‘Where’s our pharmacy?’ ask Sudbury group

A health watch group in Sudbury has questioned why it is taking so long for a pharmacy to be opened in the town’s community health centre, the Suffolk Free Press reports.

Sudbury Community Health Centre was opened in January 2015 but there is still no pharmacy, with members of Sudbury Watch writing an open letter to ask when this service will be provided.

In the letter the committee members of Sudbury Watch wrote: “We have been increasingly concerned about the continuing absence of a pharmacy at Sudbury’s new Community Health Centre.

“When the Centre was officially opened in September 2015, Martin Royal, regional director of NHS Property Services made a promise that the pharmacy would appear shortly.

“Fourteen months after the initial opening of the Centre we are still waiting.”

MP snubs pharmacist’s plea for help

A pharmacy owner was stunned after writing to Bracknell's MP protesting about plans to close 3,000 pharmacies nationwide - only to get a reply saying his local representative was in favour of the axe, the Bracknell News reports.

Jay Mistry is one of hundreds of worried pharmacy owners to petition their MP over Government proposals to shut up to 3,000 independent pharmacies and move them into doctors' surgeries.

Mr Mistry, a pharmacist for 21 years, expected Dr Phillip Lee, MP for Bracknell and also a trained GP, to support the campaign against the proposals, having already been forced into making redundancies after seeing his turnover halve when a nearby surgery opened its own pharmacy three years ago.

Instead he was left stunned when MP Dr Lee snubbed his cry for help, saying he supported the Department for Health's controversial proposals to axe thousands of pharmacies.

Strong antidepressants among medication stolen from car in Hartlepool

Police are appealing for information after medication was stolen from a vehicle on Southbrooke Avenue in Hartlepool, the Hartlepool Mail reports.

The incident occurred between 9pm on Monday 4th April and 7am on Tuesday 5th April.

Prescribed medication was taken from the vehicle which included 100 x Tramadol tablets, 50mg green and beige capsules and 30 x Venlafaxine tablets and 75mg light pink round tablets.

The medication could be extremely dangerous if it was taken by someone not prescribed to take it.

Half a billion people suffer in ‘silent explosion’ of diabetes

Diabetes has been names a “defining” issue for global public health as it emerged that British men have one of the highest rates of diabetes in north-western Europe, The Times reports.

The prevalence of diabetes has quadrupled since 1980 and the condition, which claims 15.

Million lives each year, affects one in 11 people worldwide. The World Health Organisation has accused governments of “enabling unhealthy lifestyle habits”.

The number of people with diabetes has increased from 108 million to 422 million in three decades.

Big society: As Government warns of 'obesity crisis', online pharmacy launches interactive map revealing fattest areas in Britain

An online pharmacy has launched an interactive obesity map of the UK, allowing people to check the obesity rates of their region, The Sun reports.

Researchers from allcures.com created the map using data from an obesity report by Public Health England, as well as national health surveys on Scotland and Wales.

Across the whole of Britain, 24.8 per cent of the population is considered to be obese – up from 23.4 per cent around ten years ago.

The map shows the Scottish Western Isles to be the fattest area in the UK, with obesity rates of 38 per cent.

“Safe” cigarettes confuse smokers trying to quit

Tobacco companies risk undermining the move towards vaping by pushing “smokeless cigarettes” as a safe alternative experts warn, The Times reports.

Companies including Philip Morris are preparing a global drive to sell cigarette-like products that they claim are 90 per cent less harmful because the tobacco in them is heated, not burnt.

Marlboro-branded “heat sticks” have been piloted in Italy, Switzerland and Japan and are likely to be marketed in Britain as an alternative to e-cigarette for smokers who do not want to give up the taste of tobacco.