Hospital Pharmacist
Vol 11 No 8 p307-308
September 2004

307 New initiative to encourage more medicines for children Strategies to encourage pharmaceutical companies to develop better medicines for children were announced by the Department of Health and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency at the end of August more

307 Oral methotrexate safety alert issued Oral methotrexate is the subject of a patient safety alert from the National Patient Safety Agency more

308 Patients not satisfied with medicines advice they receive on leaving hospital Hospital patients are not satisfied with the information and advice they receive about their discharge medicines, according to the results of a recent survey carried out by the Healthcare Commission more

308 Pharmacist and technician fees are announced Pharmacists have been informed of their new annual retention fees to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society for 2005–– practising pharmacists are to pay £260 (subject to Privvy Council approval), representing an increase of 25 per cent more

308 Do not use percentages or ratios for solutions, study says Labelling drug solutions as ratios or percentages is confusing, according to research reported in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine more

307 NEWS IN BRIEF

Boots The Chemists is to operate a hospital pharmacy at a private finance initiative hospital, part of the County Durham and Darlington Priority Services NHS Trust. A full service is to be provided, including pharmacy support to wards, an on-call service, specialist services for substance misusers and dispensing for inpatients, outpatients and day patients.

Alcohol-based hand rubs are to be placed near every hospital patient’s bed in a bid to encourage staff to clean their hands and reduce infection rates. Further information about the safety alert from the National Patient Safety Agency is available here

Pharmacists from the surgery and critical care groups of the United Kingdom Clinical Pharmacy Association and anaesthetists from the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland met for their first “joint forum” in July. Further information is available from Marian Byrt by telephoning 01494 670776.

Those interested in orthopaedics could consider joining SPONG – the senior pharmacists orthopaedic network group, which met for the first time in July. Contact Ray Green (tel 01942 822489 or e-mail ray.green@wwl.nhs.uk) for details.

Ray Fitzpatrick, clinical director of pharmacy at Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust, has been elected as the new chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Hospital Pharmacists’ Group. Angela Munday, chief pharmacist at Argyll and Clyde Acute Hospitals NHS Trust is vice-chair.