New Royal Pharmaceutical Society President Ash Soni vows to promote pharmacy...
Ash Soni has been appointed as the new President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. The Lambeth-based pharmacy contractor has vowed to take every opportunity to present pharmacy positively to others...
View ArticleNew legislation to decriminalise pharmacy dispensing errors now possible...
New legislation that would decriminalise dispensing errors by pharmacists could be introduced before the next General Election. A Department of Health report has stated that Government lawyers have now...
View ArticleAPPG continues to stress the need to address harm caused by medicine supply...
Medicine supply shortages are still causing harm, and the Government needs to recognise this. That is the call of Sir Kevin Barron MP, the Chair of the All Party Pharmacy Group. The MP, who chaired the...
View ArticleFuture of New Medicines Service looks bright after positive Nottingham...
The future of the New Medicines Service is looking bright after a positive report of the benefits of the service has been published by the University of Nottingham. The NMS is an additional service...
View ArticleNPA standards for wholesalers welcomed by BAPW
New standards introduced by The National Pharmacy Association allowing pharmacies to measure and monitor performance by wholesalers have been welcomed by the British Association of Pharmaceutical...
View ArticleNHS England urges pharmacists to contribute to NHS five year plan
NHS England has urged pharmacists to contribute to the discussion on the five year plan for the NHS. The NHS Five Year Forward View that was announced by NHS England should be the beginning of a...
View Article100 pharmacies to have trial access to patient records
NHS England has announced that it has selected up to 100 pharmacies across Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Somerset to be given access to patient records, including the summary care...
View ArticleKing’s Fund urges merging of health and social care, and reduction of...
The National Health Service should be merged with social care, according to a report published by The Commission on the Future of Health and Social Care, which was established by The King’s Fund. The...
View ArticleGeneral Pharmaceutical Council issues warning to distance-selling pharmacies
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has issued draft guidance for Internet and distance-selling pharmacies, warning that they must be clear about who is accountable for each part of the service...
View ArticleAPPG chair, Sir Kevin Barron, calls for changes to funding for community...
The chair of the Parliamentary all-party pharmacy group (APPG), Sir Kevin Barron, has called for the NHS to integrate funding for community pharmacy with other health professions, including primary,...
View ArticlePharmacists treating minor ailments could save NHS £1bn a year
Pharmacy could save the National Health Service at least one billion pounds a year if they are allowed to treat minor ailments, according to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the body representing...
View ArticlePharmacists required to be open and tell patients if something goes wrong
Pharmacists are going to be required to be open and tell patients if anything goes wrong with their treatment or care, and apologise to the patient and their family, according to new practice rules...
View ArticleHunt urges patients to visit pharmacists rather than GPs and A&E for minor...
Jeremy Hunt has called on patients to visit their pharmacists rather than GPs or A&E for help with minor ailments. The Health Secretary has warned that the NHS is facing a crisis with the growing...
View ArticleIPF and other pharmacy bodies call on MPs to sign up to five pledges to put...
The Independent Pharmacy Federation, Pharmacy Voice and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have joined forces to lobby MPs, by asking them to sign up to five pledges that would put...
View ArticleDoubt surrounds NHS England’s position on Community Pharmacy “Call To Action”...
A year after NHS England issued its Call To Action consultation surrounding the future of Community Pharmacy to much fanfare, doubt remains over the official response. It was originally thought there...
View ArticleDrug manufacturers propose system to help alleviate shortage of manufacture
Drug manufacturers in Europe have proposed a system to help to reduce the problems from shortages in the medicine supply chain. The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations...
View ArticlePharmacy – Making it Happen – Top Tips J Zucker/A Pandya
At last year’s Sigma Conference, Paul Gershlick (Partner at MAB) and I discussed the need for pharmacists to adapt to meet the changing landscape of the sector. Feedback suggested that, while many...
View ArticleDepartment of Health consults on whether to remove criminalisation for...
The Department of Health is consulting on whether to decriminalise dispensing errors made by pharmacists. The position of pharmacists being guilty of a crime for a deliberate act would remain. This...
View ArticleNHS England phases out financial support for pharmacies with low prescription...
NHS England is phasing out the top-up funding it offers at a national level for pharmacies that are more than 1km away from other pharmacies and have low prescription volumes. The funding will stop by...
View ArticleTop politicians express support for community pharmacy at Sigma Conference
Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband have both sent letters to the Sigma conference in support of community pharmacy. The Prime Minister said, “The public rightly...
View ArticleEuropean Pharmacists Forum issue rally for five areas where pharmacy can play...
The European Pharmacists Forum has issued a paper seeking to promote pharmacy. In the paper, it has stated there are five key areas where pharmacy can play a key role. They are medicines adherence,...
View ArticleAll Party Pharmacy Group calls on next Government to start realising...
The Parliamentary All Party Pharmacy Group has called on the next Government to make a big effort to realising pharmacy’s potential in its first 100 days in power. The APPG wants to unleash the...
View ArticleNow GPs weigh in with calls for pharmacies to provide further services
There has been a growing movement towards community pharmacy using their expertise and knowledge to provide additional services such as help with treatment of long-term conditions (including diabetes,...
View ArticleIPF and NPA join forces
The Independent Pharmacy Federation has announced that it is joining forces with the National Pharmacy Association in April. In a statement, the IPF said, “IPF and NPA will be joining forces to bring...
View ArticleLargest online pharmacy sells patient data
Yet another Daily Mail exposé has revealed that the largest distance selling pharmacy in the UK has been selling patient data to organisations that are targeting the ill. Pharmacy2U – which has a £17m...
