM INFO.

Wirral Medicines Management Team would like to inform pharmacies about future cost effective switch areas. Availability of products has been confirmed in advance with local wholesalers and manufacturers. Our team will also contact pharmacies individually for switches involving high numbers of patients.

Out of stock items

We appreciate that occasional products become unavailable due to manufacture supply issues, this can cause inconvenience to pharmacies and patients. We would like to work together when this happens to minimise the inconvenience to patients, GP Practices and Community Pharmacies. Therefore if you are unable to obtain stock due to a manufacture supply issue please contact Wirral Medicines Information Services and we will investigate the issue and take appropriate action. This may include informing practices and other community pharmacies , suggesting alternatives , amending ScriptSwitch and possibly delaying projects. The action taken will depend on the product involved as well as the expected timescale of the problem. Sorry we are not able to help with out of stocks due to stock flow or quota control therefore please do not report these by this process.

For further Information please contact Wirral Medicines Information Services 0151 643 5338 (Mon - Fri, 9am-5pm) or via

Please could you adjust your stocks accordingly.

Current Product / New Product
Maxalt Melt oral lyophilisate and rizatriptan oral lyophilisate 10mg tablets / Rizatiptan orodispersible 10mg tablets
Targinact tablets all strengths / Longtec plus bisacodyl and/or docusate

If you have any comments or suggestions for the Community Pharmacy Bulletin please contact