Society summary

New edition of guide introduces colour-coding

The 25th edition of ‘Medicines, ethics and practice: A guide for pharmacists’ has been published by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. It has been given a new cover design and, for ease of reference, its sections are now colour-coded.

Section 1, which gives information on general legal requirements, is printed mainly on yellow pages, but the alphabetical lists of human medicines (Section 1.3), non-medicinal poisons (Section 1.5) and veterinary medicines (Section 1.9) are picked out by the use of green paper. The Code of Ethics and Standards (Section 2) is also green, and the practice guidance (Section 3) is blue. The references section (Section 4) is on purple paper, as are the contents and the index.

The main change to the guide’s text is the inclusion of the revised Code of Ethics and Standards adopted at the Society’s annual general meeting in May (Section 2). Section 1.2 of the guide, which sets out legal requirements for medicines for human use, includes new information relating to collection and delivery services in rural areas, written directions to supply (in hospitals), patient group directions, the administration of prescription-only medicines by ambulance paramedics, the possession of Controlled Drugs by midwives, the safe custody of CDs, and restrictions on the sale of methylated spirits.

‘Medicines, ethics and practice’ is published by the Society as a day-to-day reference source for practising pharmacists. Copies of the new edition were posted this week to all pharmacists with registered addresses in Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, apart from those paying the reduced retention fee for members aged 60 years or over who are not in paid employment.

Copies are also being sent to preregistration trainees and, in bulk, to all schools of pharmacy in the United Kingdom.

Additional copies of the guide are available for purchase. Copies can be obtained from the Publications Department, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, 1 Lambeth High Street, London SE1 7JN, at a cost of £8.95 each (£10.95 for overseas addresses), including postage and packing.

The Professional Standards Directorate reminds pharmacists that it is a requirement of the Society’s Code of Ethics that the current edition of the guide should be available for consultation in all dispensaries.

As in the past, the guide’s information on the legal classification of medicines will be updated by cumulative lists of amendment published in The Journal in the first issue of each month. The first amendments to the new edition are the entries printed in bold in last week’s cumulative list of amendments to the 24th edition (PJ, 7 July, p33).

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