PJ, November 2024, Vol 313, No 7991

British public divided on whether NHS should offer weight-loss jabs, survey results show

The findings of the Ipsos 'Public attitudes toward weight-loss injections' poll show that 37% of British adults surveyed support weight-loss injections being offered on the NHS, while 32% said they were opposed.…

Autumn budget could result in £200m additional annual costs for community pharmacies, finds analysis

Pharmacy bodies have called on the government to offset costs for community pharmacies related to increases in employers' national insurance contributions and the national living wage as it has done with the NHS.…

Microsampling: a patient-centred approach to therapeutic drug monitoring

While adopting microsampling techniques could mean faster, less stressful blood tests for vulnerable patients, introducing this method into existing NHS infrastructure has proved both costly and challenging.…

Around 360,000 patients at risk of being ‘trapped’ on antipsychotics, researchers warn

The British Journal of General Practice's cross-sectional study highlights that between 360,000 and 390,000 patients in the UK could be being prescribed long-term antipsychotics "without regular psychiatric review”.…

GPs back proposal to scrap community pharmacy blood pressure checks

The motion aimed to address community pharmacies’ unfair expectation to seek funding from schemes such as blood pressure checks “due to underfunding of their core national contract”.…

Becoming an emergency preparedness pharmacist

‘Emergency preparedness, resilience and response' (EPRR) is a programme of work that focuses on planning for and responding to a wide range of incidents and emergencies that could affect health or patient care. It is a new, novel and exciting prospect in pharmacy and, although it may be atypical f…

Patient communication will be essential for successful collective action

In this month’s health policy column, Andy Cowper outlines how pharmacies participating in the National Pharmacy Association’s advisory collective action can make their point to the government while keeping patients on side.…

First UK-wide joint asthma guideline recommends combination treatment for new diagnoses

The guideline recommends that all asthma patients over the age of 12 should be prescribed low dosages of inhaled corticosteroids and formoterol to address inflammation and symptoms.…

Community pharmacies administered more than half of all COVID-19 vaccines to people from ethnic minorities, data show

According to the Company Chemists’ Association, data from the spring 2024 COVID-19 vaccination programme show that more vaccinations should be commissioned from pharmacies to increase vaccine uptake, particularly in hard-to-reach communities.…

Amendments to the regulations relating to 2025 elections following the November 2024 Assembly meeting

The Society’s proposed Special Resolution vote timeline, which is based on legal and governance advice, is unfortunately out of kilter with the usual timings for elections to the national pharmacy boards in 2024. This would mean that the start of the election process would need to be mobilised ah…