PJ, 31 January 2015, Vol 294, No 7847

Assisted dying laws

14 January 2015: The Times and The Scotsman reported that Holyrood was considering new laws to allow assisted dying in Scotland. They focused on the fact that “doctors in Scotland have demanded a ‘conscience clause’ be inserted into new laws on assisted suicide”. Speaki…

Patients should know who did the final check

I have had heated debates with dispensing staff about patients’ right to know if a pharmacist has performed the final check and bagged their medicines. Certainly, if I were a patient, I would like to know who is doing the final check of my medicines. Therefore, those pharmacies who use a…

More UK patients will now be eligible for two costly hepatitis C treatments

Sofosbuvir has received the green light from NICE but will not be available to patients until August 2015, while simeprevir will only be accessible through a patient access scheme.…

Helping reduce doctors’ prescribing errors in hospitals

A study in 2009 found that prescribing error rates for junior doctors are around 9%. Education and training pharmacist Sophia Feret describes a scheme she devised to help reduce these errors.…