PJ, April 2017, Vol 298, No 7900

Advising patients on halitosis and oral hygiene

Halitosis (bad breath) is estimated to be the third most frequent reason for patients to seek dental care, following tooth decay and gum disease. Pharmacists are ideally placed to promote oral health and provide patients with advice on the prevention and management of halitosis.…

What pharmacist Sini Eskola does at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA)

Forming a view on complicated matters, involving legislation and policy, which influence many parts of pharmaceutical industry businesses, is an important challenge, says Sini Eskola.…

Smart inhalers: will they help to improve asthma care?

Smart inhalers use Bluetooth technology to detect inhaler use, remind patients when to take their medication and gather data to help guide care. They have the potential to improve patients’ adherence to asthma therapies and keep their condition under control, but it is clear they need to be de…

Deaths: June Marjorie Mary Maclaverty

On 4 March 2017, June Marjorie Mary Maclaverty MRPharmS, aged 89, of Wirral, Merseyside. Mrs Maclaverty registered with the Society in 1949.…

Helping to develop our profession

Having worked in community, hospital and academia, I understand the challenges the pharmacy profession faces, but there is a great opportunity for us to develop new ways of working to further enhance the profession. Widespread engagement and understanding regarding the value of pharmacists is …

Candidates for the 2017 elections to the national pharmacy boards

The following nominations have been received for the forthcoming Royal Pharmaceutical Society national pharmacy board elections. Where elections are to be held, ballot papers are due to be distributed on or about Thursday 4 May 2017, with voting closing at 5pm on Friday 26 May 2017. The r…

Pharmacists urged to explain potential effect of body weight on emergency contraception

The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) has urged pharmacists and doctors to explain to patients that the emergency contraceptive pill can be ineffective in women weighing 11 stone or more, or with a body-mass index of 26 or above.…

Discuss clinical needs with patients before ditching sun creams

Having read the announcement from the NHS and the term “waste which is in the system” ( The Pharmaceutical Journal online, March 2017), I was surprised to read that sun creams fall within this category. As a manufacturer of a prescribed sun cream, of which there are onl…

NHS report promises ‘over 1,300’ pharmacists in GP surgeries by 2019

More than 800 additional clinical pharmacists could be working in GP surgeries within the next two years, according to plans announced on 31 March 2017 by Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England.…

GPhC removes option for registration assessments to be re-marked

The option to have pharmacy registration assessments re-marked will be removed from 2017, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has announced. Instead, the GPhC’s board of assessors has agreed to replace the current system with a five-stage checking process before results are agreed.…