Morphine / Diamorphine Switch

Community Pharmacy locally got some stick last week from the Head of Medicines Management, Janette Stephenson...This was because the palliative care pain relief drug Diamorphine has been switched over throughout the region to Morphine - and a couple of complaints had been received at the PCT from district nurses about difficulties obtaining supplies from pharmacy.

I caught up with Janette at a local clinical update meeting organised by the North East Pharmacy Forum last week and we had a chat about it.  We both agreed that it's hard to believe contractors could be unaware of the switch as letters had gone out from the PCT and the "LPC pink bulletin" ran a story about it well in advance. Janette was grateful to the LPC about the e-reminder that we'd sent around. For reasons of patient care, pharmacists carrying no stock should signpost patients to other pharmacies stocking the drug; but Janette couldn't reason why contractors didn't stock it... 

I reminded Janette that contractors weren't in the habit of taking medicines into stock on a "just in case basis" especially not controlled drugs for palliative care as the majority of pharmacies happily only deal with end-of-life dispensing on a rare basis...and perhaps there was a role for the district nurses and surgeries to alert pharmacies to the potential need for these drugs before they are prescribed?

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