This aspect of Pharmacy Public Health deals with the planning for, and managed introduction of new medicines. The Scottish Medicines Consortium is responsible for providing advice on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of all new medicines and important new indications for existing medicines.
The NHS GGC prescribing website provides useful links to the local Medicines Formulary, medicines policies and associated resources.
The community pharmacist is a trusted source of information and advice for their patients. This is particularly important for those issues which can have high media attention e.g. introduction of a new vaccine or an outbreak of an infectious disease.
Further information and advice can be found in the Health Protection Topics section of this website. Examples of topics included are:-
Knowledge of infection control principles is important to protect yourself and your patients.
And
Advice on safe storage of vaccines which must be stored in the ‘cold chain’ between 2oC and 8oC at all times.
Pharmacists can recognise symptoms of a notifiable disease in order to appropriately refer patients
Understand how an outbreak is being managed to be able to offer appropriate advice and reassurance to the public.
Maintain Business Continuity Plans to ensure minimal impact on the delivery of patient care in the event of an emergency situation.
Pharmacists can encourage uptake of screening programmes against several cancers e.g. cervical, breast cancer and bowel. More information may be found on the Screening – Health topics – Public Health Scotland website.
For any enquiries regarding health protection please contact:
PharmacyPublicHealth@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
Three blood borne viruses are the main cause for concern in Scotland, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C.
There is an effective vaccine only for Hepatitis B. However, there are few effective treatments for Hepatitis C and HIV.
Public Health Protection Unit – NHSGGC in NHSGGC has a key role in monitoring and responding to the incidence of notifiable diseases e.g. meningitis.
The NHS GGC Community Pharmacy Infection Control Guidelines provide basic advice.
To reduce the incidence of infection due to antimicrobial resistance in the population, NHSGGC has launched https://clinicalguidelines.nhsggc.org.uk/adult-infection-management/ to be followed in primary care and the prescribing support team has developed a non-prescription pad to encourage patients to seek non antibiotic remedies for viral infections.
The NHS GGC Public Health Screening Unit is responsible for a range of health screening programmes.
Immunisation is one of the most effective health interventions.
There are several formal immunisation progammes in the UK. They are Childhood, Adult and Seasonal Influenza.
Public Health Specialists from NHS GGC Public Health Protection Unit – NHSGGC are involved in identifying and managing outbreaks of disease. They will liaise with infection control teams for example in the case of a norovirus outbreak in an institution or with local authorities if an outbreak is linked to a food supplier in an E. coli outbreak.
Local authorities and health boards are required to have plans in place to manage accidental events such as major oil or chemical spills or deliberate terrorist acts. A specialist on line training module is available from TOXBASE
Patient Group Directions (PGDs) are legal documents that enable suitably qualified healthcare professionals to administer and supply medicines (P or POM) in a defined clinical situation where the patient may not be individually identified before presenting for treatment. The individual using the PGD must have signed and been authorised to use the PGD prior to administering or supplying any medicines named in the document.
NHS GGC uses PGDs to allow nursing staff and Health Visitors to administer vaccines for the routine child immunisation programme and travel in specialist clinics.
Individuals are most likely to catch influenza in the winter months. The season runs from October to the end of February occasionally into March, peaking in December/January.
Seasonal influenza can affect anyone. It is an acute viral infection of the respiratory tract. There are three types of influenza virus: A, B and C. Influenza A and influenza B are responsible for most clinical illness.
It is difficult for an individual to develop long term immunity to influenza as the make up of the viral strains change slightly on a regular basis. So vaccination against seasonal influenza has to be undertaken annually.
The government resource Immunisation against infectious disease – ‘The Green Book’
In the United Kingdom immunisation for influenza for certain groups including ‘at risk’ patients is provided on the NHS and in Scotland the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) will send a letter detailing which groups are eligible for vaccination. Letters from the CMO are available here.
Egg allergy isn’t always an absolute contraindication for receiving flu vaccine. The British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology website advises on managing individuals with egg allergy
An e learning course for healthcare professionals undertaking immunisation is available. Registration is required to undertake this course.
NHS Inform has key patient information on all types of immunisation
NHS GGC: Immunisation – NHSGGC
Sandyford co-ordinates a wide range of sexual health services in NHS GGC.
The Free Condoms web-site provides, support for practitioners involved in condom distribution, information on how to sign up as a distribution point, where to find condom distribution points and general advice on condom use and products offered
It is important that pharmacists and their staff understand what they should do if they have any concerns about a child and sexual health issues. Access information at NHS GGC Child Protection Unit’s website
Pharmacists play an important part in providing information and advice about substances liable to misuse controlling the availability of medicines, and the associated risks and in providing harm reduction programmes e.g. methadone and the supply of injection equipment.
Two websites are highly recommended for those living in Scotland seeking travel health guidance. Fit for Travel which gives the most up to date information for the public and the professional site TRAVAX.
Access to TRAVAX requires registration but it is free for Community Pharmacists in Scotland to register.
NHS GGC Guidelines on Vaccine Storage and Handling are available in the NHSGGC Guidelines Repository
For queries about the service please contact the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital Biochemistry Department on 0141 354 9060.
The Scottish Biologic Drug Monitoring Service is delivered by the Biochemistry Dept. within the Lab Medicine Building on the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital site, Glasgow.
The service currently delivers Infliximab and Adalimumab levels and their respective total anti-drug antibodies (ADA) for optimising care predominantly in gastroenterology patients with inflammatory bowel disease. The service attained UKAS accreditation (2019) and is working with IMMQAS and others to improve the EQA understanding for drug and ADA assays. The service uses both WHO standards for drug levels and a patient pool sample for ADA assay to monitor performance. It is involved in sample exchange with other laboratories.
