Greater Glasgow and Clyde Medicines

Key Messages

• Scottish Government guidance suggests that people of all age groups should consider taking a daily vitamin D supplement of 10 micrograms (400 International Units (IU)) daily particularly during the winter months (October to March)
• Pregnant and breastfeeding women and children under 3 (receiving less than 500ml of infant formula daily) can obtain free supplies of vitamin D via their community pharmacy as detailed HERE
• Those who are not eligible for free supplies of vitamin D can purchase a vitamin D supplement at pharmacies, supermarkets and online

All adult patients prescribed metolazone should receive the new licensed product Xaqua®

Safe Use of Insulin for Adults Admitted to Hospital – Summary of Blog Series

Errors involving insulin can cause serious harm to patients. A series of blogs have been published to help explain the key principles of safe insulin prescribing and administration during inpatient admission and at discharge.
The blogs cover medicines reconciliation, prescribing, administration and discharge.

Key points:

Increased risk of fracture, hypomagnesaemia and subacute cutaneous lupus erythematosus (SCLE) are significant adverse effects associated with PPI use that have been reported by the MHRA.

MHRA Drug Safety Update January 2023

Key Messages:

• Polypharmacy guidance can be used by all healthcare professionals to improve patient care
• Pay particular attention to high risk medicines such as anticholinergics, antipsychotics and benzodiazepines as well as any medicine linked to falls
• Frailty can cause loss of function (including falls and confusion) and can be improved by early identification and polypharmacy medication review

• DOACs are high risk medicines commonly associated with prescribing errors
• Prescribing errors can lead to significant adverse events such as major bleeding or increased thrombotic risk due to suboptimal treatment
• When prescribing a DOAC, the following patient/clinical parameters must be considered: indication, age, actual body weight, renal/hepatic function, past medical history and concomitant medicines

The NHSGGC Venous Thrombosis in Malignant Disease guideline has been updated

Key Medicine Shortages – January 2023