Advantages and disadvantages of shorter antimicrobial courses An overview of the available evidence for shorter antimicrobial courses, including how this can be supported in practice and the potential positive impact on antimicrobial resistance.…
Opioids stewardship: an opportunity for community pharmacyOpioid prescribing is a necessary component of post-operative pain management but carries a risk of misuse and dependency formation1. Community pharmacists are uniquely placed to contribute to effective opioid stewardship2. We previously reported on potentially valuable entries on PharmO…
UK’s first safe drug consumption room expected to open in October 2024 The safe drug consumption facility will allow people to use illegal drugs in a sterile environment at Hunter Street Health and Social Care Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.…
The unregulated semaglutide prescribing circus Why there should be stronger regulations around the prescribing of semaglutide, speaking from experience as a trainee pharmacist supplying this medicine from a community pharmacy in central London.…
Deaths related to drug misuse in Scotland rose by almost 12% in 2023 The National Records of Scotland data show that opioids were implicated in 80% of the misuse-related deaths in 2023.…
Largest ever trial of ketamine to treat alcohol abuse to launch across eight NHS sites The phase III clinical trial will explore the use of low-dose ketamine combined with psychological support as a therapy for people with alcohol use disorder.…
Lessons from testing 2,300 patients at the UK’s first CYP2C19 genotyping system Specialist clinical pharmacist Alex Matos explains what his team has learned in the two years since setting up the NHS Tayside project to genotype acute stroke patients with an indication for clopidogrel.…
Pharmacy initiative results in 300% increase in inhalers being returned for sustainable disposal Five pharmacies in and around Edinburgh spent ten weeks adding stickers to dispensing bags to encourage patients to return inhalers to the pharmacy.…
Pharmaceuticals detected in 52 out of 54 river sites in English national parks Researchers detected 31 APIs in rivers in 8 out of England's 10 national parks in 2022, with the most common being cetirizine, metformin and fexofenadine.…
Expanded ‘subscription model’ for new antibiotics to be funded with £100m per year Individual annual contract values will range from £5m to £20m, based on a value banding system.…
