Many drugs used in Palliative Care are used outside of the Product Licence or recommendations of the Datasheets. There is wide experience of their use in Palliative Care however, the responsibility for prescribing is taken by the Doctor or prescribing practitioner.
Practitioners should be aware when using drugs in a manner which falls outside of the product licence specification they should be able to support their actions eg with literature references. Further advice can be obtained from your local Hospital Drug Information Service. All drugs included in the factsheets (Cancer Network) have been agreed for use in Palliative Care by the Cambridge and Huntingdon HA Palliative Care Group.
The Group have endeavoured to ensure that the information and drug doseages included in the Factsheets are accurate, but cannot accept responsibility for any errors or omissions, which may have occurred. When in doubt, information should be checked against published literature or other specialist sources.
To keep the guidance succinct individual references have not been included, however a major source of reference is:
'Palliative Care Formulary', Second Edition (PCF2)
Edits: Robert Twycross, Andrew Wilcock, Sarah Charlesworth and Andrew Dickman
Radcliffe Medical Press
For syringe driver information, the recommended resource is:
'The Syringe Driver: Continuous subcutaneous infusions in Palliative Care'
Edits: Dickman A
Oxford University Press
Useful drug information can be obtained at:
http://www.palliativedrugs.com/
