Unlicensed /off-label medicines
The OUHFT antimicrobial guidelines contain empirical guidance. Alternative medications or doses of medications may be recommended by Micro/ID doctors following consideration of the patient’s clinical condition and cultures and sensitivities. A full risk/benefit assessment will have been taken by the Micro/ID doctors. Recommendations may include an ‘off-label’ use of a medicine or use of an unlicensed medicine. In this situation, prescribers should be aware of their responsibilities related to prescribing unlicensed or ‘off label’ medications. These are detailed in the OUHFT Procedure for the use of unlicensed and ‘off-label’ medicines. It is the clinical team’s responsibility to complete an unlicensed medicines form on EPR. The licensing statuses of all medications recommended within the OUHFT formulary are detailed in the eBNF available on the intranet.
From June 2024 the process for requesting non-formulary medicines within OUH:
- To request the use of non-formulary medicines complete the Microsoft Smart Form found here
- Non-formulary medicines are those medicines that have not been approved by the Trust's Medicines Management and Therapeutics Committee (MMTC) and are therefore not listed in the Trust Formulary. This includes the use of formulary medicines for unapproved indications.
- The form allows submission of requests electronically and allows person completing the form to receive feedback and approval faster. The status of your requests can be tracked including seeing the reasons for any rejections or modifications. Queries or requests for further information will continue to be directed to your personal email or contact initiated by the Medicines Effectiveness team via phone.
- A response to non-formulary requests submitted in working hours will be received within 1 working day.