Empowering you to meet regulatory and best practice requirements

StAC has been rolled out to some of our pharmacies, with the remaining pharmacies set to receive the functionality over the coming four months. This, together with Clinical Assessment, represents a major professional change for pharmacists as well as an operational change for the whole pharmacy team. It is important that these new features are implemented with the associated safety systems in place, and that the associated process steps are understood and consistently followed. The ‘firewall’ period is a critical phase during initial ‘go-live’ to detect if there is deviation from the new process (which could lead to errors) and a chance to embed consistent and positive behaviours. 

Columbus ‘pop-ups’ alert the user when an action is needed. Please ensure that any ‘pop-ups’ are actioned appropriately and by a suitably trained team member. If the pharmacist is required to enter their GPhC or PSNI number, they should be made aware of the ‘pop-up’ on each occasion to ensure that they are involved in the required corrective action(s). A pharmacist needs to consider that entering their GPhC/PSNI number is akin to adding their initials to a document or dispensing label. On occasions where the pharmacist is not immediately available, team members must understand how the pharmacist would wish to proceed, for example, knowing when to place the whole prescription group to one side to await a manual accuracy check (before placing the dispensed items into an eRetrieval location). To support pharmacy teams, a one-page guide has been produced which details what each ‘pop-up’ means and what action the pharmacy team member or the pharmacist, as applicable, should take. A paper copy of this guide accompanies the paper version of this edition of The Professional Standard; it can also be accessed on the ‘Clinical Assessment and StAC’ BootsLive page. 

When providing MCAs (e.g. Medisure) to patients, there are a variety of factors to consider as MCAs introduce risks as well as benefits and may not necessarily be the most appropriate solution.

A recent coroner’s report, relating to an elderly patient who died after taking medication from her husband’s identical MCA, has raised concerns at the lack of guidance for pharmacists. The coroner’s report is available to read here.

When providing medication in MCAs to two or more people living in the same household, it is important to consider how these may be differentiated to ensure that patients take the medication intended for them, particularly in cases where one or more of them have cognitive impairment.

If you are aware that you have patients that this may relate to, please consider reviewing their Medicines Support Tool(s) assessment and contact your PSQM for further advice.

The guidelines recommend that iron deficiency anaemia should be treated with oral ferrous sulfate, ferrous fumarate or ferrous gluconate at a dose of one tablet once daily, or one tablet on alternate days if not tolerated. Data suggests that lower doses and more infrequent administration may be just as effective, whilst probably associated with lower rates of adverse effects than higher doses or more frequent administration. Further information is available on the NICE CKS clinical 
knowledge summary for iron deficiency anaemia here. 

All pharmacy technicians should now have completed the first module of the PTDP and be preparing to start the second module. The second module will be available on an individual’s Boots Learning account from 4 November 2024 once the first module has been fully completed. The second PTDP module explores professionalism and the pharmacy business within the leadership component and a focus on pain in the common clinical conditions section. In addition, the BMIP part of the module discusses the recognition, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. 

Information on the PTDP is provided in the guidance document, which is located on BootsLive.