Hospital Pharmacist
Vol 11 No 2 p45-47
February 2004

45 First part of renal services NSF published (... well, most of it) Much of the first part of the National Service Framework for Renal Services was published last month. However, the guidance on medicines management, a key aspect for hospital pharmacists, is yet to be made available at the time of going to press. According to a Department of Health spokesman, it is to be published shortly...more

45 HPG calls for better communication Ideas on how to communicate more effectively with its members are being sought by the committee of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Hospital Pharmacists' Group (HPG)...more

46 Days numbered for sleeping on the job? On-call pharmacy services may need to be reviewed following guidance from the Department of Health which states that time spent by residents asleep during their on-call shift must be classified as working time for the purposes of the European Working Time Directive (EWTD)...more

47 Medication errors addressed in report Strategies to reduce medication errors are set out in a report published recently by the Department of Health...more

45 NEWS IN BRIEF

A new-look website for the Department of Health is to be launched from February 9. The website address has also changed – to www.dh.gov.uk

Incompatibility between some needle-free connectors and the Luers of pre-filled syringes is the subject of a Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency safety warning, issued on 28 January. More details from devices.mhra.gov.uk

Star ratings do not reflect the quality of clinical care provided by hospitals, according to research published on the BMJ website. The authors (Rowan et al) suggest that crude mortality data are misleading because they do not take into account the fact that higher-rated trusts tend to be teaching hospitals, where patients are generally less severely ill on admission to critical care units. A copy of the paper is available

Amendments to the NHS (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 1989 come into effect from 1 April. Full details are available

Has your department received the 2004 edition of the Medicines Compendium? A copy of the book, which contains summaries of product characteristics for UK-licensed medicines, is available free to each NHS hospital pharmacy on request to compendium@omsg.co.uk. One free copy is also sent automatically to medicines information officers.

Making the next generation of hospitals safer for patients is the subject of a new partnership between the NPSA and NHS estates. Further information is available from www.npsa.nhs.uk