Dedicated “Medicines zone” now available on NHS Direct website
The new “Medicines zone” includes advice on side effects |
NHS Direct has launched a “Medicines
zone” on its website which offers users advice and information about medicines management.
It includes an A to Z guide to a wide range of medicines and treatments
along with information on how patients should take their medicines, what
side effects they might have and the best ways to apply creams and ointments.
There
is also advice on medicines law, regulation and Controlled Drugs and
help with buying over-the-counter medicines.
The zone has been introduced on the NHS website because NHS Direct receives
around 2,000 weekly requests for medicines information from callers.
NHS associate director of pharmacy Anne Joshua said the site and its
information could be used as a tool for community pharmacists — they
could either direct patients to the website or download information about
patients’ medicines for them.
The idea behind the initiative is that it offers patients independent
information they can trust which is free from drug manufacturer advertisements
or endorsements that might be found on internet pharmacy sites, she said.
She added: “In our experience patients value the verbal information
they receive from pharmacists about their medicines. This offers patients
something supplementary. For example, more than often patients will have
gone to the pharmacy and then forgotten to ask a particular question.”
The
medicines information was compiled by the NHS UK Medicines Information
network. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
Acrobat
Reader