End of Life Care Medicine Services
BLMK ICB commissions the End of Life Medicines Service from selected community pharmacies across the county. This service aims to ensure that patients receiving palliative care in the community have access to specialised drugs when these are required in an emergency.
The service is available within the normal opening hours of the pharmacy contractor - details of the pharmacies and contact details are provided below. Out of hours centres hold their own supplies to meet the demand outside normal pharmacy opening hours.
The pharmacies are required within the service specification to hold minimum quantities of a prescriptive list of medicines and to provide additional medicines management support to healthcare professionals and carers accessing the service.
This list has been developed in consultation with the Medicines Management team, Macmillan and District nurses, GPs with Special interest in palliative care and clinical leads from the Bedfordshire Partnership for Excellence in Palliative Support (PEPS) service. The list is not intended to be comprehensive but expected to be adequate to meet the needs of patients requiring urgent care. A copy of the list of medicines is provided below.
Clinicians and carers should note that a pharmacy may not have the full quantity of medication to fill a prescription however it is expected that there will be sufficient supply to allow treatment to be started and the remaining stock ordered for urgent delivery, usually by the next working day (subject to wholesaler availability).
Prescriptions for controlled drugs must meet legal prescribing requirements in order to avoid unnecessary delays with dispensing.
Enquiries relating this service should be directed to: BLMKICB.MedsOpt@nhs.net
We also include the documents for the Luton and Milton Keynes areas.
Useful Documents:
Palliative Injectable Medicines Guidance (Bedford and Central Bedfordshire, ELFT)
