News from NPPG December 2025

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Hello everyone,

I’m honoured to step into the role of Chair for the Neonatal & Paediatric Pharmacist Group for the next three years. Having served on the committee for 13 years, I continue to be inspired by the dedication, expertise, and compassion within our paediatric and neonatal pharmacy community. It is a privilege to now help steer our collective work during such an important time for children’s medicines and pharmacy practice.

I want to ensure that every colleague feels supported to excel, grow, and be recognised as a role model for high-quality patient care. Strengthening our connections, sharing best practice, and inspiring one another will continue to be at the heart of what we do. I am also committed to developing an environment where everyone feels they belong, where your voices are heard, and where all members feel confident to take up opportunities to be involved in our work. I want to ensure that you always feel able to reach out and let us know what is important to you. If you would like to contact me, please do at chair@nppg.org.uk.

Alongside this, I will continue championing the importance of paediatric and neonatal pharmaceutical care at the highest levels, ensuring that the needs of children and young people remain a national priority. And of course, I will work with the committee to ensure that the Neonatal & Paediatric Pharmacist Group remains financially strong and sustainable—so we can continue delivering education, advocacy, and support for our members.

At our committee meeting this week, we were delighted to welcome our newly elected committee members: our first elected pharmacy technician, Courtney Edrich; Mohammed Abou Daya, previously Chair of the PCC SIG; and we also warmly welcomed back Sian Gaze and Andrea Gill, who were both re-elected. We also appointed Ashifa Trivedi as our next Vice Chair— a role I am confident she will deliver with the energy, enthusiasm, and commitment she has already shown through her work on the committee. I’m genuinely excited for what we will all achieve together in the months and years ahead.

Warm wishes,
Chloe Benn
Chair, NPPG

Following the AGM and elections the following make up the current committee

NPPG Election information Name
Chair Chloe Benn (2021 committee)
Vice-Chair Ashifa Trivedi
Prof Lead Steve Tomlin
Immediate past-chair Nanna Christiansen
Co-opted members
Treasurer Paul Sanderson (2021 committee)
Medicines information officer Chris Paget
E&T Nicola Husain
Position statement Andrew Wignell
Editor and membership Peter Mulholland
Elected members (9)
Andrea Gill
Nigel Gooding
Ashifa Trivedi
Jo Crook
Mohammed Abou-Days
Penny North-Lewis
Sian Gaze
Andrew Lilley
Courtney Edrich
Regional and SIG leads – co-opted
Ireland Reena Patel
N Ireland Emma Barbour
Wales Thomas Wylie
Scotland Nicola Wilson
PCC Incoming new
POP Vicky Holden
PANG Melody Chan
RIG Sukeshi Makecha
Rheumatology Octavio Aragon-Cuevas
DGH Ashifa Trivedi
Neonatology Sian Gaze
Pharmacy Technician Patricia Hayes
Cardiac Susie Gage
ICB/Community Susanne Lynch

A National Patient Safety Alert was issued in September 2025 regarding the risk of harm from the delayed administration of rasburicase for tumour lysis syndrome (TLS). The alert mandates that healthcare organisations, including emergency departments and cancer services, update risk assessments and ensure medication availability to prevent delays in treatment. Actions are required by March 9, 2026. 

Purpose of the alert
  • To address the risk of harm caused by delays in administering rasburicase.
  • To provide guidance to healthcare organizations for urgent action.
  • To support the new British Society for Haematology guidelines on TLS management. 
Key actions required
  • Update risk assessment protocols for TLS.
  • Improve operational processes to prevent delays in treatment.
  • Ensure the medication is readily available.
  • Promote better communication between departments and settings (e.g., from day care to other clinical settings) where rasburicase is time-critical. 
Deadline for action
  • All required actions must be completed by March 9, 2026
Another great conference, this year compressed into two, rather than three days. Below are the winning presentations and posters.
It was also a farewell to Neil Caldwell who, for many years, has been the Research lead and spent countless hours reviewing all the initial submissions and organising the review of the submissions at conference. A hard act to follow.
It was also a farewell to outgoing Chair Nanna Christiansen, who steered NPPG as we came out of COVID.  She is succeeded by Chloe Benn
Recruiting a diverse parent advisory group for a Neonatal Feasibility Study”
Cara Sutton Research Pharmacist, Alder Hey Hospital
Improving Paediatric Medicine Discharge Communication: a National Survey”
Ashifa Trivedi and Steve Tomlin
Improving immunisation Uptake Through Pharmacy Technician-led Interventions.”
Karen Dixon Leeds Children’s Hospital

A team from Alder Hey, Great Ormond Street and Kings College London were awarded the 2024 NPPG Research Award and presented progress at the NPPG annual conference in Newcastle.

