The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7481 p635
8 December 2007

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Warn patients of fire risk with paraffin use

Patients being treated with 100g or more of paraffin-based products should receive information about the potential fire risk of such products when the treatment is first dispensed, the National Patient Safety Agency has announced.

In an alert issued last week, the NPSA reminds health care professionals that bandages, dressings and clothing in contact with white soft paraffin, white soft paraffin plus 50 per cent liquid paraffin or emulsifying ointment can easily ignite.

The agency wants all patients to receive information about the risks of smoking and exposure to other potential causes of ignition on the first occasion that treatment is prescribed, dispensed or administered. Patients should also be told about the importance of regularly changing clothing or bedding that becomes impregnated with paraffin-based products.

A record should be kept confirming that advice has been given, says the NPSA, and a check should be made on subsequent occasions that the advice has been received previously and understood. The deadline for action is 26 February 2008.

The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee has said it will evaluate the impact of the alert on workload in pharmacies with a view to making a claim for compensatory funding.

As well as providing information to patients prescribed products that contain WSP at concentrations over 50 per cent (see Panel below for common products), the PSNC suggests that pharmacists might want to provide information to patients using products that contain high concentrations of other paraffin products, for example, yellow soft paraffin and liquid paraffin light.

Other recommendations regarding fire safety information in clinical areas where patients are treated with large quantities of paraffin-based products are given in the alert, which can be accessed online