When at home, dispensing labels are often the only reminder patients/carers have about how to take their medicines. Historically, there has been no national standard to guide how dosing instructions should be worded, and as a consequence practice is highly variable. This variability increases the risk of medication error, and can make for a poor patient/carer experience.

The Neonatal and Paediatric Pharmacy Group (NPPG) have recently published guidance on how liquid medicines dispensed for children should be labelled. This session will introduce the guidance, and describe the need for ongoing discussions within the Pharmacy professions as a whole as to the best approach for solid dosage forms, and other patient groups.

• - Learn about the extent of current variability in relation to the wording of dosage instructions.
• - Understand the patient/carer perspective, and how this relates to current practice.
• - Be aware of the recently published NPPG guidance on the labelling of oral medicines for children, and consider what further work is needed from the Pharmacy professions in order to standardise for all patients, regardless of age.