NICE Job, Clarithromycin and Creon SSPs
Welcome to the GP Pharmacy Club Pod, Episode 9. My name is Merlvin. Today we are giving an overview of the articles published on our website for the week commencing the 19th of May, 2024, and ending on the 25thof May. Our posts this week were focused on two SSPs, or Serious Shortage Protocols, and a job advert from NICE, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.
The NICE job
Let’s start with the job. NICE is inviting applications for a professional member of its Topical Antimicrobials Dressings Committee for a 9-month period. This is a voluntary role in which you can use your personal and professional knowledge to contribute to guidance development related to wound care with antimicrobial dressings. Costs are reimbursed at up to £300 per session, with options for flexible, home or remote working.
The job should appeal to those who are comfortable with active participation in committee meetings and workshops, while also possessing the ability to understand an interpret complex data. While not immediately offering a high salary, this position provides an opportunity to see the inner workings of NICE in guidance development, which could be useful in future job roles that need these skills.
The Clarithromycin SSPs
Our next article was an update that the Department of Health and Social Care, the DHSC, had reactivated two SSPs due to ongoing disruptions in the supply of Clarithromycin 125mg/5ml and 250mg/5ml. In the care of the former, if the 125mg/5ml strength is unavailable, an adjusted quantity and dose of the 250mg/5ml suspension may be supplied. If the 250mg/5ml suspension is unavailable, it may be substituted with 250mg tablets. However, the reverse substitutions are not allowed under the SSPs. Both SSPs expire on 21 June 2024.
The SSPs should reduce the number of patients having to return to their prescriber for a replacement prescription.
The Creon SSPs
The final article relates to Creon 10,000 and 25,000 capsules. There is currently a nationwide shortage of pancreatic enzyme replacement therapies due to limited availability of active pharmaceutical ingredients and manufacturing constraints to produce the volumes required to meet demand. This affects both Creon and alternatives such as Nutrizym 22 and Pancrex V capsules. The SSPs therefore indicate that the maximum supply that may be supplied against a prescription is one month. This applies even when the prescriber has ordered a longer duration of supply. Pharmacies are not allowed to create “owings” to supply the remainder at a later date.
These SSPs will remain valid for the period 24th of May 2024 until the 22nd of November 2024. Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in general practice will likely get one or both of the following queries over the immediate future:
- Requests for alternatives from frustrated patients who have not been able to obtain PERT from their pharmacy
- Complaints over limitation of supply to one month by dispensing pharmacies.
As usual, exercising empathy and good consultation skills in this situation is paramount. It is vital to support frontline fellow professionals working in community pharmacy. It is also helpful to read the actual text of the SSPs so that prescribing decisions reflect the DHSC objectives.That concludes our update for this week. Thanks for listening. Join us again next week for another update
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