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Changes to supply of antivirals
The Department of Health, Royal College of General Practitioners and General Practitioners Committee yesterday issued a joint letter, signed by Ian Dalton, Laurence Buckman and Steve Fields confirming that, in future, all authorisation for the supply of antivirals for children under 13 years of age by GPs must be by voucher, and for those over 13 by voucher or by using the RHS of the prescription. This decision follows an assessment of the risks and benefits of GPs using FP10s or vouchers to authorise the supply of antivirals and will give a consistent approach to authorisation across the country.
The letter states:
Vouchers must be used for all children under 13 because:
- the vouchers provide decision support on dosage in relation to weight and age
- the 15mg in 1ml solution for children under 1 can be easily selected (GP systems do not support the selection of this product. They only support the selection of the 12mg in 1ml suspension, and therefore could cause confusion at antiviral collection points)
- the antiviral collection point staff, who may not be pharmacists, are able to clearly identify which product to supply.
For all other patients i.e. 13 years and older, the safety case for use of vouchers was less clear, and the blank, “right hand side” of the normal FP10 prescription form should be used to authorise supply – unless GPs are not at their practice premises, in which case they should use the voucher.
When using the “right hand side” GPs should generate one as if issuing a private prescription. It is important to endorse it with the letters “ACP” so that Antiviral Collection Points are clear that this is an authorisation for the supply of an antiviral and not a private prescription. In any event, there should be no need to issue private prescriptions for influenza antivirals and doing so is strongly discouraged.
GMS regulations are being changed to allow authorisation by these routes and details to be included on the vouchers are set out in the letter.
Click here for a copy of the letter.
Posted 21 August 2009