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.

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

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

• 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 – March 2019
• Blood Glucose Meters and Testing Strips
  • Policy on Blood Glucose Meters and Blood Glucose Testing Strips for adults aged 19 and older – April 2019
  • Blood Glucose Testing Strips COSTING MORE THAN £10 per 50 strips – March 2019
  • Contact Details for Manufacturers of Blood Glucose Meters and Blood Glucose Testing Strips
• Needles for Insulin Devices
  • WSCCG Policy on Needles for Insulin Devices – November 2018
  • Expensive Needles – November 2018
• Lancets
  • WSCCG Policy on Lancets – November 2018
  • Expensive Lancets – November 2018
• Flash Glucose Monitoring
  • Flash Glucose Monitoring (FreeStyle Libre®): Prescribing Policy – April 2019
  • Flash Glucose Monitoring (FreeStyle Libre®): Patient Information Leaflet – April 2019
• Liothyronine Prescribing Policy – February 2018
• Alogliptin switch procedure – June 2019

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

Care Homes

• Purple Book section 1: Main document
• Purple Book section 2 : Medicines
• Purple Book section 3: Protocols
• Homely Remedies Policy 2017-19
• Flowchart for diagnosis of UTI in care homes
• Record of symptoms and management of UTI in care homes
• NICE-endorsed training
• PrescQIPP training

Holiday Medicines

• Travel Vaccines and Malaria Prophylaxis
• 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

• 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 July 2020
  • Summary & Changes
  • Brand to Brand
  • Brand to Generic
  • Catheters
  • Catheter Leg & Night Bags – (February 19)
  • Continence & Stoma Appliances
  • Controlled Drugs
  • Controlled Drug Dose Optimisations
  • Diabetic Needles
  • Dose Optimisations
  • Eye Drops
  • Formulation Changes
  • Generic to Brand
  • Generic to Generic
  • Oral Hormonal Contraceptives
  • Skin Care

Further Policies and Guidelines

• Atrial Fibrillation Anticoagulation Guidance – September 2019
• 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
• Erectile Dysfunction type 5 inhibitors – September 2014
• Optimising safe and appropriate medicines use
• Female Urinary Incontinence Pathway – December 2019
• Health Visitor Formulary– April 2017
• Prescribing Guideline for the Management of Dry Eye – December 2015
• Treatment of constipation in adults
• Pathway for Adult Vitamin D Deficiency– November 2016
• Policy on 7 day prescribing– April 2017
• Prescribing Interval – Guidance for Patients
• Errors with eye drops for glaucoma