Formularies, Policies and Guidelines

Welcome to the Formularies, Policies and Guidelines section of the website. In this section you will find information on prescribing through guidelines, pathways, checklists, local formularies and letters on a number of medical conditions.

Contents

• Covid-19
• Pain and Analgesics
• Respiratory
• Diabetes and Endocrine
• Antibiotics
• Care Homes
• Holiday Medicines
• Mental Health
• Brands, Generics and Simple Switches
• Further Policies and Guidelines

COVID-19

Guidance

• Suffolk Pandemic Home Visiting Service: Remote & Direct Patient Contact – May 2020
  • Appendix 1 – EoL care drugs that all pharmacies and dispensing doctor practices have been asked to routinely stock
  • Appendix 2 – EoL care drugs that selected pharmacies have been commissioned to stock
  • Appendix 3 – Pharmacies commissioned to stock EoL care drugs listed in Appendix 2
• Shared Care Drugs – Interim Position Statement on Monitoring During the COVID-19 Pandemic
• Implementation Guidance for Reviewing Switching of Patients from Warfarin to a Direct Oral Anticoagulant (DOAC) during the coronavirus pandemic – June 2020
  • Switching from Warfarin to a DOAC: Available Support from the WSFT Anticoagulation Monitoring Service
• Covid-19: Guide for Alternative Inhalers Prescribing -April 2020
• Self-Care During COVID-19: Guidance for patients looking after their wound at home (Printable)
• Self-Care During COVID-19: Guidance for patients looking after their wound at home (Editable)
  • Useful Patient Resources Leaflet – Appendix 1
  • Looking After Your Wound – Appendix 2
  • Looking After A Skin Tear – Appendix 3
  • Shared Care for Wounds – Appendix 4
  • Wound Diary – Appendix 5
  • ANTT for Wounds – Appendix 6
  • BLS Lymphodema Leaflet – Appendix 7
  • Compression Therapy – Appendix 8

Newsletters

• Medicines Management Newsletter – No. 2 – 30/03/2020
• Medicines Management Newsletter – No. 1 – 19/03/2020

Pain and Analgesics

Pain Assessment Tools

• Abbey Pain Scale
• DN4 Neuropathic Pain Assessment
• Pain Assessment and Documentation Tool (PADT)
• Pain Scales in Multiple Languages

Prescribing Guidance

• Acute Pain Ladder – March 2020
• Chronic Pain Ladder – March 2020
• Neuropathic Pain Ladder – March 2020
• Adjuvant pharmacological agents – Condition Specific Advice – March 2020
• Opioid Prescribing for Acute Pain: Key Recommendations – March 2020
• Pain in Wound Assessment and Management – March 2020

Deprescribing Guidance

• Fentanyl Patches Tapering Guidance – March 2018
• Lidocaine 5% Medicated Plasters: Guidance for Non-Cancer Pain in Adults – May 2019
• Opioid Equivalence Risks and Recommendations – March 2018
• Opioid Tapering Resource Pack – March 2020
• Pregabalin and Gabapentin Withdrawal Summary Guidance – March 2020

Patient Information

• Driving and Pain
• Gabapentinoid Reduction
• Lidocaine 5% Medicated Plasters
• Opioids Aware: Taking Opioids For Pain
• Opioid Safety Messages
• Opioid Medicines and The Risk of Addiction, MHRA – September 2020

Non-pharmacological Resources and Leaflets to Support Self-management

Website

• My Live Well With Pain
• Pain Toolkit

Leaflets

• Explaining Pain
• Resources Worth Exploring to Manage Pain Well
• Ten Footsteps. Your Journey to Living Well With Pain
• Sleep Well with Pain
• Using Medicines for Persistent Pain Questionnaire
• Non pharmacological strategies
  • Acute Pain: Self Help and Advice
  • Persistent Pain: Supporting Self-Management – Clinician’s Quick Guide – January 2020

National Guidance/Key Resources

• What to do when a patient is unfit to drive – Summary Guidance
• Gabapentinoid Prescribing for Chronic Pain in Primary Care – Resources for Clinicians and Boards
• Live Well With Pain
• Opioids Aware

West Suffolk Integrated Pain Management Service: How to make a referral

• Referral Guidance
• Referral Form

Respiratory

• Pharmacological Management of COPD in Adults: Quick Summary – March 2017
• Pharmacological Management of Asthma 12 Years and over: Quick Summary – January 2020
• Pharmacological Management of Asthma in Children under 12 Years: Quick Summary – January 2020
• COVID-19: Guide for Alternative Inhalers Prescribing – April 2020
• How to use inhaler leaflets
  • Breezhaler inhaler
  • Easyhaler inhaler
  • Genuair inhaler
  • Metered dose inhaler
  • Spiromax inhaler
  • NEXThaler inhaler
  • Metered dose inhaler with small volume spacer device
  • Metered dose inhaler with large volume spacer device
  • Respimat inhaler
  • Zonda inhaler
• How to use inhaler videos – watch here

