Healthcare provision

Roadmap to provide PrEP via community pharmacies will be ready by ‘end of the year’, government says

Health minister Neil O’Brien said the government’s HIV action plan implementation steering group was currently “working to develop a PrEP roadmap”.…

Factors influencing effective communication when prescribing

Understanding the factors that impact communication is critical for the delivery of person-centred prescribing. This article explores how to identify these factors and develop an optimised communication strategy for each patient.…

Independent prescribing in community pharmacy – the pathfinder programme

As chair of Community Pharmacy London, which represents 1,500 community pharmacy contractors in London, I write to express our concerns regarding the commissioning of the community pharmacy independent prescriber pathfinder service, a programme aimed at expanding primary care pharmacy services. …

PSA writes to health secretary to ‘raise concerns’ over GPhC’s fitness-to-practise timeliness

Duncan Rudkin, chief executive of the GPhC, said it was “an absolute priority” for it to resolve fitness-to-practise cases “in a timely way”.…

RPS condemns ‘unjust’ exclusion of pharmacy students from government support fund

Pharmacy students are not currently eligible for the NHS learning support fund, which offers help for healthcare students on practice placements.…

Half of hospital trusts require staff to have training on time-critical medication, charity finds

Parkinson's UK, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and other healthcare bodies have called on the government to ensure NHS trusts have policies in place to enable patients to receive their medicines on time.…

Principles of person-centred practice for prescribing

Effective prescribing requires an understanding of the patient’s individual needs, preferences and values. This article introduces the principles of person-centred practice and how they can be implemented in pharmacist prescribing.…

Pharmacy leaders warn that funding for independent prescribing pilot programme could leave community pharmacies ‘out of pocket’

Funding for the independent prescribing pathfinder programme has been described as “unviable” by sector leaders.…

Improving safety of warfarin prescribing and administration using clinical decision support

There are several benefits of electronic prescribing and medication administration (EPMA) systems, including the ability to support the reduction in medication omission errors​[1,2]​. Researchers suggest that medication administration errors account for ju…

Hydrocortisone manufacturers to be fined almost £130m after tribunal upholds ruling

The Competition and Markets Authority said NHS spending on hydrocortisone tablets rose from £0.5m per year to over £80m.…