Health and care policy

Funding gap: economic analysis paints dire picture of community pharmacy’s sustainability

An independent economic analysis has revealed that the cost of delivering community pharmacy NHS services in England far outstrips the funding available, even after the uplift agreed in the latest contract negotiations.…

House of Commons passes amendment allowing pharmacists to opt out of assisted dying process

The amendment means that pharmacy staff would be under no obligation to supply substances to be used in assisted dying.…

Change is needed in the NHS: the case for investing in dedicated system-wide teams to deliver

The NHS is one of the largest organisations of its kind in the world. It is estimated to be the sixth largest employer globally with access to substantial resources, but faces multiple long-term, structural challenges as demand for services increases continuously.   The need for ch…

Assisted dying exemption amendment for pharmacists to be debated in Parliament

Kim Leadbeater MP, who introduced the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, has proposed the amendment, which will be discussed at the Bill's report stage.…

Net zero: progress on reducing the environmental impact of medicines

Although some progress has been made towards reducing the carbon footprint of medicines within the NHS, experts say there needs to be more focus on medicines waste and disease prevention.…

NICE to work with NHS Race and Health Observatory to de-bias clinical guidance

The two-year partnership will examine clinical guidance across maternal and neonatal health, mental health, genomics, sickle cell and hypertension.…

Medicines optimisation teams need to showcase their value to withstand ICB funding cuts

With integrated care boards soon to have lost 65% of their funding over two years, now is the time for medicines optimisation teams to ‘be noisy’ about their work.…

The pharmacy funding boost is a step in the right direction but it will not go far enough

This month, our health policy columnist warns that while the latest pharmacy contract announcements are good news for pharmacy, the damage from years of underfunding may be difficult to undo.…

NHS England sets target to save £1bn on medicines by 2029

Board papers published in March 2025 said that using “commercial capabilities” had realised close to £500m in medicines savings in 2023/2024.…

Scottish Pharmacy Board meeting: 28 February 2025

An overview of the latest open meeting of the Scottish Pharmacy Board.…