Updates & News · Reasoning GP

Live from the source · auto-updatingMHRA · UKHSA · NICE — latest

Pulled automatically from the official MHRA Drug Safety Update, UKHSA and NICE feeds — this list refreshes itself, no manual editing.

Editorial picksWhat to act on

Curated explainers, each dated to when the change actually happened and linked to the source. For the authoritative, continuously-dated stream see the live feed and 12-month archive above.

💊 MHRA

ACE inhibitors — delayed-onset angioedema

Stop the ACE inhibitor immediately if angioedema (tongue, lip, face, larynx, or GI pain/cramps) is suspected — it can occur at any time, even after years of use. Consider a bradykinin-mediated cause when standard anaphylaxis treatment isn't working; higher risk in older adults, women, smokers and people of Black/African-Caribbean ethnicity.

📅 Issued 17 Jun 2026MHRA Drug Safety Update

Drug Safety Update ↗

📝 NICE CKS

CKS revisions — Breast pain & Chest pain

Breast pain – cyclical: new referral section and stronger emphasis that cyclical breast pain is not associated with breast cancer. Chest pain: pre-hospital management of acute heart failure realigned with current NICE guidance.

📅 CKS update — Apr 2026NICE CKS

CKS What's new ↗

💊 MHRA

Nasal decongestant sprays — rebound congestion

Xylometazoline and oxymetazoline sprays/drops can cause rebound congestion and, with prolonged use, rhinitis medicamentosa and tachyphylaxis. Advise patients not to exceed the dose and not to use for more than 5 consecutive days.

📅 Safety Roundup — May 2026MHRA

MHRA Safety Roundup ↗

📋 NICE

Hypertension — NICE NG136

Step 1 for under-55s (non-Black): an ACE inhibitor or ARB; an ARB is preferred where ACEi-induced cough is a concern. Diagnostic and treatment thresholds unchanged.

📅 Updated 21 Nov 2023NICE NG136

Read CKS ↗

⚠ UKHSA

Measles — national incident

UKHSA is running a national standard incident response to rising measles cases. Keep a low threshold for testing and actively promote catch-up MMR (any age if unvaccinated).

📅 Incident from 5 Mar 2026UKHSA

UKHSA bulletin ↗

💊 MHRA

Topiramate — Pregnancy Prevention Programme

Topiramate (epilepsy & migraine) is now contraindicated in pregnancy and in women of childbearing potential unless the conditions of a PPP are met — highly-effective contraception mandatory.

📅 In force 20 Jun 2024MHRA DSU vol 17/11

Drug Safety Update ↗

🎓 RCGP

SCA — current exam format

The Simulated Consultation Assessment (SCA) replaced the RCA in November 2023 and is the licensing exam for the 2026 sittings — 12 cases, weighted on data-gathering, clinical management and relating to others.

📅 Live since Nov 2023RCGP

RCGP SCA ↗

How it worksWhat the team monitors weekly

📋 NICE CKS

Weekly diff of NICE CKS

We check the entire NICE CKS topic list every Monday for revisions. Every case affected by a change is updated within 48 h.

⚠ UKHSA

UKHSA outbreak bulletins

Daily check for outbreak alerts: measles, mpox, group A strep, AMR notifications. Triaged into primary-care relevance.

💊 MHRA

MHRA Drug Safety Update

Monthly DSU summarised — what to deprescribe, what to monitor, who to write to.

📘 NICE guidance

NICE NG / TA / CG releases

New / amended NICE guidance flagged, mapped to relevant cases, with a 200-word "what changed and what to do" summary.

12-month memory · auto-archivedUpdates archive — the last year

Every update is remembered here for 12 months, grouped by month, so you can catch up on anything you missed — filter to NICE CKS to review the year’s topic revisions.

Go deeperNICE CKS & primary-care news platforms

The places UK GPs follow for guideline changes and primary-care news — each kept current at source. NICE CKS publishes a dated “What’s new” log every month.

📝 NICE CKS