Community pharmacy services

Welsh government puts up £750,000 to support pharmacy minor ailments service

A £750,000 technology investment that will enable pharmacists across Wales to provide a minor ailments service to patients has been announced by deputy health minister Vaughan Gething.…

The future of pharmacy will not be defined by cuts, says Burt

Alistair Burt, minister of state for community and social care, says that while the proposed 6% cuts to community pharmacy funding are unlikely to be reversed, they do not signal the end of community pharmacy “as we know it”.…

Errors in ‘hub-and-spoke’ dispensing could see risk of liability at both ends of the network, conference hears

Changing the law to allow independent pharmacies to use a ‘hub-and-spoke’ model of dispensing will be more complex than the government anticipates, as there are question marks around liability, according to David Reissner, a partner at law firm Charles Russell Speechlys.…

MPs debate ‘perverse’ community pharmacy proposals

Government plans to slash £170m from the community pharmacy budget in England in October 2016 are uneconomic and short sighted because patients will turn to over-stretched GP services and hospital casualty departments to fill the gap in care, according to MPs.…

Union urges pharmacists to contact MPs ahead of Commons debate on pharmacy funding cuts

Community pharmacists are being urged to contact their MP to draw attention to the impact of the proposed 6% cut to the pharmacy budget before the House of Commons debates the issue in Parliament on 23 February 2016.…

Pharmacies are likely to cut services because of government cuts, survey finds

Pharmacy contractors in England say free services for patients will have to be stopped in light of government funding cuts, according to a survey of Numark members.…

RPS ‘gravely’ concerned over lack of data to support proposed 6% cuts to community pharmacy

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society says it “cannot support” the proposed 6% cut to community pharmacy funding because of the lack of evidence justifying why the efficiencies are needed.…

Pharmacist-led telephone advice ‘improves medication adherence’

Personalised telephone advice from a pharmacist can improve medication adherence in patients with long-term conditions, research shows.…

Efficiency proposals for community pharmacy will not provide meaningful savings, says Pharmacy Voice

Pharmacy Voice, which represents three community pharmacy associations, has spelt out its opposition to UK government proposals to slash 6% from the national settlement for England and have described ministers’ plans for the future of the profession as “ill-conceived and inconsistent&rdq…

Burt distances himself from ‘3,000 pharmacy closures’ prediction

The government is not making any presumptions about community pharmacy closures which could result from its proposals for the sector, according to Alistair Burt, minister of state for community and social care.…