February 28

In January, two of our Specialists in Poisons Information Stephen Jones and Bethan Hughes attended the Welsh Ambulance Services offices in Cwmbran, to provide a full day of toxicology training to NHS 111 Wales and Welsh Ambulance Service Practice Educators.

The aim of the training was to help strengthen the education and training programme already in place by NHS 111 Wales and the Welsh Ambulance Service and ultimately improve knowledge of triaging and managing poisoning enquiries from the public.

Sessions were focused on the use and interpretation of TOXBASE®; the NPIS clinical toxicology database as a resource for dealing with poisoning cases. Further guidance was given on dealing with common poisonings such as pharmaceutical poisoning, including paracetamol poisoning and cardiotoxic medication, exposures to household chemicals and case study creation for training purposes.

All sessions were very well received with great feedback and encouraged excellent discussions amongst the group! NPIS Cardiff hopes to provide more clinical toxicology training to healthcare professionals managing poisoning cases, for more information contact Poisons.Information@wales.nhs.uk.