| Technicians step up to the plate ... ications since September 27, 2010 on the grounds of not meeting the criteria for registration. Statutory registration for pharmacy technicians is a requirement in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland. The APTUK commitments The Association of Pharmacy Technicians (UK) is the professional leadership body for pharmacy technicians and has membership across the whole of the UK. Membership is currently ... Date: 07-10-2011 Categories: • Pharmacy Practice |
| Pharmacists’ outrage at prescription fraud plan ... may undermine the relationship that pharmacists have with their patients, undermining patient care.” Almost 90% of prescriptions in England are dispensed free of charge, however, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland do not have a charge for prescriptions at all. Date: 07-01-2015 Categories: • News • Pharmacy Practice • Practice and policy • Primary care update |
| England’s prescription charging system should be scrapped ... rmacies from their pharmacists and almost 20% want them removed altogether. England is the only country in the UK that still charges for prescriptions to be dispensed, since Scotland joined Wales and Northern Ireland in abolishing charges in 2011. Currently prescriptions cost £8.05 but will increase by 20p in April. People suffering from certain long-term conditions such as diabetes and cancer do not have to pay ... Date: 05-02-2015 Categories: • News • Pharmacy Practice • Practice and policy |
| NEWS IN BRIEF: GP Pilot Funding; Celebrities; Bladder and Bowel Guidance; Pharmacy Voice ... ofessionals when opting where to receive their prescriptions and flu jabs. The assertions prompted the General Pharmaceutical Council, the General Medical Council and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland to issue a joint statement. Rob Darracott, chief executive of Pharmacy Voice, said: “Pharmacy Voice welcomes the joint statement... The statement makes clear that pharmacy professionals and docto ... Date: 17-11-2015 Categories: • News • News in Brief |
| Patient Safety in Community Pharmacy: Live Blog ... egulation and pharmacist supervision. The legislation under consideration is the Medicines Act 1968 and the Human Medicines Regulation 2012 and pharmacy regulation and orders for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Panel debate Celia Davies, patient representative Ash Soni, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Leyla Hannbeck, chief pharmacist of the National Pharmacy Association Q: What ... Date: 30-11-2015 Categories: • News • Uncategorised |
| Number crunching the Spending Review ... e of GDP that we have seen since the foundation of the NHS," said Professor Appleby. He reached the conclusion after analysing care as a percentage of national wealth, assuming Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland receive similar packages. While the government have pledged to give NHS England an extra £8.4bn in real terms by 2020/21, Professor Appleby points out NHS England does not account for all NHS spen ... Date: 04-12-2015 Categories: • Latest News • News |
| NEWS IN BRIEF: Northern Ireland; NHS spin; Patient satisfaction; Lloyds Northern Ireland pushes integration agenda The announcement of £14m in funding for pharmacists in GP practices has been welcomed by BMA Northern Ireland. Pharmacists will work as a team with GPs and practice nu ... Date: 08-12-2015 Categories: • News • News in Brief |
| NEWS IN BRIEF: GP Patients; Community Pharmacy Manifesto; Isle of Wight; Cross-party Review; Abortion; Overspend; Diabetes ... t enough. A cross-party commission should be set up to review the future of the NHS and social care in England, a trio of... https://t.co/yJr9EIVWqL — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) January 6, 2016 Northern Ireland resist abortion act Northern Ireland’s first female leader vowed to prevent the Abortion Act 1967 being extended to the region, setting up a legal clash between politicians and pro-choice campaign ... Date: 07-01-2016 Categories: • News • News in Brief |
| Nutrition in pregnancy and beyond ... 2010, every pregnant woman received a hard copy of Birth to Five – the Department of Health’s guide to good health during these years, and while the 2009 edition can still be accessed, it is only in Northern Ireland that this is still given out free to all mums. In Scotland and Wales comprehensive updated resources have been compiled – Ready Steady Baby in Scotland and Bump, Baby & Beyond in Wales. In ... Date: 25-01-2016 Categories: • News |
| Nutrition in pregnancy and beyond: Unicef ... len Crawley, public health nutritionist, First Steps Nutrition Trust, examines what advice you should be giving. Unicef Baby Friendly accreditation The majority of births in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are in fully accredited Unicef Baby Friendly maternity units, and while this is still not at 50 per cent in England, the number is increasing rapidly. Overall, there are currently 90 per cent of m ... Date: 26-01-2016 Categories: • News |
