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Legal protection for whistleblowers over hospital errors to be introduced in England

Anyone who speaks up following a hospital mistake will be given legal protection, England’s health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced at the Global Patient Safety Summit held in London on 9–10 March 2016.…

Why I decided to approach my MP regarding community pharmacy funding cuts

As one of the many pharmacists who have approached their MP asking for support following the announced community pharmacy funding cuts in England of £170m in 2016–2017 (equivalent to a reduction of 6% of the total budget), I watched the debate unfold within our profession with inter…

Pharmacy staff fear plans to slash pharmacy budget will trigger staff cuts and service reductions

Grassroots pharmacy staff, managers and owners fear that government plans to slash 6% from the national pharmacy budget in England will trigger staff cuts, according to the results of a survey.…

Integration of pharmacists into primary care in Scotland

Elaine Thomson, member of the RPS Scottish Pharmacy Board, draws on her knowledge of the primary care sector to provide clarity as to how pharmacists will integrate into primary care teams across Scotland.…

Meningitis B vaccine: basing decisions on evidence not emotions

Public opinion should be listened to when it comes to healthcare policies, but must not influence methodological, evidence-based decision making.…

Support your local pharmacy campaign gains traction

There have been around 250,000 expressions of support for the ‘Support your local pharmacy campaign’ since it was launched on 2 February 2016, according to Stephen Fishwick, head of communications at the National Pharmacy Association.…

New FDA commissioner appointed

Robert Califf has been confirmed as the new commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). …

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.…

Being transparent about payments to healthcare professionals is the right move

Disclosure of drug company payments to healthcare professionals is on its way in the UK — a big step towards transparency.…