What drugs should I carry or have accessible?
- GPs must be able to defend themselves on grounds of good clinical practice
- Different practices operate in different settings with different resources around them i.e. a GP practising in a remote rural setting will have different considerations from one close to a hospital
There is no specific guidance in relation as to which drugs to carry. However, there are some guides that you could draw on e.g.
- Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletin [DTB 2005;43:65-68])
- GP notebook emergency bag guide
- national out-of-hours formulary
You should have access* to urgent treatment for emergencies that you may come across where treatments have a time dependent element for life-saving purposes
e.g.
- aspirin for an MI
- adrenaline for anaphylaxis
- benzylpenicillin for meningitis
We suggest that each practices meets, looks at the available advice and decides a policy for what treatments are available and how they are available (personal bag, practice cupboard, practice emergency bag) basing that decision on their unique practice circumstances
dw/fs April 2010 updated june 2010
