Pharmacy teams are less likely to be afraid of reporting dispensing errors since the legal defence for dispensing errors was introduced last April, the findings of a new survey published today (18 December) suggests. The Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group (PSG) conducted a survey on patient safety culture in April and May 2019, and invited … Continue reading Safety culture survey
Category: Resource
Real Time Exemption Checking (RTEC) lets a pharmacy team digitally check to see if a patient is eligible for free prescriptions (because they hold specific exemptions, for example based on age, income, pregnancy or maternity within the previous 12 months). The system will not provide the reason for the exemption, rather it will return an “unknown” or … Continue reading Real time exemption checking
The Patient Safety Group considers everything that influences the provision of safe and effective care. Importantly, this includes the health and wellbeing of staff, which is a priority for all community pharmacy owners. With this in mind, the Patient Safety Group has developed ten top tips guidance to support you to manage wellbeing in the … Continue reading Wellbeing in the pharmacy
The Patients Association has launched its Care Home Charter to improve medication practices for people living in care homes across the UK. The charter, which was developed in collaboration and is supported by a range of organisations including the Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group, aims to help support residents living in care homes to be … Continue reading Patients Association launches Care Home Charter
The Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group has created a tool to outline the medicines dispensing process and help explain the checks which are built into this process to support safe dispensing of prescription medicines. The guidance encourages pharmacy teams to think about the patient behind the prescription at every stage of the dispensing process; from … Continue reading Safe dispensing of prescription medicines
Pregabalin is predominantly used in the treatment of epilepsy and for anxiety disorders. It can be misused either through overuse of the prescribed amount, or through recreational use. In the last few years, there has been a marked increase in the number of people being prescribed Pregabalin and sadly the number of deaths caused by … Continue reading Pregabalin guidance
NHS Improvement consulted from December 2018 - February 2019 on proposals for a new national patient safety strategy to support the NHS to be the safest healthcare system in the world. The strategy is being developed alongside the NHS Long Term Plan and will be relevant to all providers of NHS care, including community pharmacy. The … Continue reading Developing the NHS patient safety strategy
The reduction of errors involving Look-Alike Sound-Alike (LASA) is a key focus of the Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group’s work. LASA errors regularly feature in “share and learn” sessions at our meetings and we have produced a series of resource and materials to support pharmacy teams which are available on this page. The highest risk … Continue reading Look-Alike Sound-Alike medicines
In June 2018, NHS improvement, the British Dietetic Association and the Royal College of Speech and Language therapists issued a Patient Safety Alert regarding the use of food thickening (or texture modifying) products for people with swallowing difficulties (dysphagia). There have been a number of incidents reported to the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) … Continue reading Safer modification of food and drink
Valproate medicines are used in the treatment of epilepsy, bipolar disorder and occasionally to prevent migraine headaches. If taken during pregnancy, there is a significant risk that babies may be born with birth defects. Women and girls using valproate medicines must now be protected by a Pregnancy Prevention Programme, which brings valproate in line with other … Continue reading Valproate safety
