Publish date: 3 October 2022
The medicines management department can be contacted on 0151 250 6061 during the following opening hours:
- 8.30am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (normal working hours)
- 10am to 2pm, Saturday and Sunday (for extended trial period – 2 staff only on site) for the supply of urgent critical medication
The cut off times for ordering urgent medication on a Saturday and Sunday are as follows:
- 12pm for delivery of medicines on a Saturday and Sunday afternoon
The emergency duty (EDC) Pharmacist is available outside of these times including on bank holidays by contacting switchboard.
Please see below for advice to follow before contacting the emergency duty pharmacist when the department is closed:
Medication unavailable:
Prior to contacting the EDC pharmacist, the nurse in charge MUST check the following:
- Is it a critical medicine? (Refer to policy Omitted and Delayed Medicines- Safer Practice)
- Is the medicine available on your ward already as stock or on a neighbouring ward that you can borrow/transfer from? Is the medicine in an emergency cupboard? Please check these options first before contacting the EDC pharmacist. Stock lists are can be found on SharePoint, the link provides ward stock lists in the trust and emergency cupboard stock lists throughout the trust, for use out of hours.
Requesting medication:
- If after completing the steps above the medication remains unavailable, contact the EDC pharmacist via switchboard to request the urgent medication. This should be followed up with an email to mhhpharmacy: mhhpharmacy
@merseycare.nhs.uk - Please note that due to the volume of work received, the EDC pharmacist cannot guarantee regular viewing of emails therefore, if your order is urgent, please contact the EDC pharmacist directly via switchboard to check it has been received.
TTOs and short-term leave prescriptions:
- As per the current SD12 Handling of medicines policy, discharge and leave medication will not routinely be dispensed outside of normal working hours. These must therefore be prescribed with advance notice (48 hours) and requested during departmental opening hours. Service users should not be discharged from hospital without medication.
- If a discharge prescription cannot wait to the next working day, an FP10 prescription can be completed by the discharging team and dispensed by a community pharmacy. If required, FP10 prescriptions are available in the emergency cupboard on Dee ward at Clock View. Contact the EDC pharmacist for access details.
- In exceptional circumstances and for some medications, e.g. clozapine, this may not be possible. The EDC Pharmacist should be contacted to discuss options.
- If it is agreed to dispense an urgent short term leave or TTO, then a member of nursing staff may be asked to complete a final accuracy check of the dispensed medication to ensure safety as the EDC pharmacist works alone out of hours.
Controlled drugs:
- Nursing staff are responsible for managing and requisitioning controlled drugs stock.
- As part of the daily stock check process, please ensure you have enough for administration including weekends and bank holidays, requisition more in advance were required.
- In an emergency, controlled drugs (CDs) may be transferred from another ward on site as per current MMP01 once authorised by a pharmacist (link below). The controlled drugs must be issued out of the ward supplying register and booked into the ward receiving register to provide a full audit trail. The remaining quantity of the CD will need to be returned to the supplying ward. Please refer to policies.
- A limited supply of schedule 4 drugs are available in the out of hours cupboards for emergencies. The EDC pharmacist will need to be contacted for a passcode to supply these.
Transport of medication:
If wards require medication from the emergency cupboards, it is the responsibility of the receiving ward to liaise with the supplying ward to arrange the supply and organise transport for these. The EDC Pharmacist does not need to be contacted regarding this. If the EDC Pharmacist supplies an item from the Medicines Management Department, they will arrange delivery.
EPMA:
EPMA queries including password resets should be directed to the IT Service Desk. Standard Operating Procedures are available on the SharePoint EPMA training pages for reference.
Additional points:
- The EDC pharmacist will review each clinical scenario and supply critical items in an emergency as per their clinical judgement
- Contact the EDC pharmacist via switchboard (not email) to ensure they are aware and can action your urgent medication request
- Pharmacist EDC hours are worked in addition to a standard working week. At the time of your call, the pharmacist may be travelling to or from work, or may be asleep
- Your call may not be answered immediately, e.g. when the pharmacist is driving. Please leave a voicemail including your name and contact details and your call will be returned at the earliest opportunity
- For non-urgent requests please contact the Medicines Management Department on the next working day. Please do not contact the EDC pharmacist for non urgent requests
- A Datix will be completed for any failures in the ordering process (e.g., stock recorded drugs).