UKMi and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Support Team have produced a list of essential websites to help you search the Internet for information to assist you in your day to day practice. The websites selected are free - we have provided further details where access may be restricted or require a password.

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Clinical Knowledge Summaries
The NHS Clinical Knowledge Summaries (formerly known as PRODIGY) are a reliable source of evidence-based information and practical 'know how' about the common conditions managed in primary care. CKS is aimed at healthcare professionals working in primary and first-contact care.

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Department of Health (DH)
The following essential resources are available on the Department of Health’s main website;

• Immunisation against Infectious Diseases (The Green Book) 2006 presents the latest information on vaccines and vaccination procedures for all the vaccine preventable infectious diseases that may occur in the UK including the immunisations that comprise the routine immunisation programme for all children from birth to adolescence.  Since publication in 2006 a number of chapters have been updated and these are available via the above link.
• The Yellow book, Health information for overseas travel is also available via the DH website.

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Electronic Medicines Compendium
The electronic Medicines Compendium (eMC) contains up to date, easily accessible information about most of the licensed medicines available for use in the UK. The eMC contains two types of documents, all of which have been checked and approved by either the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) or the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). It contains:

• Summaries of Product Characteristics (SPCs), which provide all the information needed by healthcare professionals such as doctors, pharmacists and nurses on how to prescribe and use that medicine correctly.
• Patient Information Leaflets (PILs). This is the leaflet which is included in the pack with a medicine. It is a summary of the SPC and is written for patients.
• eMC Medicines Guides are aimed at the general public and provide up to date, reliable and understandable information about medicines. They are also available via the NHS choices website (See below).

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The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)
The General Pharmaceutical Council is the regulatory body for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy premises. The Council sets the standards for the pharmacy profession to ensure pharmacy practice is safe and effective. The standards will cover areas such as education and training, proficiency, conducts ethics and performance, pharmacy owners, superintendent, pharmacy premises and CPD It is compulsory that all practicing pharmacists register with the General Pharmaceutical Council.

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Health in Wales
Health in Wales has replaced the HOWIS site and aims to provide a centralised information point about health in Wales relating to strategies, policies, statistics and health data in Wales. NHS staff working in Wales have access to resources such as the NHS Wales map of medicine, links to publications on health by the Welsh assembly, links to publications by different NHS organisations and the e-library which provides access to electronic textbooks and bibliographic databases. The website also contains a directory of NHS service providers in Wales.

Health Protection Agency
The Health Protection Agency‘s purpose is to protect the public from threats to their health from infectious diseases and environmental hazards.  It does this by providing advice and information to the general public, to health professionals such as doctors and nurses, and to national and local government.

The section on Malaria is particularly useful and provides the latest guidance on prevention and treatment of malaria and also contact details for the Malaria Reference Laboratory based in London.

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Medicines for children
This website produced by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child health, the Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacists group (NPPG) and the childrens charity, Wellchild, provides information leaflets specifically about the use of medicines in children. They have been written for parents and carers but are also suitable for older children.

Medicines Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is the government agency which is responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work, and are acceptably safe.
Their website has a section on safety issues in relation to medicines and medical devices where you can report a suspected adverse reaction via the yellow care scheme.
The collated reports of all adverse events for medicines are reported as Drug Analysis Prints and can be accessed in the reporting section.

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NaTHNaC (The National Travel Health Network and Centre)
The National Travel Health Network and Centre is funded by the Health Protection Agency and its aim is the promotion of clinical standards in medicines used by travellers. The body provides guidance to health care professionals on general health issues faced by travellers abroad. The website also contains country specific health information relating to travel, clinical updates of global health concerns  e.g. outbreaks ,vaccine supply, training in yellow fever and health information sheets on travel risks.

National electronic Library for Medicine (NeLM)
NeLM is the largest medicines information portal for healthcare professionals in the UK National Health Service (NHS). It aims to promote the safe, effective and efficient use of medicines. This free service has been in operation since 1998 (originally as Druginfozone) and is updated daily. The site provides a comprehensive medicines knowledge-base within the National Library for Health   and has a wide range of information products, including news, evidence-based reviews on drugs and drug therapy and health promotion material. It also provides a facility for sharing practice. Key information regarding individual medicines or preparations can be found quickly and easily via the Medicines A to Z search facility using either generic or brand name. Much of the current content is provided by the NHS pharmacy medicines information service; (UKMi) but information from other providers such as NPC, Department of Health and MHRA are also included.

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)  produces guidance on promoting good health and preventing and treating ill health.  NICE also produces quality standards  which are a set of specific, concise statements that act as markers of high-quality, cost-effective patient care, covering the treatment and prevention of different diseases and conditions.

National Prescribing Centre (NPC)
The NPC produces a vast array of publications, programmes and activities including the Merec Bulletin to support healthcare professionals and the NHS to deliver rational, evidence-based, safe and cost-effective use of medicines for the benefit of patients and the public. It resources are available free of charge via its website. The NPCi (http://www.npci.org.uk/) is an NHS learning resource developed by the National Prescribing Centre specifically for busy health care professionals and managers. The content covers prescribing, therapeutics & medicines management as ‘bite sized chunks’ or small amounts of the best of the summarised evidence and information on useful healthcare topics, situations and scenarios. To supplement knowledge and learning; recorded audio workshops, articles, online discussion forums and "test your knowledge" quizzes are also available.

