Medicines information

The national palliative care guidelines make recommendations about the use of various drugs.  These recommendations should be considered alongside the information contained below. For information on anticipatory prescribing, see the Anticipatory prescribing section.

It is recognised that some medicines will be initiated by a specialist and care may transfer to a generalist setting. The presentation, indications, doses and routes of administration may be unfamiliar to practitioners and medicines information sheets will be made available. The medicine information sheets are  colour coded to indicate medicines used under specialist guidance and those for more general use.

Red– For medicines normally initiated and used under specialist guidance

Amber – For medicines normally initiated by a specialist but may be used by generalists

Green – For medicines routinely initiated and used by generalists

• The following medicines are coded    green
• Buccal midazolam
• Dexamethasone
• Fentanyl patches
• Levomepromazine
• Morphine
• Naloxone
• Oxycodone

• The following medicines are coded    amber

• Octreotide

The following medicines are coded    red

• Alfentanil
• Buprenorphine patches
• †Clonazepam†
• Quick acting Fentanyl (Pecfent, Effentora, Abstral)
• †Hydromorphone†
• †Ketamine
• †Levetiracetam (subcutaneous infusion)
• †Lidocaine plaster
• Methadone
• Methylnaltrexone
• Phenobarbital (phenobarbitone)

Safety alert: It is best practice to remove all transdermal patches for MRI scans. This is of particular importance for fentanyl and buprenorphine patches which can cause serious overdose if not removed prior to scan.