Carolyn Wickware

Executive Editor

Carolyn Wickware is Executive Editor at The Pharmaceutical Journal

COVID-19 booster jabs to be offered from late September 2021, says health secretary

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advises that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines are used as a booster, irrespective of which product was used for the first and second vaccinations.…

Monoclonal antibody treatment service to begin for hospitalised COVID-19 patients in October 2021

Exclusive: Patients in hospital in England with COVID-19, and later in the community, could start receiving neutralising monoclonal antibodies as a treatment for the disease by early October 2021.…

COVID-19 booster campaign: everything we know so far

An outline of the plans for the UK COVID-19 booster vaccination programme.…

Trusts send more than 4,500 electronic prescriptions as part of NHS pilot

Exclusive: In response to a freedom of information request, NHS Digital said the three hospital trusts involved in the pilot had sent 4,504 prescriptions through the electronic prescription service…

More community pharmacies closed in 2021 but rate has slowed

Exclusive: An analysis of NHS Digital data by The Pharmaceutical Journal has revealed a net closure of 64 community pharmacies in England up to the end of August 2021, compared with a net closure of 136 pharmacies in the same time period in 2020.…

Pharmacy staff recruitment into general practice should be paused, say negotiators

Representatives for the pharmacy sector in Scotland are calling for “a temporary stop to the recruitment of pharmacy workforce to GP primary care support roles”.…

Government fails to respond to calls for tighter controls after liquid morphine deaths

Exclusive: Coroners in England and Wales have investigated the deaths of thirteen people after overdoses involving liquid morphine since 2013, with some patients known to “swig” from the bottle to obtain pain relief.…

Investigation: should liquid morphine be reclassified?

Several concerns have been raised about the risk of overdose and death from oral morphine sulphate solution over the past few years, but they have gone unheard.…

Community pharmacy hospital discharge service to launch in Scotland

The discharge service is part of the Scottish government's 'NHS Recovery Plan', which aims to address the backlog in NHS care between 2021 and 2026.…

‘Lack of engagement’ from supervisors undermined interim pharmacy foundation training scheme

Exclusive: A confidential report obtained through a Freedom of Information request reveals trainees' confusion over supervisory role.…