NEWS
REMOTE HEALTH PATHWAY REPORT RELEASED
Scotland’s @TECScotland programme developed the COVID-19 remote health pathway to allow remote monitoring of patients diagnosed with the condition. Now, an evaluation report has been released, which has shown that, while most people with COVID-19 recovered, certain groups were at high risk of quickly deteriorating.
The Clinical Advisory Group (CAG), which brought together – among others - experts from general practice, infectious diseases and respiratory medicine – developed a national COVID-19 remote health pathway to detect and manage early deterioration, based on evidence that tele-monitoring was better than self-monitoring alone.
Those who opted in after an in-person assessment were supported to register with the service and shown how to use a pulse oximeter to measure their oxygen saturation level. They could then remotely respond to questions from the system (via SMS text messages, on- line/app, patient portal, or automated calls to a landline or mobile ‘phone) about their symptoms.
The full report can be viewed at
digihealthcare.scot/wp-content/uploads.
NEW ADVICE PUBLISHED BY SMC
The Scottish Medicines Consortium has published advice accepting three new medicines for use in lung cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma.
Osimertinib (Tagrisso) was accepted for use in patients who have had surgery for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Osimertinib is an oral medicine that is likely to be better tolerated than other treatment options.
Atezolizumab (Tecentriq) was accepted for the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The majority of patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage of the disease, which is associated with extremely poor survival, no chance of a cure and limited treatment options. Atezolizumab is an additional first-line therapy option which is easier to tolerate, administer and requires less time spent in hospital than chemotherapy.
Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was accepted for the treatment of relapsed or refractory Hodgkin lymphoma (a cancer of the white blood cells) in patients aged three and over when other treatment options have failed. Pembrolizumab may increase the time until disease progresses and offers a more convenient treatment option that is likely to reduce the treatment burden on patients and their families.
scottishpharmacist.com 33
TEMPORARY MOVE OF VACCINATION CENTRE
NHS Lanarkshire’s COVID-19 vaccination centre at Ballerup Hall in East Kilbride is temporarily moving to the Alistair McCoist Complex, which is also in East Kilbride. The new venue will remain at the complex until 31 December 2021. After this, the clinic will return to the Ballerup Hall.
‘The move,’ said Tom Elrick, General Manager for the COVID-19 vaccination service in Lanarkshire, ‘will allow us to accelerate our vaccination programme and increase the number of people we can vaccinate each day in the run up to the festive season. It will also allow maintenance to be carried out in the Ballerup Hall, without any break in service to our communities.’
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