For those of you that didn’t know, this week is Code awareness week, organised by the ABPI and aimed at raising awareness of the code This also happens to coincide with the new changes to the code which come into effect from 1st May 2011.
For those fans of the code I shall attempt to summarise briefly the key changes:
- Banning of promotional items such as mugs, diaries, pens and post-it notes (the NHS stationery budget will now go through the roof – I hear you cry!).
- Promotional items can be passed onto patients, via healthcare professionals, providing they are part of a patient support programme
- From 2013 Pharma companies must publish details of the previous years payments to healthcare professionals for their services.
- Also from 2013 all details of previous year’s donations and grants to organisations must be made publicly available; and the monetary value of financial support to patient organisations must be published for all activities on of after the new code comes into effect from 1st May.
In conjunction with the code changes the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA) has developed an e-learning module aimed at encouraging transparency and awareness of the Code to healthcare professionals. It also explains how Pharma can promote medicines to the industry – http://www.pmcpa.org.uk/elearning/index.html a useful tool for those that want a refresher!