| NEWS IN BRIEF: Trust Overspend; Liverpool GPs; Swine Flu; Paperless NHS; Poultry Farmers ... even days a week ‘within a year’ https://t.co/DLCdhWno1G pic.twitter.com/20lMUBV4PL — Liverpool Echo (@LivEchonews) February 8, 2016 Swine flu jab plea after 150 new cases are reported in Northern Ireland In 2009 an outbreak of swine flu killed almost 30 people here, the Belfast Telegraph reports. The Public Health Agency (PHA) said that during the last month, 187 flu cases have been reported, o ... Date: 08-02-2016 Categories: • News • News in Brief |
| NEWS IN BRIEF: Health+Pharmacy; Guildhall Centre; Raid; Chinese Pharma; Meningitis; Sugar Tax New initiative recognises public health role of Community Pharmacy In Northern Ireland, around 123,000 people visit a pharmacy every day, making community pharmacies the most visited among all the health services available, the Causeway Coast Community reports. With this in mind, th ... Date: 19-02-2016 Categories: • News • News in Brief |
| NEWS IN BRIEF: Jailed Robbers; Health Service Saved; Orphan Drug; Badhams; Job Scandal ... lame poor workforce planning, but officials say the NHS has more staff than ever before. Data from a BBC Freedom of Information request shows that on 1 December 2015, the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland had more than 23,443 nursing vacancies - equivalent to 9% of the workforce. BBC News - Thousands of NHS nursing and doctor posts lie vacant https://t.co/QnzGPgp56N #Nurses #NHS #Jobs #UK — Regenc ... Date: 29-02-2016 Categories: • News • News in Brief |
| NEWS IN BRIEF: Boots GP Panic; Charity Cheque; Community Pharmacy Wales; Morning After Pill; Pregnant Smoking Solution; Fizzy Drinks ... buying check-ups that they did not need. Kennedy’s Pharmacy makes charity cheque donation The staff of Kennedy’s Pharmacy, Rasharkin and Dunloy have recently handed over a cheque for £600.00 to Northern Ireland Chest, Heart and Stroke, the Ballymoney and Moyle Times reports. Pharmacist, Patrick Kennedy said: “We are often asked to countersign Passport and Driving Licence applications and although we do n ... Date: 09-05-2016 Categories: • News • News in Brief |
| Big pharma company labels new asthma guidelines as 'cost-driven' ... pharmaceutical manufacturer. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued a draft clinical practice guideline on the management of asthma by the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland on 28 December 2016. It proposes that patients should be given a course of leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRA) instead of a combination inhaler when stepping up asthma control to save the NHS ... Date: 14-02-2017 Categories: • Clinical • Latest News • News • Respiratory |
| Blog: What are the legal implications of a 'super-regulator' for pharmacists? ... lish a consultation paper regarding the merits of merging nine health regulators to form a new ‘super-regulator’. This would involve combining the GPhC (pharmacists), the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI), GMC (doctors), NMC (nurses and midwifes), GDC (dentists), HCPC (16 professions including paramedics and social workers), GOC (opticians), GCC, (chiropractors) and the GOsC, (osteopaths). Oth ... Date: 27-02-2017 Categories: • Analysis • Latest News • News • Opinion • Practice and policy • Views |
| How to help patients quit smoking ... The current funding crisis further endorses this point. In 2017, community pharmacies remain the preferred site for the public to enrol on NHS smoking cessation programmes. However, experience in Northern Ireland, reflected across the UK, suggests that the number of smokers enrolling in our programmes has fallen by about half3 in the last four years. This reflects mainly the popularity of e-cigarettes used a ... Date: 23-03-2017 Categories: • Clinical • Latest News • News • Smoking cessation |
| Why it's time to decriminalise dispensing errors ... a Seceleanu Boots Pharmacy Suffolk, England Dispensed wrong patient’s prescriptions Cautioned under the Medicines Act 2016 Pharmacist – Martin White Clear Pharmacy Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland Dispensed propranolol instead of prednisolone Four-month sentence, suspended for two years 2015 DH held consultation on proposed defence 2010 Crown Prosecution Service legal guidanc ... Date: 21-04-2017 Categories: • Latest News • More News • News • Views |
| Video: What do the General Election results mean for pharmacy? ... armacy? The Pharmacist editor, Beth Kennedy, examines this and what is next for the sector. No party won an overall majority and the hung parliament led the Conservative Party to seek support from Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party(DUP). Things are more uncertain than ever for pharmacists who are currently operating under conservative cuts to funding. Former pharmacy minister, David Mowat, los ... Date: 09-06-2017 Categories: • Interviews • Latest News • News • Views |
