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ACT prompts for care in the last days of a child's life

10th February 2010

The association for children's palliative care (ACT) has launched a good practice tool to help professionals prepare when they are caring for a child in the last hours and days of their life. The prompts cover the management of pain and other symptoms, treatment reviews and the provision of psychological, social, spiritual and practical support for the child, siblings and family. It can be downloaded from the link below.

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FDA approves morphine sulfate oral solution 20mg/mL

4th February 2010

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved morphine sulfate oral solution 20mg/mL (Roxane Laboratories) for the relief of moderate to severe, acute and chronic pain in opioid-tolerant patients.
This is the only FDA approved morphine sulfate oral solution available at this concentration. Although the use of this medicine to manage pain has been common practice for many years, this form and concentration of morphine was not FDA approved until now (see our news item 2009-04-21).

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King's Fund summit report on End of life Care Strategy

4th February 2010

The King's Fund summit report "Delivering better care at end of life: the next steps" has been published. It includes papers given at the summit, in November 2009, covering issues such as commissioning, hospice and hospital care, quality markers, and challenges for providers. It identifies 10 critical actions to help the successful implementation of the government's End of Life Care strategy.

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End of Life Assistance (Scotland) bill published

4th February 2010

The End of Life Assistance (Scotland) bill has been published. The members bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament by Margo MacDonald MSP on 20 January 2010. The purpose of the bill is to enable persons whose life has become intolerable and who meet the conditions prescribed in the bill to legally access assistance to end their life.

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Redesigned NebuChamber now available in UK

4th February 2010

Further to the recall of the NebuChamber spacer device in April 2009 (see our news item 2009-04-07), a redesigned NebuChamber mouthpiece and facemask (AstraZeneca) is now available. The new mouthpiece cannot now be fitted to the spacer incorrectly. The facemask has been redesigned to accommodate the new mouthpiece.

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Warfarin safety information clarified

2nd February 2010

The UK Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has recently reviewed the safety information for warfarin. There are no new safety concerns, however the SPC will shortly be amended to give clearer advice, in particular in the following areas;
• timing of warfarin after a stroke
• management of a patient before dental or surgical procedure
• patients at particular risk of haemorrhage
• interactions with herbal products, foods and food supplements
• management of a patient with a significantly raised INR/haemorrhage.
The new core information that will be added to the SPC is available in the MHRA assessment report which can be downloaded from the link below.

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