News

22 April 2016, PSNC

The Department of Health granted the following price concessions for April 2016:

The price concession only applies to the month that it is granted.

Please note that PSNC cannot provide details of generic products that are suspected of being affected by generic supply problems unless and until the Department of Health grants a concession. No additional endorsements are required for price concessions.

If you have problems obtaining a Part VIII product or problems obtaining the product at the set Drug Tariff price, please report the issue to PSNC using the online feedback form on the PSNC Website.

If you have been able to source the product, please provide full details of the supplier and price paid. PSNC will investigate the extent of the problem and if appropriate discuss the issue with the Department of Health.

Any further concessions will be posted here on the website.

NICE publishes CD guidance

25 April 2016, Dispensing Doctor, Alisa Colquhoun

NICE has published new guidance on the safe use and management of controlled drugs. The guidance incudes advice such as prescribing no more than 30 days’ worth of a CD.

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Full Coverage

25 April 2016, Dispensing Doctor, Alisa Colquhoun

Guidance on the safe use and management of controlled drugs has been published by NICE.

The new guidance contains information on the following areas:

·         Developing and establishing systems and processes for organisations

·         Record keeping

·         Risk assessment

·         Processes for reporting controlled drug‑related incidents

·         Prescribing controlled drugs

·         Obtaining and supplying controlled drugs

·         Administering controlled drugs

·         Handling controlled drugs

·         Monitoring the use of controlled drugs

The guidance includes advice such as prescribe no more than 30 days’ worth of a CD. If a larger quantity is prescribed, the reasons for this should be documented in the person’s care record. A seven year review of medicines-related safety incidents concerning controlled drugs in England and Wales concludes that five commonly used controlled drugs were responsible for 113 incidents (88.4%) leading to serious harm (death and severe harm) with overdose accounting for 89 (69.5%) of the 128 incidents of serious harm.

A link to the NICE CD guidance has been placed in our library of controlled drugs resources.