| Campaigners call for free prescriptions for all long-term sick ... riptions. 'That's why there are a number of prescription-charge exemptions in place and 90% of items prescribed are free on the NHS in England.' Free prescriptions in devolved nations Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland have scrapped prescription charges for everyone in recent years. In England, many are dispensed free of charge, mostly to the over-60s, the under 16s, pregnant women and those on low ... Date: 30-06-2017 Categories: • Latest News • News |
| When doctors own pharmacies: new advice on how to deal with conflicts of interest ... en criticised for their business interests, including allegations of directing prescriptions. This led the GPhC, alongside eight other healthcare regulators including the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI), General Medical Council (GMC), Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and General Dental Council (GDC), to issue a statement on financial and commercial arrangements in 2013. The guidance dea ... Date: 10-08-2017 Categories: • News |
| Your need-to-know on childhood asthma ... nces: The Global Asthma Report 2014. Auckland, New Zealand: Global Asthma Network, 2014. Health survey for England, 2001; Scottish Health survey, 2003; Welsh Health survey, 2005/06; Northern Ireland Health and Wellbeing survey, 2005/06. Data accessed via UK Data Service. Asthma emergency admissions. Data via requests to NHS Digital (England), ISD Scotland, NHS Wales, Department of Health (Nor ... Date: 11-12-2017 Categories: • News |
| Pharmacy regulator ‘keeps open mind’ on regulation changes ... Centre for Health Service Economics and Organisation showed that most scale economies can be achieved with regulators that have more than 100,000 members. As the GPhC and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have 89,377 and 2,852 members, respectively, both could be ‘scrapped’, said the NPA. Commenting on the proposals, NPA’s policy and practice committee chair Nitin Sodha, said: ‘The NPA is al ... Date: 24-01-2018 Categories: • News |
| Prescription charge increase ‘regrettable’, says PSNC ... remain liable should patients forget to fill out the levy declaration.’ Until 2001, prescription charges were the same across the UK until they were frozen at £6 in Wales and abolished in 2007. Northern Ireland and Scotland followed suit in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Date: 24-02-2018 Categories: • Latest News • News |
| Prescription charge increase ‘catastrophic’, says Prescription Charges Coalition ... ed GPs and hospitals, all of which will be far more expensive for the NHS than the cheaper initial prescription cost. ‘We strongly believe that England should implement the same model as Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales so that everyone has free access to medicines as and when they need them.’ Date: 01-03-2018 Categories: • Latest News • News • Practice and policy |
| Should pharmacy fear a super regulator? ... ’. Pharmacy, of course, is already regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) in England, Scotland and Wales; and Northern Irish pharmacy professionals by the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI). So what would it mean for pharmacy if all nine regulators were merged into one super-sized organisation? Would a super regulator save money? Research from the Centre for Health Service ... Date: 28-03-2018 Categories: • News |
| Is there a place for holistic therapy in community pharmacy? Wellness treatments such as kinesiology divide opinion – but that doesn’t seem to deter patients at one pharmacy in Northern Ireland. Vincent Forrester investigates By his own admission, the complementary therapies offered at Eoghan O’Brien’s pharmacy in Portglenone, County Antrim, are unconventional. Alongside the traditional ... Date: 12-04-2018 Categories: • News |
| What do pharmacists need to know about bowel cancer? ... gramme. Screening is for healthy people without symptoms. People aged 60-74 who are registered with a doctor are automatically invited to complete a home test every two years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, the age range is 50-74 years. Invitations and screening tests are sent in the post. You can encourage customers to register with their local GP to make sure they receive an invitatio ... Date: 07-05-2018 Categories: • Clinical |
| How the cuts are affecting me: 'We have already lost £10k a year – to lose even more would be catastrophic' ... pharmacies like Siobhan McNulty's (pictured, left) are being forced to reduce their opening hours and risk closure. Emma Rosser investigates Siobhan McNulty, Melvin Pharmacy, Garrison, Fermanagh, Northern Ireland 'The pharmacy is in Garrison in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It’s a very small rural village, but it takes in a large geographical region. The next closest pharmacy is six miles in one direction, tw ... Date: 21-05-2018 Categories: • News |
| How the cuts are affecting me: ‘I’m looking at more than a 50% drop in our net profit’ ... cuts are affecting ordinary pharmacists, a Northern Irish contractor explains the impact they are having on his business Eoghan O’Brien, independent contractor, Bannside Pharmacy, Ballymena, Northern Ireland ‘It seems as if we’re running to a standstill at the minute. The cash flow is considerably less than it was. We’re dispensing medicines at a loss, yet we still have all the same overhead ... Date: 04-06-2018 Categories: • News |
