Sophie Willis

Investigations editor

BMA conference considers proposal to scrap community pharmacy blood pressure checks

The motion proposed by the Devon Local Medical Committee describes “wastefulness” of money spent on pharmacy blood pressure checks, which it says should instead fund pharmacy dispensing fees.…

Online prescribing based only on questionnaires ‘not acceptable’, says RPS

In response to draft guidance from the GPhC for distance-selling pharmacies, the RPS said a two-way interaction between the prescriber and patient must be available.…

Bruce Warner: ‘Medicines shortages will never go away, but the situation can be improved’

The chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s advisory group on medicines shortages discusses the causes of medicines shortages and how the issue can be improved.…

Vapes to be used in community pharmacy smoking cessation pilot

A Kent-based community pharmacy smoking cessation pilot has been launched “in response to the government's ambition for England to be smoke-free by 2030”.…

Weight loss drugs make up ‘very small’ proportion of illegal medicines trade in UK, says MHRA

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency highlighted that illegal weight loss medicines aren't a “substantial challenge” as the agency has made “900 or so seizures” of trafficked weight loss injections.…

Pharmacy owners vote to reduce services in protest against funding levels

In a ballot of National Pharmacy Association members, 98% of those representing pharmacies in England expressed a willingness to close outside the minimum hours required by their contract.…

One-quarter of patients in pharmacogenomics trial have had prescriptions changed

Around 25% of the 400 participants of the 'Progress programme' have been advised to change their prescription following genetic testing.…

NHS-commissioned review recommends new national health data service to monitor prescribing

The review urges that national data on hospital and high-cost medicines should be available through the single national data access systems by the end of 2025.…

Integrated care board launches campaign to reduce medicines waste

The campaign focuses on the issue of unused medicines waste, which costs the NHS an estimated £300m per year.…

Proposed National Pharmaceutical Agency on hold, says Scottish government

Exclusive: The Scottish government has confirmed that the scoping phase in the development of a National Pharmaceutical Agency was paused before completion, with no next steps planned.…