Hospital Pharmacist
Vol 12 No 7 p245-248
July/August 2005

245 Medicines management review to be included in trust ratings Medicines management is to be the subject of review by the Healthcare Commission. It will be assessed along with diagnostic services and admissions management in the annual assessments (ratings) for trusts in England for 2005/6 more

245 SACAR publishes hospital antimicrobial guideline template Good practice in developing hospital antimicrobial guidance is set out in a template published by the prescribing sub-group of the Specialist Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance (SACAR) more

246 Critical care career pathway approved Critical care pharmacy practice took a step forward with the Department of Health approval of a specialist career pathway more

246 Good compliance with NPSA potassium alert Adherence to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) alert for the storage and handling of concentrated potassium solutions is good according a recent report more

248 Interim guidance published on hazardous waste regulations Interim advice on dealing with new hazardous waste regulations, which came into effect on 16 July, has been published more

248 HPG supports devolution National boards of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society for England, Scotland and Wales have been endorsed by the Society’s Hospital Pharmacists Group in its response to the devolution consultation more

248 Preregistration trainees given AfC pay increase The preregistration trainee national profile for Agenda for Change is to be in band 5 more

250 Monoclonals guidance published Updated guidance on the handling of monoclonal antibody products has been produced by the NHS Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance Committee more

245 NEWS IN BRIEF

Pharmacy technicians should register with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society according to three national organisations. The Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists, the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK and the Society’s Hospital Pharmacists Group recently published a joint statement on technician registration (The Pharmaceutical Journal 2005;274:792 PDF (230K)).

The National Patient Safety Agency is seeking examples of best practice in the management of inpatient anticoagulation. Hospital pharmacists with examples of practice, including the competencies and training required to deliver a service, should contact Christine Clark, who has been appointed as project pharmacist (e-mail chris@salt.u-net.com or telephone 07968 928584).

Contributors of articles to Hospital Pharmacist are now required to grant a licence for publication to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. A copy of the new publishing licence is printed on p279 (new procedures).

Links to websites that list registrations of forthcoming clinical trials are being made available on the website of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. The URL is www.abpi.org.uk

Several london hospitals are to stock more tetanus vaccines, hepatitis B vaccines and ketamine for emergency supply in the event of a major incident. This follows the demand for these agents in the recent London bombings. While no hospitals reported depletion of stock in this incident, more would be required in the event of higher casualty count (The Pharmaceutical Journal 2005;275:71).