| Two Scottish chains acquire independent pharmacies ... the benefit of being the only pharmacy in the small community of Islay. ‘Interest was high from day one, despite the unique island location, and buyers were phoning from across Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.’ Date: 07-06-2018 Categories: • Latest News • News |
| How the funding cuts are affecting me: ‘Due to underfunding, it’s even difficult to employ anyone to cover days off’ ... he funding cuts are affecting ordinary pharmacists, a Northern Irish contractor explains the impact they are having on his business Joe McAleer (pictured centre left), owner, Belcoo Pharmacy, Northern Ireland ‘The impact of the funding cuts has been totally as expected. We have been highlighting the underfunding to the Department of Health for eight years now. ‘Like most communi ... Date: 12-06-2018 Categories: • Latest News • News |
| ‘This is the wrong investment’: NI community pharmacy slams £4.54m practice pharmacist boost Pharmacists in Northern Ireland have blasted the Department of Health’s (DH) £4.54 million investment into practice pharmacy for ignoring the country’s community pharmacy funding crisis. The funding into the practice based pharm ... Date: 13-06-2018 Categories: • News |
| How shortages are affecting me: ‘I work 70-80 hours a week. It can’t continue long term’ ... The Pharmacist’s series of case studies on how stock shortages are affecting ordinary pharmacists, a Northern Irish owner explains the impact on his pharmacy Joe McAleer, owner, Belcoo Pharmacy, Northern Ireland ‘Like everyone in community pharmacy across Northern Ireland, shortages are a problem for us. ‘We may not get reimbursed the correct price and therefore dispense at a loss. ‘This has caused ... Date: 15-06-2018 Categories: • Latest News • News |
| How the cuts are affecting me: ‘Our profits have fallen by 10%’ ... ries on how the funding cuts are affecting ordinary pharmacists, a Belfast contractor explains the impact they are having on his business Terry Maguire – owner of Maguire Pharmacy in Belfast, Northern Ireland. ‘The cuts in Northern Ireland are slightly different to those in England but they are still having a significant impact. ‘We’ve had the English tariff imposed on us, whereas in the ... Date: 24-07-2018 Categories: • News |
| How to manage patients’ high blood pressure in the pharmacy ... y way to know if you have high blood pressure is to have it measured. In England, adults aged 40–74 can get a free NHS Health Check via their GP (and at some pharmacies). There are similar schemes in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Healthcare professionals should also do a blood pressure measurement on those under the age of 40 years with a risk of high blood pressure. Blood Pressure UK and The Stroke Asso ... Date: 12-10-2018 Categories: • Clinical |
| Northern Ireland: 63-year-old pharmacist fined £25k over illegal POM supplies A pharmacist and a pharmacy technician in Northern Ireland have been fined and sentenced to community service for their part in the unlawful supply of prescription-only medicines (POMs) including methadone, the country’s Department of Health (DH) has said. ... Date: 19-10-2018 Categories: • Latest News • More News • News |
| Northern Irish pharmacy services 10 years behind UK counterparts, Government committee hears ... ices lag behind those in the rest of the UK, a parliamentary pharmacy group has heard. Speaking to All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG) chair Sir Kevin Barron yesterday (31 October), Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland (CPNI) chief executive Gerard Greene said that a lack of resources have resulted in some pharmacy services across Northern Ireland lagging 10 years behind their Welsh, English and Scottish counterpar ... Date: 01-11-2018 Categories: • Latest News • News |
| Northern Ireland: Recognise pharmacy as fourth emergency service, retailers’ trade association urges Northern Irish community pharmacy should be considered the ‘fourth emergency service’, a retailers’ trade association has said. The Northern Ireland Retail Consortium director Aodhán Connolly called on the Government to regard pharmacies in Northern Ireland as the ‘fourth emergency service’ after police, ambulance and fire services. The Pharma ... Date: 07-11-2018 Categories: • Latest News • News |
| Northern Ireland: pharmacy funding crisis means contractors’ medicines supplies ‘no longer guaranteed’, wholesalers warn The pharmacy funding crisis in Northern Ireland has left some pharmacists unable to pay their medicines bills, wholesalers have warned. Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland (CPNI) reported today (12 November) that several wholesalers wrote to th ... Date: 12-11-2018 Categories: • Latest News • News |
