Top ten opinion articles of 2024

Our opinion section in 2024 has showcased strong views, powerful personal stories, in-depth interviews and groundbreaking initiatives from across the pharmacy profession. 

The most-read opinion article was an editorial on the upcoming availability of private COVID-19 vaccines. We argued that cost considerations must be made to ensure their availability does not become a step towards wider health inequality. Since then, pharmacies have started offering the vaccine for around £100.

Other popular opinion pieces included a trainee pharmacist’s experience of supplying weight-loss injection semaglutide from a pharmacy in central London, and insight from a specialist pharmacist on how he is improving respiratory care by offering GP-based clinics to help patients manage their COPD and asthma.

Also in the top five most-read articles is an interview with Paul Bennett, chief executive of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), about the Society’s proposals to become a royal college and take on charitable status in the coming months.

We want to thank everyone that has submitted articles to The Pharmaceutical Journal in 2024 — we could not do it without you. Here are the most popular opinion pieces this year.

Wes Mountain/The Pharmaceutical Journal

1: PJ view: ‘Private COVID-19 vaccines should be welcomed with caution‘

The Pharmaceutical Journal’s opinion on how private COVID-19 vaccines should be priced to avoid exacerbating health inequalities.

Wes Mountain/The Pharmaceutical Journal

2: ‘The unregulated semaglutide prescribing circus‘ — Brona McGovern

An impactful comment piece from a trainee pharmacist on issues around supplying weight-loss injections based on her own experiences.

Wes Mountain/The Pharmaceutical Journal

3: ‘How a pharmacist-led primary care clinic can improve respiratory care‘ — Nazir Hussain

A specialist respiratory pharmacist gives an insight into how he is improving respiratory care in Dudley by offering GP-based clinics to help patients manage their COPD and asthma.

Wes Mountain/The Pharmaceutical Journal

4: ‘It is time to rethink prescribing scope of practice and the DPP model for foundation training‘ — William Swain

A lecturer in practice and policy at University College London School of Pharmacy argues for a new way of supervising trainee prescribers to improve patient safety and mitigate concerns around a shortage of designated prescribing practitioners.

Dave Philips

5: Paul Bennett: ‘Becoming a royal college is the right thing to do for the profession, our members, patients and the public’ — Corrinne Burns

Our exclusive interview with the chief executive of the RPS followed the announcement of the Society’s proposals to move towards becoming a royal college. The in-depth conversation details the reasons why and how the changes should occur.

Wes Mountain/The Pharmaceutical Journal

6: PJ view: ‘Pharmacy technicians are vital in efforts to rescue pharmacists from their workload‘

The Pharmaceutical Journal’s opinion on the growing role of pharmacy technicians and how they are best placed to take on more responsibility to alleviate workforce pressures across the profession.

Wes Mountain/The Pharmaceutical Journal

7: ‘An ‘Argos’ model could give patients the access to medicines they deserve’ — Liz Breen

The professor of health service operations at University of Bradford School of Pharmacy calls for lessons to be learned from Spain and Sweden in creating more transparent medicine supply chains to alleviate shortages in the UK.

Wes Mountain/The Pharmaceutical Journal

8: ‘How the London Ambulance Service is working to transform medicines management‘ — Sumithra Maheswaran

Chief pharmacist for the London Ambulance Service shares her experience of tackling the unique issues related to medicines management within an ambulance service, ultimately transforming the way drugs are stored, tracked and accessed by clinicians.

Wes Mountain/The Pharmaceutical Journal

9: ‘Becoming an advanced clinical practitioner‘ — Shane Kailla

The professional story of why an acute and emergency medicine pharmacist undertook an MSc in advanced clinical practice to advance his career.

Wes Mountain/The Pharmaceutical Journal

10: ‘Widespread pharmacogenomic testing in psychiatry needs a stronger evidence base‘ — Orla Macdonald and Adam Jameson

Two mental health researchers set out a strong argument for further studies into the genomic factors influencing psychiatric medicines ahead of widespread pharmacogenomic testing.