Carolyn Wickware

Investigations Editor

Carolyn Wickware is Investigations Editor at The Pharmaceutical Journal

NHS England tenders contract to roll out diabetes low-calorie diet programme nationally

Eligible individuals will be aged 18 to 65 years, diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus within the past six years and meet a certain body mass index criterion, depending on ethnicity.…

Fixing the UK’s medicines shortage crisis

As the UK’s medicine shortage crisis rumbles on, continuing to put patients at risk, we take a closer look at the suspected roots of the issue to identify four ways the problems could be fixed.…

Pharmacy negotiators in renewed talks with government on ‘Pharmacy First’ service in England

Speaking at the NHS Providers conference, Steve Barclay said the government is looking at how to progress Pharmacy First as a way of improving access to general practice.…

Hospital pharmacists in England and Wales to be balloted on industrial action

Exclusive: Unite has confirmed that rolling ballots will close before Christmas, meaning workers could walk out in January 2023.…

Naloxone providers unable to locate all incomplete injection kits after serious safety concerns

Exclusive: Providers say they will struggle to contact all patients who have a Prenoxad naloxone kit, as they often obtain them anonymously, despite a national patient safety alert warning that some are missing needles.…

Will pharmacists go on strike over pay?

An overview of the pay-related industrial action rippling through the NHS and whether or not pharmacy will be the next sector to react.…

More than 80 NHS staff deaths from COVID-19 were not investigated by government safety body

Exclusive: Trade unions accuse watchdog of “shameful dereliction of duty” by not looking into 287 occasions where health service staff were thought to have contracted COVID-19 at work.…

Community pharmacies see £790m real-terms funding cut over five years, government figures reveal

There has been a cumulative loss of almost £800m in funding for community pharmacy over the past five years, as a result of inflation.…

Record numbers of drug shortages reported to UK government in July 2022

Exclusive: There were 206 reports of medicines shortages made to the Department of Health and Social Care's discontinuations and shortages portal in July 2022 — the highest since the portal opened.…

Government decision on tougher online pharmacy regulation expected ‘shortly’

Exclusive: The Department of Health and Social Care has said it hopes to publish a review of the Care Quality Commission's functions "shortly", which will inform its decision on whether the regulator's proposals for legislative changes around online prescribing are needed.…