In June 2017, a learning module for community pharmacists on the importance of reporting patient safety incidents was published in Pharmacy Magazine. The module was written with input from the Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group and aims to help pharmacy professionals reflect on how the patient safety incident reports that their teams make contribute to … Continue reading CPD module
Resources
NHS Improvement and the MHRA have been reminding healthcare professionals of the fire risks that paraffin-based skin products can cause, following a number of serious incidents and a recent fatality. However, new information about the risk of severe and fatal burns indicates that previous warnings should also extend to paraffin-free emollients - not just paraffin … Continue reading Emollients and fire risks
The Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group is looking to ensure we are more joined up and working more closely with patients and patient groups on our shared goals around improving safety culture, transparency and learning across the community pharmacy sector for the benefit of patients. One of the organisations we will look to support, promote … Continue reading Patients Association
Most community pharmacies already offer secure medication delivery services to patients in their homes, especially for older or more vulnerable patients. As many pharmacies have reported significant increases in requests for these services from patients and their families, the community pharmacy Patient Safety Group felt that this was an important focus area for improvement across … Continue reading Safer delivery of medicines
The Patient Safety Group has sought to better understand and to clarify the role of community pharmacists and their teams in safeguarding vulnerable adults and children. A detailed briefing has been developed which sets out a series of practice principles for community pharmacies to use in setting their own internal polices and procedures. Read the briefing … Continue reading Safeguarding vulnerable adults and children
We publish two informative Bulletins every year to keep people updated on our work and to share any of our recently published resources.
In early 2016, we ran an anonymous survey for all community pharmacy staff across the country to gather views on current patient safety incident reporting and learning processes in place. Patient safety is a fundamental consideration for all frontline health professionals and their employers and the community pharmacy representative bodies are committed to keeping a focus … Continue reading Safety culture survey
On the 30th November 2015, the Patient Safety Group used its inaugural Patient Safety Forum to debate core principles for patient safety incident reporting and learning across the community pharmacy network. The core principles will subsequently be adopted and embedded into organisational policies across the sector, aiming to improve patient safety in community pharmacy. The Patient Safety Forum, supported … Continue reading Patient Safety Forum
In 2015, the Patient Safety Group worked closely with UK Medicines Information (UKMi) to further develop their risk assessment tool, which is used regularly in secondary care settings, to make the tool more accessible and valuable for community pharmacy teams. The Community Pharmacy Medication Safety Risk Assessment Tool is designed as an aid in the … Continue reading Medication risk assessment tool
The Community Pharmacy Patient Safety Group has looked at how making small practice changes in community pharmacies could help to minimise some of the risks of dispensing incidents involving liquid preparations (often for babies, children and vulnerable adults). Following analysis of data from 6,796 pharmacies, it was found that around 60 dispensing incidents involving ranitidine liquid for … Continue reading Liquid preparations and calculations
