Hospital Pharmacist
2005;12:293-296
September 2005

293 NPSA reports the first public analysis of patient safety data The first report of patient safety incidents in England and Wales has been published by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) more

294 Intermediate care work and a database on unlicensed drugs win technician awards Promoting self administration of drugs for patients in an intermediate care facility is one of the projects which has won this year's AAH pharmacy technician of the year award more

294 Guild supports national boards for the Society National boards for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society have been supported by the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists more

294 Computerised prescribing reduces drug errors on ICU Introducing computerised physician order entry (CPOE) in an intensive care unit (ICU) is associated with a reduction in the proportion of medication errors and an improvement in overall patient outcome score, according to a study published in Critical Care more

296 NHS urged to deal with financial crisis Pharmaceutical wholesaler AAH is calling on the NHS to adopt new business models more

296 MPs visit pharmacy Members of the All-Party Pharmacy Group visited the pharmacy department of St Thomas' Hospital, London, on 18 July more

293 NEWS IN BRIEF

Fewer than half of NHS staff have so far switched to the new pay system introduced under Agenda for Change. The Department of Health figures from July show that although 70 per cent of staff have had their job matched to a band, only 48 per cent have switched to the new system. The deadline for completion is set for the end of this month.

Tumour-selective medicines is the title of a symposium to be hosted by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society in association with the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences on 12 October at the Society’s headquarters in London. It will cover current developments in tumour-activated and tumour-selective drugs.

Many of the practice guidelines and recommendations that are widely endorsed for the handling of products containing concentrated potassium were found to be largely untested and based on a lack of valid evidence in a recent clinical review, (BMJ 2005;331:274–7). It was concluded that effective evidence based medication safety practices and evaluation of health care systems as a whole are required.

The Department of Health has issued a report on its future plans for 2005-06. Following this year’s targets (eg, the launch of NHS Foundation Trusts and shorter waiting times), the document lists aims and objectives such as introduction of the Mental Health Bill and the NHS Redress Scheme Bill. Other examples of key areas to be targeted include obesity, sexual health, substance misuse, and smoking cessation services.