Diabetes and Endocrine

• Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Adult Treatment Pathway – November 2019
• Primary Care Guidelines on the frequency of blood glucose self-monitoring in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus not controlled by insulin – October 2021
• Blood Glucose Meters (BGMs) and Testing Strips (BGTS)
  • Policy on BGMs and BGTS for adults aged 19 and older – October 2021
  • BGTS Costing more than £10 per 50 strips – March 2019
  • BGMs and BGTS manufacturer contact details
• Flash Glucose Monitoring (FGM)
  • FGM-FreeStyle Libre®: Prescribing Policy – February 2021
  • FGM-FreeStyle Libre®: Patient Information Leaflet – April 2019
  • FGM-FreeStyle Libre 3: Position Statement – May 2022
• Insulin – Management of:
  • Monthly Quantities – Information for Prescribers: Cartridges, Pens – disposable and refill, Vials – October 2021, PrescQIPP
  • Monthly Quantities – Information for Prescription Clerks: Cartridges, Pens – disposable and refill, Vials – October 2021, PrescQIPP
• Lancets
  • WSCCG Policy on Lancets – November 2018
  • Expensive Lancets – November 2018
• Needles for Insulin Devices
  • WSCCG Policy on Needles for Insulin Devices – November 2018
  • Expensive Needles – November 2018
• Alogliptin switch procedure – June 2019
• Liothyronine Prescribing Policy – February 2018

Antibiotics

• Suffolk and North East Essex Primary Care and A&E Antimicrobial Formulary – April 2020
  • Suffolk and North East Essex Primary Care and A&E Antimicrobial Formulary: Quick Reference – April 2020
  • The TARGET Antibiotics Toolkit
  • The ‘Treating your infection – Respiratory Tract Infection’ leaflet
  • The ‘Treating your infection – Urinary Tract Infection’ leaflet
  • The ‘When Should I Worry?’ booklet for parents and carers
  • The ‘Caring for children with coughs’ leaflet
  • The ‘Get Well Soon Without Antibiotics’ leaflet
  • The ‘Think Pharmacist’ leaflet
  • Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) patient information leaflet
  • Advice for those affected by MRSA outside of hospital
  • How to apply decolonising treatment
  • Trimethoprim and Methotrexate: Do not co-prescribe
• Antimicrobial Newsletter, 7th Edition – April 2022
• WSCCG Antimicrobial Stewardship Data Reporting – up to February 2022, added May 2022

Care Homes

• Homely Remedies and Self-Care Toolkit – October 2021
• Flowchart for diagnosis of UTI in care homes
• Record of symptoms and management of UTI in care homes
• NICE-endorsed training
• PrescQIPP training
• Purple Book section 1: Main document
• Purple Book section 2 : Medicines
• Purple Book section 3: Protocols

Holiday Medicines

• Travel vaccines, malaria prophylaxis and medication for the purpose of travel, including anticipatory medicines – Prescribing guidance – July 2021
• Can my GP prescribe extra medication to cover my holiday?
• Can I take my medicine abroad?
• Memo: Vaccine Prescribing for Healthcare and Laboratory Staff and FP34D

Mental Health

• Stopping Antidepressants: Quick Reference Guide – September 2020
• Stopping Hypnotics and Anxiolytics: Quick Reference Guide – September 2020
• Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust NSFT Formulary
• Antipsychotic use and withdrawal for people with Dementia
• Nalmefene Initiation Pathway for Reducing Alcohol Consumption
• Guidance on Appropriate and Cost-effective Prescribing of Short Acting Hypnotics

Brands, Generics and Simple Switches

• Generic Medicines Prescribing Policy
• Simple Switches – Updated August 2021
  • Summary and Changes
  • Brand to Brand
  • Brand to Generic
  • Catheters Female
  • Catheters Male
  • Catheter Leg & Night Bags – Coming Soon
  • Continence & Stoma Appliances – Barrier products
  • Continence & Stoma Appliances – Remover products
  • Controlled Drugs
  • Controlled Drug Dose Optimisations
  • Diabetic Needles – Coming Soon
  • Dose and/ or Quantity Optimisations
  • Eye Care
  • Formulation Changes
  • Generic to Brand
  • Generic to Generic
  • Oral Hormonal Contraceptives
  • Skin Care
  • Specials

Further Policies and Guidelines

• Edoxaban Switch Position Statement – May 2022
• Inclisiran Position Statement – updated April 2022
• Bisphosphonate length of treatment guidelines – October 2014
• Compression stockings
• Dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban, the new oral anticoagulants (NOACS), for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation
• Dental
  • Dental medicines prescribing policy – January 2021
• Erectile Dysfunction type 5 inhibitors – September 2014
• Optimising safe and appropriate medicines use
• Female Urinary Incontinence Pathway – December 2019
• Health Visitor Formulary– October 2021
• Metolazone
  • Metolazone for adults – Briefing sheet for primary care – November 2020
• Prescribing Guideline for the Management of Dry Eye – December 2015
• Treatment of constipation in adults
• Pathway for Adult Vitamin D Deficiency– November 2016
• Phenylketonuria
  • Prescribing policy for low protein foods in patients with phenylketonuria – January 2021
• Primary Care Pathway for the Treatment of Vitamin D Deficiency in Paediatric Patients (0-17 years) with eGFR≥30ml/min – November 2020
• Prescribing intervals position statement – July 2021
• Prescribing Interval – Guidance for Patients
• Unlicensed Medicines (Specials)
  • Decision guide for reviewing a patient on an unlicensed medicine – January 2021
  • Specials patient information leaflet – February 2021
• Vitamin B12
  • Guideline for the management of Vitamin B12 deficiency (in adults) – November 2020
  • Vitamin B12 deficiency – Patient factsheet – January 2021
  • Flowchart for reviewing patients on Vitamin B12 injections – November 2020
  • Vitamin B12 deficiency – Template letter for patients who have been reviewed to trial stopping Vitamin B12 injections – January 2021
• Errors with eye drops for glaucoma