Q&A: Ensuring vaccine safety is no easy task Patrick LF Zuber, group leader for global vaccine safety at the World Health Organization, talks about vaccine safety, the Ebola vaccine and new vaccines in the pipeline.…
Parents warned to keep e-cigarettes out of reach as poisoning incidents increase There has been a significant rise in the number of cases of children ingesting the liquid in e-cigarettes, prompting poison experts at Public Health England to warn parents to keep them out of reach.…
Medicines regulator reviews chloramphenicol packaging after picking errors Regulators are working with community pharmacy organisations to review the packaging of chloramphenicol eye and ear drops.…
CPS will not act against pharmacist whose error led to patient’s deathA pharmacist involved in a dispensing error that led to the death of a patient is being investigated by the General Pharmaceutical Council.…
Review calls for improvements to medicines management in Welsh hospitals Unannounced inspections of facilities providing hospital care for elderly patients in Wales have revealed serious shortfalls in medicines management.…
Regulator rejects call for stricter control of laxative sales A call by an eating disorder charity for tougher controls on the sale of laxatives has been rejected by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.…
Medication errors common in children A child is subject to a medication error every eight minutes in the United States, according to research that analysed calls to national poison hotlines.…
Medication errors cost the NHS up to £2.5bn a year The NHS wastes at least £1bn – and possibly as much as £2.5bn – on preventable errors, many of which are related to improper use of medication, according to a report commissioned by the Department of Health.…
Valproate poses risk to unborn children, says European regulator Review recommends that valproate should not be prescribed to treat bipolar disorder or epilepsy in pregnant women or women or girls of childbearing age unless there is no alternative product.…
Pharmacists should no longer be at risk of prosecution for dispensing errors New contract between the NHS and community pharmacists in England should hasten change in the criminalisation of dispensing errors.…