Handling Medicines

Staff Must

Treat all medicinal products as potentially harmful - avoid direct contact or inhaling dusts or vapours.
Be aware of the hazards associated with the products to be handled and the safety measures required to minimise any risks to health - staff must know the results of COSHH and risk assessments.
Wear disposable gloves when handling any open or loose product.
Use additional protective clothing and equipment as and when specified in the practice, other SOPs or product safety data.
Be familiar with the type, position and operation of safety equipment (eg, fire extinguishers, spillage kits, eye wash and first aid materials).
Deal with any accidental spillage of medicines immediately and refer to product safety data sheets or seek advice from the practice safety officer.
Inform a senior member of staff in the event of an accident.
Inform the practice safety officer if they are or expect to become pregnant or if they suffer from asthma or other known allergies or any condition that they consider may put them at increased risk.
Inform the practice safety officer if they experience any adverse health effects thought to be caused or made worse by the handling of/and exposure to VMPs.
Wash their hands after handling medicines, even if disposable gloves have been worn.

Staff must not:

Eat, drink or smoke in medicines handling or storage areas.
Take medicines from the storage areas for their own use or make such medicines available to other people.
Handle any product unless they are familiar with the relevant safety data and know the hazards, safety precautions and spillage procedures, and the first aid requirements if exposed
Handle any product if they know or think that to do so will put them at increased risk.
Handle either cytotoxic medicines or CDs unless as a veterinarian or upon the instructions of a veterinarian.

Health & Safety 9.6 Handling COSHH - High Risk Substances

Standard Operating Procedure

All members of staff are to read and sign the Health and Safety manuals (2).
All staff are to be trained in pharmacy duties by a qualified person ~ veterinary surgeon, registered veterinary nurse, SQP.
High risk substances - COSHH can only be handled/dispensed by a qualified person ~ veterinary surgeon or a registered veterinary nurse.
High risk substances - COSHH
- Oil based vaccines
- Cytotoxic drugs
- Glutaraldehyde disinfectants
- Hormones
- Sarcoid creams
There is a blue folder located in the pharmacy 'COSHH HIGH RISK SUBSTANCES’. This folder contains:
- a list of high risk products,
- their data sheets
- their handling suggestions
- their cross reference to the Health and Safety manual COSHH no 2
Further information regarding safety data on a product can be found:’
- veterinary licensed drugs from VMD website - product information database www.vmd.gov.uk.
- NOAH compendium www.noahcompendium.co.uk
- Human drugs from ABPI data sheet compendium www.emc.medicines.org
- Disinfectants/ cleaning materials from companies

Health & Safety When Handling Medicines

Standard Operating Procedure

When handling medicines member of staff must:

Treat all medicinal products as potentially harmful.
Be aware of hazards associated with medicines and how the results of the COSHH and risk assessment.
Wear disposable gloves when handling any open of loose products.
Be familiar with the practice SOP for handling medicines and use additional protective clothing and equipment as and when specified.
Inform the Health and Safety Officer if they are or expect to become pregnant. In the case of pregnancy be aware of and avoid handling teratogenic drugs ( see BSAVA Small Animal Formulary for a listing) likely to harm the unborn child or drugs likely to cause miscarriage.
Inform the Health and Safety Officer if they experience any allergies or adverse effects thought to be caused or made worse by the handling of, or exposure to, veterinary medicinal products.
Wash their hands after handling medicines, even if disposable gloves have been worn.

Prepared by VetNurse.co.uk. V1. 29/9/2023

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