BNF.org

British National Formulary

BNF: ENTER

Contacts

Privacy policy

For information about our Privacy policy please contact:

cmacfarlane@bnf.org

Links to and from the BNF website

If you wish to link to a page of our website other than the homepage please contact:

cmacfarlane@bnf.org

Copyright permissions

If you wish to reproduce an extract from this website that goes beyond what we permit in our Permissions and Licensing policy please contact:

jane.mulholland@rpsgb.org

Licensing

If you would like more information about licensing digital BNF material please contact:

electronicinfo@rpsgb.org

Enquiries about the clinical content of this website

The BNF is constructed to support healthcare professionals in making decisions about effective and safe use of medicines. The editors welcome comments that help to improve the information that the BNF provides. Occasionally, where the BNF's advice is felt to be ambiguous, the editors will be pleased to provide the necessary clarification to individual healthcare professionals and organisations who use BNF data under the terms of an agreement with us. We are however concerned that increasingly our editorial resources are being diverted to provide background information to other information providers. This extra workload is not sustainable and we have therefore drawn up a list of dos and don'ts regarding information requests to the BNF:

Do

  • Tell us if you believe the BNF advice is misleading or inaccurate. We would particularly like to understand why you consider the advice deficient and it would therefore be useful to receive evidence that supports your view

  • Relate the enquiry to the specific scenario encountered. This again helps us to understand the context of your enquiry better.

  • Take into account that the BNF is constructed for non-specialists and it cannot always include information to support specialist or expert practice

  • Give us time to look into the enquiry. The BNF is not geared to provide immediate response - editors may need to look through a great deal of documentation and retrieve previous notes in order to address specific issues. Enquirers also need to bear in mind that during certain periods of the editorial cycle, it may not be possible to devote the necessary time to research into the enquiries

  • Tell us which reference sources you have already looked at

  • Look at the pages on this website that explain how the BNF is constructed and also check if the BNF's responses to frequently asked questions deal with the enquiry

Don't
  • Contact us without checking the information yourself. This means that enquirers should have checked in the relevant current summary of product characteristics and other sources in common use
  • Expect the BNF to provide copies of background papers or lists of references. Enquirers should refer to recent clinical reviews for such information. The BNF cannot conduct literature searches for enquirers.
  • Ask the BNF to provide information on areas that are outside the scope of the BNF (e.g. foreign medicines)
  • Expect the BNF to make a comment on individual treatment; these matters are best addressed by clinicians who have the necessary training and are familiar with the case details

The BNF staff are not permitted to correspond with patients or their relatives about individual treatments.

Bearing in mind the guidance above, if you have an enquiry about the publication's clinical content, please contact:

editor@bnf.org

Reporting faulty printed BNFs

If you receive a faulty printed BNF, please contact John Wilson at the Pharmaceutical Press:

john.wilson@rpsgb.org

Distribution of printed BNFs

The UK health departments distribute BNFs to NHS hospitals, doctors, dental surgeons, and community pharmacies. In England, BNFs are mailed individually to NHS general practitioners and community pharmacies. Detailed guidance for NHS organisations and individuals on the supply of the BNF can be found in the attached document from the Department of Health; please note that the DH Publication Orderline has changed to 0300 123 1002 (minicom 0300 123 1003). In Wales, telephone the Business Services Centre on 01495 332 000

Pharmaid

Printed BNFs—even those that are 6–12 months old—are much in demand in many developing countries. The Pharmaid scheme of the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association dispatches old BNFs to Commonwealth countries. BNFs are collected from certain community pharmacies each year in November. For further details check the health press or contact:

Betty Falconbridge
Tel: 020 7572 2364
Email: admin@commonwealthpharmacy.org

Other enquiries

For all other enquiries about this website, its content or the policies pertaining to it please contact:

webmaster@bnf.org
 

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