NPSA Releases Announcement in Follow Up to Oral Methotrexate Alert

The British Society for Rheumatology (BSR) contacted members in September with information of action that the BSR took regarding the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) – Oral Methotrexate Alert. We received a number of concerns from BSR members about the clinical accuracy of the patient safety alert.

In response to these concerns and discussions at the Royal College of Physicians Joint Specialty Committee on Rheumatology and BSR’s Clinical Affairs Committee, a meeting was arranged with the NPSA in order to take steps to resolve this matter.

The meeting had a successful outcome and it has now been agreed that the NPSA will work with the British Society for Rheumatology and the British Association of Dermatology to review and revise the patient information with further announcements expected after summer 2005.

In the meantime, the NPSA are releasing an announcement to emphasise that any local implementation of the documents should only be carried out in conjunction with existing guidance and patient information from authoritative sources such as BSR guidelines on Second Line Drug Monitoring and the arc Drug Information Sheets.

We would now wish to direct you to the NPSA’s full announcement, please visit www.npsa.nhs.uk/advice. This statement is being distributed through the Safety Alert Broadcast System in England to all NHS Acute Trusts and Primary Care Trusts and direct to Medical Directors in Wales.

The society’s current guidelines for Second Line Drug Monitoring can be found on BSR’s website at www.rheumatology.org.uk. The society is currently updating its guidelines on Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drugs (DMARDS) and the Working Group is expected produce its revised guidance in Summer 2005.

We will of course keep you up to date with the progress of the revision of the NPSA documents. Please do contact us if you require any further information.

Yours sincerely

Caroline Rattray External Relations Manager

Further Information:

For further details about the patient safety alert, please contact the NPSA patient safety manager in your area. Their contact details can be found at www.npsa.nhs.uk/static/contacts.

To find out more about the NPSA’s oral methotrexate work, please contact: Wendy Harris – Senior Pharmacist National Patient Safety Agency 4-8 Maple Street London W1T 5HD Tel: 020 7927 9500 Email: wendy.harris@npsa.nhs.uk

For further information about BSR’s involvement in the revision of the documents please contact Lizzie Bloom, BSR Policy Officer at lbloom@rheumatology.org.uk or 0207 242 3313.