PGDs should be for a single medicine only

It is advised that a PGD should be produced for a single medicine only. Including more than one medication in a single PGD may potentially lead to the PGD becoming difficult to follow and increase risk of error due to the inclusion of more than one dosage regime, quantity to be supplied, formulation, list of adverse effects and interactions.

Recommended alternative

It may be preferable to consider a suite of PGDs, each for an individual medicine, which are linked under the overarching guidance on the management of a condition – i.e. there is one document which has overarching clinical guidance then PGDs follow on for each of the possible medicine choices based on the guidance.

Guidance

NICE PGD guidance states:

“Carefully consider the risks and benefits of including more than 1 medicine in a PGD on a case-by-case basis. Ensure all legal requirements are met for each medicine in line with the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.”

If, after consideration, it is locally decided that more than one medicine is to be included in a single PGD, all requirements of the legislation must be included for each drug, being mindful of the above NICE guidance.

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