NHS

Additional £28m for primary care in Scotland may be used to accelerate recruitment of GP pharmacists

Exclusive: Critics argue that pharmacy should have been specifically mentioned in the funding announcement, owing to the impact additional winter pressures could have on pharmacy services.…

Injectable treatment recommended by NICE for patients with high cholesterol

The cholesterol-lowering treatment inclisiran could be a "game-changer" in preventing heart attacks and strokes, says the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.…

Action should be taken against pharmaceutical companies who hike prices of off-patent medicines

The views expressed in this letter are those of the author’s. If you would like to submit a letter to The Pharmaceutical Journal, please click here. We live in a time where a majority of us, in the UK, take a special pride in our NHS. We are told it’s the envy of much of the world. We kno…

NICE approves first treatment through fast-tracked appraisal pilot

Bimekizumab, which is used for the treatment of severe plaque psoriasis, is the first treatment to be approved by a National Institute for Health and Care Excellence sub-committee in a trial fast-track appraisal process.…

NHS England considering three models to make high-dose statins available in community pharmacy

Exclusive: Switching the drugs from prescription-only to pharmacy medicine is one of the options being looked at.…

Scottish Pharmacy Board meeting: 13 May 2021

At the latest Scottish Pharmacy Board meeting, there was a special focus on education, with the aim of identifying priorities to take forward for the incoming board.…

NHS Health Checks catch patients who would benefit from statins but majority are not prescribed them

Of eligible patients who attended an NHS Health Check, 26 in 1,000 were prescribed statins, compared with 8 in 1,000 of those who did not attend, study results show.…

Are NHS England and NHS Improvement serious about equality, diversity and inclusion?

The views expressed in this letter are those of the author. If you would like to submit a letter to The Pharmaceutical Journal, please click here. Despite 6% of pharmacists and 2% of pharmacy technicians being black, there is little black representation in the senior leadership positio…

Collaboration not competition: the NHS masterplan to keep patients out of hospital

Health challenges and inequalities have been exacerbated by COVID-19, meaning providing joined up health and social care that keeps people out of hospital is more important than ever, and is central to the government’s blueprint for the NHS in England. Pharmacy teams are already playing an integra…

RPS joins APTUK and NHS England to launch action plan for inclusive pharmacy practice

The joint plan will include actions that pharmacy teams should incorporate into practice to “benefit the health of our diverse communities”.…