CL Weekly Clinical Correspondence Panui 19.8.22

Please see the below clinical correspondence for the week.
 
Dr Joe Bourne has been appointed as the CMO for the Ministry of Health starting on 12 September. We are incredibly proud of Joes appointment and wish him all the best with his new role. Congratulations e hoa.
 

1. Lorazepam 1 mg tablets: supply issue resolved
   1. The supplier of lorazepam 1 mg tablets (brand name Ativan) has confirmed that this medicine is now available. We acknowledge the inconvenience that this supply issue may have caused. Thank you for your assistance with the management of this issue.
   2. To help to distribute the supply of lorazepam 1 mg tablets throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, we previously asked pharmacists to dispense a maximum of 7 days’ supply at a time. This limit will remain in place until 31 August 2022 to ensure distribution around the country remains as fair as possible. It may take a few days for supplies of this product to reach pharmacies due to localised logistics issues.
   3. Information for people using lorazepam

i.Pharmacists will continue to reduce supply of lorazepam 1 mg tablets to 7 days until 31 August 2022
ii.People should talk to their prescriber if they are running out of lorazepam 1 mg tablets and are not able to have more dispensed
iii.PHARMAC acknowledges and apologises for the inconvenience that this may cause for people using lorazepam 1 mg tablets.

1. Pharmac notification: decision to list benralizumab (Fasenra) prefilled pen
   1. Please follow this link to the Pharmac Notification regarding a decision to list benralizumab (Fasenra) prefilled pen for severe eosinophilic asthma from 1 September 2022, subject to eligibility criteria.
2. COVID-19 Care in the Community
   1. Our next Care in the Community update webinar for primary care is on Wednesday, 31 August from 7.30pm – 8.30pm. Invitations to register will be sent out later this week with details on topics and speakers, but meanwhile, please keep this time free in your diaries.  
   2. Public information about COVID-19 antiviral medicines to help people who are at risk of becoming very sick has been updated and includes a new eligibility guide for COVID-19 medicines, which can be downloaded, plus information about the return of symptoms following treatment, known as Paxlovid rebound. 
   3. Te Whatu Ora has released guidance for prescribers and pharmacists about advance prescriptions for oral COVID-19 antiviral medicines, which aims to support people’s safe and timely access to these medicines, reducing their risk of hospitalisation and poor outcomes. 
3. COVID-19 Clinical Care Module update  
   1. Increasing numbers of pharmacies are supplying COVID-19 medicines after being trained to use the CCCM system. General practices may see clinical notes from pharmacists explaining their consult with the patient, if they have referred to the GP, or if they have declined the supply. There will also be a task created to capture which drug has been supplied and feeds into the reports in dashboards for the relevant teams. Healthpoint has details of which pharmacies are supplying COVID-19 medicines without prescriptions around the motu. 
   2. A reminder that the weekly drop-in sessions have been extended to pharmacists so general practice teams may see their pharmacy colleagues joining those sessions for support. 
   3. Some security patch upgrades will be installed to the CCCM system this week, which will involve a system outage. This is scheduled for the evening of Thursday 18th August and will means the CCCM system will be unavailable for use between 10.30pm and 12.30 am.  
   4. See the latest information on CCCM support pages on Health Pathways and for more assistance, please contact CITC@contacttracing.health.nz  
4. COVID-19 Response
   1. The Government announced last week that New Zealand will remain at the Orange traffic light setting while hospitalisations remain elevated and pressure on the health system continues through winter. 
   2. New posters about using P2/N95 and medical masks have been added to the Unite against COVID-19 website, which can be used to promote safe mask wearing techniques. 
5. Monkeypox 
   1. A fourth case of Monkeypox was reported by Manatū Hauora last Thursday, 11th August. The person had recently returned from overseas. They are now isolating and there is no evidence of community transmission. 
   2. Te Whatu Ora has updated its guidance about the case definition and testing criteria for Monkeypox. Further updates will be made soon, including about contact definitions and contact management.
6. Pharmac notification: decision to widen access to Obinutuzumab
   1. Please follow this link to the Pharmac notification regarding a decision to widen access to obinutuzumab for people with relapsed or refractory follicular or marginal zone lymphoma