Common and minor ailment services

Interim report reveals ‘positive outcomes’ from Welsh common ailment service

Conjunctivitis, vaginal thrush, hay fever and head lice have been the conditions treated most often through the Welsh common ailment service.…

NHS needs ‘radical’ changes in service provision, say MPs

The NHS is financially unsustainable unless there is a “radical” change in the way that services are provided, according to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee.…

No more pro-pharmacy rhetoric: we need action

GP surgeries and accident and emergency departments are under siege. Barely a day goes past without the issue being highlighted in the nation’s media and discussed by politicians of all persuasions. Everyone, it seems, agrees that pharmacy is a significant part of the answer and the Royal Phar…

2014: The Pharmaceutical Journal’s news in review

Looking back at some of the biggest news stories from the past year. …

Pharmacy risks being sidelined as NHS evolves, report warns

Pharmacists risk missing the opportunity to expand their clinical responsibilities within a changing NHS in England because of a failure to reform funding arrangements and a lack of consistent messages about the role the profession can play.…

Electronic sharing of hospital discharge information moves closer in Wales

Some community pharmacies in Wales will be able to receive electronic discharge information from hospitals from March 2015.…

Winter pressure leads to £300m NHS boost and plea to use pharmacies

The UK Government is to inject an extra £300m into the NHS to help support local health services as winter approaches.…

Minor ailments campaign

19 October 2014: the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) called on the NHS in England to provide a national common ailments service through community pharmacies. It followed the publication of research that showed common ailments, such as coughs and sore throats, cost the NHS an extra £1.1…

National minor ailment scheme could help save NHS £1bn

Community pharmacists in England could help save the NHS up to £1bn a year if they were contracted to run a national minor ailments service.…

Urgent care campaign to call for greater pharmacist role

A campaign to promote greater use of pharmacists to relieve mounting pressures on urgent and emergency NHS services has been launched.…