UKMICentral Primary Care Discussion Board
Guidelines for use

The discussion board is intended for pharmacists working within PCTs. Only those who register have access to messages sent to the list. Despite this, please think before you send messages. Although most messages will not be contentious, some may expose the author, or others, to risk. Bear in mind the risk of breaches of confidentiality or copyright, and of the (remote) possibility that other list members may seek to profit from the content of the messages posted on the discussion board. Take care not to make potentially defamatory statements about either persons or products. Once you have posted a message to the discussion board, it cannot be withdrawn.

Having said that, the restricted nature of the discussion board does encourage members to share freely their thoughts, ideas, experience and advice, and this is what makes it valuable.

Good discussion board protocol

Please follow this simple guidance. Some of the points may seem nit-picking, but they’re all intended to keep the discussion board functioning smoothly and easily for all its users.

• It is good practice to check the message archive on the web page before sending a message to the list so that you don’t duplicate previous discussion.

• Don’t type the message in capital letters, this is the web equivalent of shouting.

• Always put a relevant title in the subject box. Do not use unhelpful titles such as ‘A Friday afternoon question’. Make sure that the spelling of drug names, etc is correct.

• If you are replying to a message, use the reply button as opposed to starting a new message.

• To reduce mail traffic please don’t post “me too” messages. If you want to thank people for their help, e-mail them directly. Don’t reply to messages asking, for example, whether anyone is using product X by saying no, unless you give a reason as to why you are not using product X.

• If your question is going to elicit a series of yes/no answers, consider asking people to reply directly to yourself and collating the results in a further message.

• We will not carry adverts for products or services.

• We will not generally carry adverts for jobs, but may make exceptions e.g. for charities or unusual jobs that members might not otherwise see. The onus is on the potential advertiser to persuade the list owners that it is reasonable to post the advert.

Complaints, junk mail, etc

If someone sends a message that seems in questionable taste or of dubious relevance to the list, contact the list owners at ( medicines.info@uhl-tr.nhs.uk ). Do not send a complaint or comment to the whole group.

Anyone sending junk mail or hate mail will be removed from the list.