The service employs a reflex ADA testing strategy based on drug level result. When a drug level result is within or higher than the therapeutic target range, and when ADA level has previously been undetectable, reflex ADA testing is not routinely performed. Since the introduction of reflex ADA testing approximately 50% adalimumab samples and 37% infliximab samples have not had a reflex ADA test performed.
There may be some clinical scenarios where ADA titres are desirable even when drug level results are therapeutic. Requests for additional ADA testing should be indicated clearly at the time of test request or can be arranged by contacting the lab directly.
During 2019 there were 2821 Infliximab and 2920 Adalimumab samples analysed from health boards across Scotland.
TDM tests should be requested according to local biochemistry/immunology laboratory requirements. The previously used paper request forms are no longer required. Local teams are encouraged to collate data related to TDM use and outcomes as this may be required to sustain future rounds of service funding.
Vedolizumab drug level testing is now available. The utility of testing drug and anti-drug antibodies for vedolizumab has yet to be fully ascertained. Target drug levels for vedolizumab have not been clearly established. The current evidence is covered in these articles:
Vedolizumab testing is not part of the nationally commissioned TDM service. The cost per sample is £20.
In order to gather clinical data regarding the benefits of vedolizumab drug level testing, please complete and enclose a completed request form with each sample. This information will be used to try and secure UKAS accreditation for vedolizumab drug level testing. Vedolizumab Request Audit Form.
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Clyde Biochemistry Laboratories (those based at Royal Alexandra Hospital, Inverclyde Royal Hospital and Vale of Leven Hospital) has been accredited with UKAS to standard ISO 15189:2012 for much of our test repertoire. The certificate of accreditation is available online.
The scope of our accreditation includes the majority of the tests performed by our laboratories, with a small number of tests not falling within our accreditation status (for example, no fluid analyses (on fluids other than CSF, urine or blood / serum / plasma) are accredited) – see the link above for details of our accredited scope.
Specialist services including Protein Electrophoresis and less often requested endocrine assays are based at RAH.
All routine GP work within the Clyde Sector is also based at RAH.
Please accept our apologies for the behaviour of links on this webpage. This is due to a global setting which is outwith the Biochemistry Department’s control.
For routine issues with gas analysers or blood glucose meters and to arrange training / barcode for meters please email:
Cryoglobulin testing can also be arranged via this email address.
Both Primary and Secondary care professionals served by the Clyde Biochemistry Laboratory can obtain clinical advice by email:
We are committed to providing a quality service to users. If you wish to provide feedback on the Clyde Glasgow Biochemistry service, please contact our Quality Manager by emailing Pamela.craig@ggc.scot.nhs.uk.
The most recent laboratory newsletter is available below:
Previous issues of the newsletter are stored in the Clyde Biochemistry Document Library:
Secondary Care
Previous memos can be found in the Clyde Biochemistry Document Library, linked above.
Ready to learn – the 30 month child health check ( English lanuage version) Ready to learn – the 30 month child health check (Arabic language version) Ready to learn – the 30 month child health check (Polish language version) Ready to learn – the 30 month child health check (Romanian language version) Ready to learn – the 30 month child health check ( Chinese language version) Ready to learn – the 30 month child health check ( Slovak language version) Ready to learn – the 30 month child health check ( Urdu language version) Ready to learn – the 30 month child health check (Punjabi language version) Ready to learn ( Traditional Chinese language version)This page is currently under review and will be updated imminently to reflect the HFEAs most recent data.
When we receive a referral letter from your doctor, we will send you a letter of acknowledgment requesting some important information regarding your partner. When we are able to offer you an outpatient appointment, we will write to you and give you:
Since the results of your partner’s semen test will influence which treatment is most suitable for you, it is most important that your partner has had a sample analysed prior to your appointment. This should be arranged with his General Practitioner. Please note that:
At your first consultation (which will take about 30 minutes) you will meet with a Specialist Fertility Nurse or a Doctor. They will go through a detailed medical history with you both. You will also have your height and weight measured (to calculate your BMI), carbon monoxide screening (to check if you smoke) and you may also need an ultrasound scan of your ovaries.
We require all patients starting a cycle of treatment to have 2 MMR (Measles, Mumps & Rubella) vaccinations. If you have already provided us with paperwork to confirm this, you do not need to do so in subsequent cycles. If you need to check if you have had 2 MMR vaccines please check with your GP in the first instance.
Please note that to be eligible for treatment offered by ACS you must meet the following criteria (the first two apply to the female partner only):
Provided you are eligible for treatment at ACS, the most likely outcome of your first visit is that we will be able to recommend a treatment appropriate for you. Should you decide to proceed with that treatment, your name will be placed on the appropriate waiting list.
However, sometimes it will be necessary for you to make several visits to ACS before we can recommend a treatment appropriate for you. Here are some examples of reasons why that might be the case:
When your name reaches the top of the treatment waiting list (which may take up to 12 months from the date of your referral to ACS), we will send you a letter giving you your next two appointment dates.
The first of these appointments (ART appointment) will be dated 4 to 6 weeks after the date of the letter you received, and the second appointment (Post Screen appointment) 2 to 3 weeks after that.
At the ART appointment (which takes about 30 minutes to complete) You will meet with a Specialist Fertility Nurse who will:
At the Post Screen appointment (which takes about 1 hour to complete) You will meet with a Specialist Fertility Nurse who will:
Depending on when you have your period, your treatment will begin 5 to 8 weeks later.