Department of Health advises on immunoglobulin supply
Guidance
on managing demand for and maintaining supply of immunoglobulin has been issued by the Department of Health. The guidance was developed by a working group of pharmacists, doctors, nurses and commissioners.
The DoH explains that there has been concern over the availability of
immunoglobulin to the NHS for some time, due both to a global shortage
and to the need for the UK to buy plasma from the US because of the risk
of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in the UK. An ever-increasing demand
for immunoglobulin due to the emergence of new indications has compounded
this problem.
A national three-part initiative has been developed, including a demand-management
plan, cross-specialty clinical guidelines and a database of users.
The guidance sets out a programme of actions for trusts, which includes
setting up a local immunoglobulin assessment panel with pharmacist membership.
The panel should develop local processes for reviewing applications for
use of immunoglobulin, ensure all staff are aware of this process and
collect data on trust usage, says the guidance.
The panel should determine what level of immunoglobulin is considered
the safe minimum within the trust and set up intra-trust systems for
communicating shortages.
The panel should also publicise use of the clinical guidelines and ensure
they are circulated to doctors and pharmacists, it says.
The initiative aims to manage the supply of immunoglobulin so that availability
is maintained for patients who depend on the product for survival and
to improve consistency of immunoglobulin use.
A toolkit to help NHS trusts implement these actions has been developed
and is available online
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