They have developed a study to use 3D printing within a hospital pharmacy to prepare extemporaneous chewable tablets containing personalised doses of medicines.  They are initially using nadolol as ‘proof as concept’. The study will include 3 phases:

  • Phase 1: Acceptability  – Questionnaires will be circulated to children, young people, parents and healthcare professionals in Alder Hey and GOSH to gather their views about current nadolol formulations available and whether 3D printed chewable tablets might be a suitable alternative.
  • Phase 2: Method Validation –  Transfer of the 3D printing from the laboratory at Kings to the Pharmacy department at Alder Hey and  validation of the printing process byQuality Control North West.
  • Phase 3: Single Dose Replacement Study.  Upto 10 patients will be recruited from Alder Hey to take a single 3D printed chewable tablet containing the same dose of nadolol as their usual dose as a one-off replacement dose. Acceptability will be assessed using a validated scoring processes.

This will be the first time a 3D printed active tablet has been administered to a child in the UK.

The team are currently responding to comments from the ethics committee who have reviewed the study.  Once approval is gained, they are hoping to start the project in December 2025

  • Neonatal Hypotension
  • Drug Induced Liver Injury
  • DGH Special Interest Group
  • Advance Therapies in Inflammatory Bowel Disease
  • Unconscious bias – webinar with RPS
  • Cardiac Club bookclub

Upcoming sessions, and how to register  here

I bring you good news – the module is live  We have launched it without the video as we didn’t want to delay it unnecessarily.

Anyone with an NHS email address can register for the learning for free in two locations:

https://nhs.paediatricprescriber.org/login : this is our Paediatric version which I would direct most users too as all the modules in this portfolio are related to paediatric patients. In this portfolio, the module is found in the general therapeutics category.

https://nhs.pharmacy-script.org/login : this is our pharmacy version – although we call this portfolio our ‘pharmacy version’ the modules aren’t bespoke to pharmacists – in fact most of the modules are from our Medicine and Surgery portfolio and so focus on treating adult patients in secondary care.  In this portfolio, the module is found in the General Therapeutics (Paediatric Focus) – right at the bottom.

You can of course direct the pharmacists to register wherever you feel best but just thought I’d provide a bit of context of what is in each portfolio.

Hannah Vallance

SCRIPT eLearning Manager, School of Pharmacy, School of Health Sciences, College of Medicine and Health, University of Birmingham

Families expect health care professionals to recognise, measure, prevent and treat pain in neonates, and health care professionals have a duty of care in this respect, especially in view of the adverse long-term effects of early pain exposure.

This framework is intended as best practice guidance for all health care professionals working in neonatal services to help inform the development of local guidelines to support the management of neonatal pain

The National Standard Drug Infusion Framework for neonates and paediatrics was implemented across the majority of the 17 neonatal units in the East of England in October 2025. The few units remaining that have not yet adopted the framework, will implement by the end of 2025 / beginning of 2026.
This was a large project, lead by Nigel Gooding, as the Lead Operational Delivery Network (ODN) pharmacist for the East of England, and had input from pharmacists, nurses and medics across the East of England and the PaNDR neonatal transport team to successfully implement.
As part of the implementation, a calculator tool was developed to assist staff using the framework. The tool helps the clinical team identify which infusion concentrations would be appropriate for specific patients, based on current fluid intake and daily fluid allowance. The calculator tool can be viewed at the East of England Neonatal ODN website athttps://eoeneonatalpccsicnetwork.nhs.uk/neonatal/downloads/neonatal-infusion-calculator/. The calculator tool is currently being reviewed by the Medical Devices Team at Cambridge University Hospitals NHSFT to ensure it meets criteria to allow it to be registered with the MHRA when this stage is needed.

The FIP CPD Bite Series on Paediatric Pain and Fever Management consists of three episodes designed to empower pharmacists with essential knowledge for effectively managing pain and fever in children within community pharmacy settings. This series offers practical advice on the use of non-prescription medicines, as well as strategies for enhancing communication with parents and caregivers, ensuring they receive the best possible guidance and support for their children’s health needs.

Click here to view

Update from the Neonatology SIG Chair Sian gaze

  • Nirsevimab: new RSV prophylaxis for 2025-26 season
  • GIRFT Neonatology guide to safe insulin use will be published soon
  • Position statements: chlorhexidine use and neonatal staffing standards will be updated soon
  • Standard concentration infusions: e-learning pack coming soon
  • Medusa: new neonatal monographs in development
  • Caffeine citrate: new Fenapin product available (cheaper than Peyona)
  • Suxamethonium: 10mg/mL preparation now licensed in Ireland
  • Dopamine (Noatricon) licensed in UK: but concentrations don’t align with current national framework, diluent = water and very expensive
  • Morphine ready-to-use vials – interest from special manufacturer to make in concentrations that align with national framework (and for a reasonable price)
  • We also want to be ask about whether members have access to FuturesNHS platform Neonatology NPPG SIG – Futures – we’d like to encourage staff to add their contact details to the directory Neonatal Pharmacy Directory – Neonatology NPPG SIG – Futures
  • We’d also like members of the SIG to get in touch with me s.gaze@nhs.net if they have ideas for topics for study afternoons next year
Please find the latest RCPCH Safety eBulletin
Older bulletins are also at this link
The next one is scheduled for 23rd January.
Click here for more topics

You can view all the recent topics of discussion here

NPPG has various social media outlets. These are updated regularly with news and information. They are as follows (click the name to access);

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