Dispensing

Underfunding has hit my community pharmacy hard, but we’re determined to provide new high-value services

Community pharmacist Eoghan O’Brien explains the impact of underfunding on the sector in Northern Ireland, and what he’s doing to continue providing a valued service to patients.…

Wider hub-and-spoke dispensing expected in 2021

The UK government is expected to allow hub-and-spoke dispensing between different legal entities from “early next year”, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee has said.…

Government bill could enable hub-and-spoke dispensing between separate pharmacies

Legislation paving the way towards allowing legally separate pharmacies to set up shared hub-and-spoke dispensing services has been presented to Parliament.…

Stressed, self-checking pharmacists must be bold and temporarily close their pharmacies

In November 2019, The Pharmaceutical Journal wrote that “almost half of community pharmacists admit to self-checking their own dispensing” (Pharm J 2019;303[7931]:294). This dismayed me. When I practised, self-checking seldom occurred; when it did, it mostly resulted from lack…

Pharmacy2U ‘mega facility’ refused inclusion on pharmaceutical list by NHS litigation arm

Pharmacy2U’s application to include its new Leicester ‘mega facility’ on the pharmaceutical list has been refused by the NHS’s litigation arm.…

Can hub-and-spoke transform medicines supply in the UK? The jury is still out

Community pharmacy’s flat funding settlement in England is linked to ‘efficiencies’ to be made through the hub-and-spoke model. With a consultation on the model on the cards for 2020, it is time to reconsider whether its benefits stack up.…

Well Pharmacy to fulfil 43 million prescriptions per year through centralised dispensing

Well Pharmacy is expecting to fulfil six in ten of its repeat prescriptions from a central dispensing hub following a year-long rollout to hundreds of its pharmacies in the UK.…

Fewer than half of pharmacists issue warning cards for patients using valproate

Only 40% of pharmacists are meeting a patient safety requirement when dispensing valproate to women, an audit carried out by the Company Chemists’ Association has found.…

McKesson UK’s automated dispensing capacity to double by June 2020

The parent company of LloydsPharmacy, McKesson UK, has announced plans to double the number of items it dispenses through its centrally automated system by June 2020.…

GPs vote for pharmacists to have power to substitute medicines during shortages

GP representatives have voted in favour of giving pharmacists the ability to identify appropriate and available alternatives to medicines that are in short supply.…