Netdoctor
NetDoctor.co.uk is a collaboration between committed doctors, health care professionals, information specialists and patients who believe that medical practice should be based on quality-assessed information and, wherever possible, on the basis of the principles of evidence-based medicine.

NHS Choices
NHS Choices is a comprehensive information service which helps patients make choices about their health, from lifestyle decisions about things like smoking, drinking and exercise, through to the practical aspects of finding and using NHS services in England. It draws together the knowledge and expertise of the NHS Evidence: Health Information Resources (formerly National Library for Health), the Information Centre for Health and Social Care, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and many other organisations. This portal contains lots of very useful resources including the following sections which will be of particular interest to pharmacists and other healthcare professionals;

• Behind the Headlines provides an unbiased and evidence-based daily analysis of the science behind health stories that make the news. It aims to respond to stories the day they appear in the media.
• Medicine Guides are aimed at the general public and provide up to date, reliable and understandable information about medicines.
• The Map of Medicine Health guide is a resource developed for and used by clinicians across the NHS and shows the ideal, evidence-based patient journey for common and important conditions. It is a high-level overview that can be shared by patients and healthcare providers.

NHS Evidence
NHS Evidence is a web-based service that provides access to high quality clinical and non-clinical information about health and social care. NHS Evidence is accessible free without any need for registration. It is primarily aimed at professionals and practitioners working in health and social care. For health professionals working in the NHS, the portal also provides access to subscription journals, via the Athens system (sign up required). NHS evidence can also be used to search NICE, the electronic medicines compendium (eMC) and also parts of the National electronic library for Medicine (NeLM).

NOAH (National Office Of Animal Health)
The NOAH compendium website contains the online versions of veterinary data sheets generated and submitted by companies to NOAH. Information can be searched by ingredient, therapeutic indication, species and company. The website also contains information about the legal categories of veterinary medicines and the use of human medicines and the cascade and withdrawal periods for animals.

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Patient UK
Patient UK provides information about health and disease and is aimed at non medical people. The website publishes evidence based information leaflets on a wide range of medical and health topics. They also review health and illness related websites, mainly from the UK but there are a few links to selected overseas sites these are accessible from the web directory included on this website.

PJ online
PJ Online is produced by PJ Publications, part of Pharmaceutical Press, the publishing division of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. All PJ publications are editorially independent of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

PJ Online provides news and views in relation to pharmacy practice and healthcare and includes content published since January 2005 from the following journals:

• The Pharmaceutical Journal
• Prescribing & Medicines Management
• Hospital Pharmacist
• Clinical Pharmacist
• Retail Round-up
• PJ Business Insight
• Tomorrow’s Pharmacist

Articles published between August 1999 and January 2005 are available on PJ Online’s legacy website.

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PSNC (Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee)
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee is the representative body of community pharmacists in England on NHS related issues. Its aim is to ensure that NHS pharmacy contractors receive favourable terms and conditions, service opportunities and remuneration. The website contains general news relating to community pharmacy including the latest drug tariff news and reimbursements. It also offers comprehensive information about the pharmacy contract services. Other useful information available on the website includes prescribing information such as valid prescription forms, supply related issues, the special container database and training resources for MURS.

The work of the PSNC is carried out in close conjunction with the Welsh representative body, Community Pharmacy Wales.

In Scotland NHS pharmacy contractors are represented by Community Pharmacy Scotland. The website contains useful information relating to pharmacy practice in Scotland such as the minor ailments service formularies, the national list of stoma appliance service providers, information on service specifications for the different contractual services, and a link to the Scottish drug tariff.

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Royal Pharmaceutical Society
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society website includes lots of useful information for members such as practice guidance, professional support tools, advice on continuing professional development, events and online groups.

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SHOW (Scotland’s Health On the Web)
Scotland’s Health on the Web is an access portal to NHS Scotland website. Information is arranged into quick links such as the Scottish Government Health directorates, knowledge network, health professional links and NHS national services Scotland. Guidelines and publications by the health directorates are available through the Scottish Government health directorates’ link. The knowledge network contains links to databases, online books, clinical guidance, patient information resources and other network portals. Access to the network requires an Athens user name and password which is available to staff of NHS Scotland including community pharmacists. The health professional link contains a list of healthcare links including links to charity organisations, public health information and health conditions. Access to regional topical links is available through the managed clinical networks.

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Travax
Travax is a web based service provided by NHS Scotland through Health Protection Scotland with the aim of providing health care professionals with evidence based and practical travel health information. Information on the website can be searched by destination, vaccines, malaria prevention and advice sheets for travellers. Access is free for NHS users in Scotland.

NHS Scotland has also provided the Fit for Travel website which is open to the public and contains travel information for UK based travellers going abroad. The information is provided by a team of experts from the Travel Health division at Health Protection Scotland (HPS) and includes general travel advice and information on vaccinations and diseases categorised by country.

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UKMi Fridge Database
This site is produced and maintained by UKMi and provides information regarding the stability of refrigerated medicinal products when stored outside their recommended temperature. The database is password protected but the password is available from the NHS regional medicines information centres.

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Veterinary Medicines Directorate
The Veterinary Medicines Directorate aims to ensure that veterinary medicines in the UK are used in a safe and effective manner. The product information category contains useful resources such as the product information database which contains a list of licensed products including homeopathic remedies, food additives and the ectoparasite product list.

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Lead author, Vicky Gibson, East Anglia Medicines Information Service. Co-author Miriam Gichuhi, Royal Pharmaceutical Society Support.