News | hospital

Hospitals expected to begin testing electronic prescribing systems from autumn 2021

Exclusive: The electronic prescription service, which was piloted in June and July 2020, will allow hospital outpatient prescriptions to be sent electronically to a nominated community pharmacy.…

Hospital insulin errors remain high, but we can improve the safety of inpatients with diabetes

Insulin prescribing errors are unacceptable but entirely avoidable, hindered by variation across NHS trusts in terms of both prescribing systems and interventions used to support insulin prescribing.…

A quiet revolution: how pharmacist prescribers are reshaping parts of the NHS

Figures obtained by The Pharmaceutical Journal show that the number of pharmacist independent prescribers in England has more than tripled since 2016, but NHS England has yet to cement their place in the community.…

How we are using the discharge medicines service to help patients on high-risk medicines

The new discharge medicines service (DMS), introduced in England in February 2021, has the potential to deliver important patient safety benefits. The DMS toolkit for pharmacy staff gives examples of where medicines or patients could be considered 'high risk' and therefore eligible for the servic…

Hospital pharmacists’ body ‘extremely disappointed’ in 3% pay rise for NHS staff

The Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists has criticised the government's announcement of a 3% pay rise for NHS staff.…

NHS trusts forced to use ‘expensive’ pre-filled diamorphine syringes to manage ongoing supply issues

Exclusive: Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust has had to source pre-filled diamorphine syringes from other NHS trusts to meet demand.…

Hospital-to-pharmacy discharge service could have saved more than 17,000 bed days in three months

Between March and May 2021, the discharge medicines service could have helped avoid 17,238 hospital bed days.…

LloydsPharmacy reduces amlodipine and amitriptyline dispensing errors by 77%

The multiple's Safer Care patient safety programme, aimed to eliminate look-alike, sound-alike dispensing errors, achieved a significant reduction in mistakes in 2020.…

Funding for health and social care workforce wellbeing increases to £8m for 2021/2022

The money will be used to support health and social care staff in Scotland, including the development of a national wellbeing hub and helpline, and psychological therapies and interventions.…

Monoclonal antibody treatment may be administered to vulnerable patients at home

Exclusive: A draft NHS England document, seen by The Pharmaceutical Journal, has set out possible patient pathways for the use of neutralising monoclonal antibodies in the treatment of patients with COVID-19.…