View ArticleDistance selling pharmacies required to comply with new GPhC Guidance
Pharmacies that provide services at a distance, such as over the Internet, must comply with new requirements of the General Pharmaceutical Council. The pharmacy regulator wants to ensure pharmacy...
View ArticleNPA and PSNC join forces to create online tool so pharmacists can monitor...
The National Pharmacy Association and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have come together to create an online tool so that pharmacies can see data and monitor what they should be paid....
View ArticleNew rules on poisons in pharmacy
Schedule 21 of the Deregulation Act 2015 has amended The Poisons Act 1972 to change the way in which poisons and chemicals can be sold through pharmacies. There will now be a common system for...
View ArticleRPS President calls for national minor ailments scheme for pharmacy
Ash Soni, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society President, has called for a national minor ailments scheme to be provided by pharmacies around the country. Mr Soni says that such a service would relieve...
View ArticleGPhC publishes new guidance on fitness to practice cases
The General Pharmaceutical Council has published updated guidance on how fitness to practice cases should be decided. The committee will consider whether the pharmacist has shown any remorse or...
View ArticlePharmacy Voice and PSNC continue to work together and urge pharmacy to keep...
Pharmacy Voice and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee are continuing to work together in engaging MPs since their excellent work together in representing community pharmacy in the lead...
View ArticleHunt promises £7m to train community pharmacy as part of seven day a week...
Jeremy Hunt has promised to spend £7m to train community pharmacy as part of a wider role for community pharmacy in providing services in his seven day a week vision for primary care. This includes in...
View ArticleCommunity pharmacy to be given access to summary care records
In an exciting announcement that community pharmacy has been waiting for to help in its delivery of additional services to patients, the Health and Social Care Information Centre has announced that...
View ArticleBAPW promises to continue to work to eradicate medicine supply chain...
The British Association of Pharmaceutical Wholesalers – the body representing UK pharmaceutical wholesalers – has said it will continue to work to deal with medicine supply chain shortages, which were...
View ArticleNPA and PSNC launch Check34 tool to help pharmacists monitor prescription moneys
The National Pharmacy Association and Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have launched a new tool – called Check 34 – to help pharmacists monitor the money they are paid for prescriptions....
View ArticleGPs to employ 300 pharmacists in £15m NHS England pilot
NHS England has announced a new £15m pilot scheme under which GPs will employ 300 pharmacies to help doctors with engaging with patients and assisting with workload. Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive...
View ArticlePSNC appoints local authority-connected Sir Michael Pitt as Chair
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee has appointed Sir Michael Pitt as its new non-executive Chair. He brings with him a wealth of experience in local government, having been Chief...
View ArticleCommunity pharmacy has new £2.8bn deal for 2015-2016 plus a national flu...
A new contractual framework has been announced for community pharmacy for 2015-2016, following negotiations between NHS England and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee. Sue Sharpe, the...
View ArticlePharmacists to have to wait until at least Spring 2016 before pharmacy errors...
Pharmacists are going to have to wait a bit longer before pharmacy dispensing errors are decriminalised. The Department of Health would like to see a defence for inadvertent dispensing errors but this...
View ArticlePharmacy and GPs consult on radical integration proposals
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society and National Association of Primary Care are consulting on radical proposals to integrate their two professions. They have said the time was right to think differently...
View ArticlePharmacy Voice and Royal Pharmaceutical Society condemn fraud revealed by...
Rob Darracott, the Chief Executive of Pharmacy Voice, has unconditionally condemned the isolated incidents where a community pharmacist has committed fraud. Meanwhile, Howard Duff, the Royal...
View ArticleMedical devices exposed to hacking
Thousands of medical systems including MRI scanners, X-ray machines and drug infusion pumps are exposed to hacking, creating major health risks for patients. That is according to security researchers,...
View ArticleBAPW claims generics shortages are improving
Shortages in generic medicines are not as bad as last year, according to Martin Sawer, the Executive Director of the British Association for Pharmaceutical Wholesalers. He has identified a stronger...
View ArticlePharmacy Voice calls for strong action to stop “prescription direction”
Pharmacy Voice – the body representing UK community pharmacies and whose members are the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMp), the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) and the National...
View ArticleNHS temporary protection of essential small pharmacies not sufficient, says NPA
The stop-gap funding solution provided by NHS England for small pharmacies deemed “essential” does not guarantee their long-term survival and is inadequate, according to the National Pharmacy...
View ArticlePharmacy finally gets access to summary care records but no sign of when they...
Community pharmacy is finally getting access to the summary care records – the GPs’ medical records of patients. This will enable pharmacy to assist in providing advanced and enhanced services for...
View ArticleThoughts from the Care England Conference 2015
As an enthusiastic member of MAB’s healthcare and life sciences team, I attended the Care England Conference in London last week to catch up on the current issues affecting social care providers. Last...
View ArticleNovartis agrees to pay US$390m to settle claims over payments made to pharmacies
Novartis, the big pharma company, has agreed to pay US$390m in a settlement with the US Department of Justice over what the DoJ alleged were kickbacks paid to US specialty pharmacies for encouraging...
View ArticleCompetition and Markets Authority decides against investigation into medicine...
The Competition and Markets Authority has decided against investigating medicine stock shortages in the UK. It says it has other priorities and there is not enough persuasive evidence to justify an...
View ArticleGovernment financial bombshell shocks community pharmacy
The Department of Health is planning a £170m funding cut to community pharmacy in 2016-2017, according to a letter written to the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee by the Chief...
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