Keele University launches Elisdexamfetamine dimesylate Toolkit

Essential support for healthcare professionals in development of local shared care agreements in ADHD

A new online resource to assist healthcare professionals in the development of shared care agreements for lisdexamfetamine dimesylate (Elvanse® ) has been launched by the Centre for Medicines Optimisation, Keele University - available at www.esca-keele.co.uk/lisdexamfetamine.

Recently recognised by the General Medical Council in their guidance 'Good practice in prescribing and managing medicines and devices' (January 2013); Keele's Effective Shared Care Agreement Toolkits outline clinical and patient management responsibilities and advise how they can be shared between the secondary care specialist and primary care practitioner.Acting as a flexible template, the lisdexamfetamine dimesylate Toolkit enables users to select content developed at Keele - key principles, monitoring requirements, dosage and administration, contraindications, interactions, etc., - and tailor it to their local circumstances and requirements. Local agreements can be created and edited by 'clicking' the pre-prepared text so that it drops into a template which can then be saved online for further review or downloaded to the user's own computer.

Professor Stephen Chapman, Professor of Prescribing Studies at Keele University said: "Consistency of care across the secondary and primary care interface is especially critical for patients with ADHD, particularly in times of great change within the NHS. Effective shared care agreements are a valuable tool in ensuring this consistency, however, they are both time consuming and resource intensive to produce. By providing our shared care toolkit we hope to alleviate this workload and simplify the process for those healthcare professionals engaged in developing local policy on the use of lisdexamfetamine dimesylate."

The lisdexamfetamine dimesylate Toolkit is designed to support healthcare professionals in creating agreements aligned to best practice and locally agreed policy on the prescribing of lisdexamfetamine dimesylate for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children aged 6 years of age and over.