Health and care policy

RPS backs call to legalise safe consumption facilities for drug users

Claire Anderson, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said that providing consumption facilities for drug users would “provide an opportunity for health professionals to engage in treatment and prevention”.…

Bringing blood pressure checks to the Pakistani community in Derby

Working with local volunteer groups led Khurum Hussain and colleagues to establish an outreach programme that moved the community pharmacy hypertension case-finding service out of the pharmacy and onto the doorsteps of patients who need it most.…

Why are we ‘Booting’ out community pharmacy capacity?

This month, The Pharmaceutical Journal’s health policy columnist analyses the practical and financial implications of widespread community pharmacy closures.…

Expert panel says government is making ‘inadequate’ progress on four out of nine of its pharmacy commitments

The House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee-commissioned report, which ran alongside the committee's own inquiry into pharmacy services in England, said least progress had been made on legislative changes.…

Pharmacy profession had ‘limited influence’ on government policy in decade to 2017, analysis suggests

Researchers identified several areas of weakness, including transparency of evidence on which pharmacy bodies’ policies were based between 2008 and 2017.…

Discharge medicines service has prevented almost 22,000 hospital readmissions, government says

The Department of Health and Social Care says community pharmacy has claimed for 216,700 patient referrals from hospital through the 'Discharge medicines service'.…

The pharmacy workforce, in lieu of a plan

The Pharmaceutical Journal’s health policy columnist delves deeper into pharmacy’s worsening workforce crisis.…

Health secretary asked to address ‘critical lack of capacity’ in oncology departments

A joint letter to Steve Barclay from a group of cancer care organisations highlights a range of areas where it says NHS England and the UK government could further support oncology departments.…

Lessons community pharmacy could learn from the junior doctors’ strike

The Pharmaceutical Journal's health policy columnist considers what pharmacists can take from the junior doctors' approach to industrial action.…

‘If you want to influence change, get involved’: why members should stand for RPS pharmacy board election

Current board members explain why Royal Pharmaceutical Society members should stand for election.…