Looking back at 2024: a review of the biggest stories in pharmacy

As has become tradition, The PJ Pod’s final episode of the year looks back over some of the most significant stories in pharmacy in the past 12 months, before members of The PJ editorial team make their predictions for 2025.

Big stories of 2024 have included the launch of Pharmacy First in England, a persistent ethnicity pay gap in the profession, the emerging threat of nitazines, slumping vaccination rates and new legislation that allows pharmacy technicians to take on a wider role.

Please do let us know what you think we have missed in this episode on social media, using the hashtag #PJPod or email us at: editor@pharmaceutical-journal.com.

This episode is presented by Carolyn Wickware, executive editor, and produced by Geoff Marsh.

Thank you to Dawn Connelly, senior features editor; David Lipanovic, senior clinical reporter; Sophie Willis, investigations editor; Corrinne Burns, RPS correspondent; and Caitlin Killen, clinical editor, for their contributions.

Articles mentioned in the podcast include:

• ‘Five months of Pharmacy First: an access lottery for patients‘;
• ‘Why are increasing numbers of students dropping out of pharmacy education?‘;
• ‘Everything you need to know about nitazenes‘;
• ‘Measles: the vaccination rate slump fuelling an outbreak‘;
• ‘Paul Bennett: ‘Becoming a royal college is the right thing to do for the profession, our members, patients and the public’‘;
• ‘Maternal vaccination: rationale, recommendations and role of pharmacists‘;
• ‘Introducing The Pharmaceutical Journal’s prescribing dilemmas series‘;
• ‘Nominate an outstanding early-career pharmacy researcher for OPERA 2025‘.

Want to hear more from The PJ Pod? Follow us on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts or other popular podcast platforms to listen to our latest episodes.