| Northern Ireland: Community pharmacy to receive £11m funding boost, Government announces Community pharmacists in Northern Ireland will receive an additional £11m in funding to last until 2020, the Department of Health (DH) has announced. The DH revealed on Friday (16 November) that an £11.1m funding boost will be made availa ... Date: 19-11-2018 Categories: • Latest News • News |
| Invest in IT for better collaboration between pharmacists and GPs, APPG urges ... n community pharmacies and GP practices. This followed a session held by the group in October, in which the chief executive officers of the three pharmacy negotiating bodies in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland discussed the role of pharmacy in primary care. A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) spokesperson told The Pharmacist today (5 December) that Mr Brine has not responded to the letter yet. ... Date: 05-12-2018 Categories: • Latest News • News |
| Belfast pharmacy targeted by armed would-be robber ... ead knife and demanded money. Mooney's Pharmacy, on Clifton Street in the north of the city, was targeted yesterday evening (17 January) in an attempted robbery, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The man, who was also carrying several DVDs when he entered the shop, handed a female shop assistant a note asking for money. However, she was able to quickly step away from the counter ... Date: 18-01-2019 Categories: • Latest News • More News • News |
| Pharmacists equally as important as carers and nurses in stopping unnecessary antibiotic use ... from Boots, Public Health England and NHS Improvement collected data between November 2016 and October 2017. A total of 341,536 residents in long-term care facilities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were analysed. The study found in total, across the country, 52.1% of the residents were dispensed one antibiotic within the 12 months, 27.5% were given two different antibiotics, 12.9% took three d ... Date: 01-02-2019 Categories: • Latest News • More News • News |
| NHS prescription charge to rise to £9 per item in England ... ning their medicines. No-one should be faced with a financial barrier to getting the medicines they need.’ She added that prescriptions should be free in England as they are in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland so that ‘no-one would have to worry about payment decisions affecting their health’. Date: 25-02-2019 Categories: • News |
| NHS cracks down on script fraud with pharmacy exemption check pilot ... ptions and dental treatment. ‘Free prescriptions’ for all Ms Gidley continued: ‘It would be much simpler to have free prescriptions for everyone, as is the case in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, because then no-one would have to worry about filling out a form of declaration.’ She added that the money spent on collecting penalty charges, which totalled £11.2 billion in 2017-18, could be s ... Date: 15-05-2019 Categories: • Latest News • More News • News |
| GPhC weighing up combining British pre-reg assessment with Northern Ireland’s Pharmacy regulators in Britain and Northern Ireland are considering making the registration assessment the same in all four UK countries. The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is responsible for setting the exam sat by students in England, Scot ... Date: 17-05-2019 Categories: • Analysis • Latest News • More News • News • Practice and policy |
| Independents and first-time buyers on the up as number of pharmacy sales increases ... s its funding negotiations, this hasn’t affected the appetite for pharmacy opportunities. 'With recent increases in funding announced in Wales and Scotland, plus additional transitional funding in Northern Ireland, it is hoped that a positive outcome will also be seen in England.' Head of valuation services – medical at Christie & Co Chris Vowels said: 'Despite uncertainty around the future of funding w ... Date: 01-07-2019 Categories: • Analysis • Latest News • More News • News |
| Number of smokers drops by almost two million in seven years ... owed that: 14.4% of adults in England are known as current smokers, the lowest rate among the four nations Smoking prevalence is the highest in Scotland (16.3%), followed by Wales (15.9%) and Northern Ireland (15.5%) There were around 77,800 smoking-related deaths in 2017, a 6% decrease from 2007 10.6% of pregnant women smoke at the time of delivery in 2018/19, down from 14.9% in 2017. A vers ... Date: 05-07-2019 Categories: • News • Smoking cessation |
| HPV vaccine expanding to boys from September could prevent over 100,000 cancers ... ould receive the vaccination in the future, following advice by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. The Welsh Government also declared this the same month, with the news expanding to Northern Ireland earlier this year. BMA board of science chair Professor Dame Parveen Kumar said: ‘The BMA has for a long time been calling for an extension of the HPV vaccination programme to be extended to boys ... Date: 09-07-2019 Categories: • Clinical • News • Vaccinations and infections |
The Pharmacist newsletters
Sign up today to receive the latest daily political, business, and clinical news in the pharmacy sector.