27.3.20 Medicines Optimisation Bulletin
News
Read the latest Medicines Optimisation bulletin below.
Response to commonly arising questions regarding
- Anticoagulants – warfarin to DOAC changes
- DMARD risk and frequency of monitoring
- Denosumab administration
- Vitamin B12 administration
Duration of repeat prescriptions
DO NOT make changes except for clinical reasons.
As recent scenes in supermarkets have shown, buying items to stock up just in case they are needed leads to shortages and means that essential products are often unobtainable for the people who really need them. You have the opportunity to take some control over this with medicines by only prescribing what is actually needed. Amending prescription quantities for patients who already receive repeat prescriptions will unnecessarily increase the practice workload and could cause severe problems in the supply chain.
NHS England and Improvement have stated that it is essential that GPs do not issue prescriptions for a longer duration, pharmacies do not order larger quantities, and patients and the public do not seek to stockpile medicines as this behaviour could put the supply chain at risk.
