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Guidance on issuing the Steroid Emergency Card in adults

David Erskine, Director, London Medicines Information Services, Specialist Pharmacy ServicePublished Last updated See all updates
Topics: GuidanceMedicines Safety

The NHS England and NHS Improvement national patient safety alert (NatPSA) has specified a number of actions that organisations need to implement.

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Summary 

The NHS England and Improvement national patient safety alert (NatPSA) has specified a number of actions that organisations need to implement.

  • To support implementation, the Society for Endocrinology, the Specialist Pharmacy Service (SPS), and the British Association of Dermatology (BAD) have produced more detailed guidance.
  • This can be used by primary and secondary care providers as necessary to implement the NatPSA in a more consistent way.

The guidance addresses the following clinical questions

  • Which patients are at risk of HPA axis suppression from exogenous steroids
  • Who should be issued with a Steroid Emergency Card and have sick day rules
  • Advice for intercurrent illness, procedures and surgery
  • Who should have steroid cover for procedures, surgery and acute intercurrent illness
  • Who requires adrenal function assessment

Further information

The link below may be disseminated as appropriate. Any queries from a pharmacy perspective please contact david.erskine@gstt.nhs.uk

Change history

  1. fixed broken link
  1. Published