NHS England

GP practices to directly refer patients to digital minor ailments scheme

GP practices are to refer patients direct to the pharmacy Digital Minor Illness Referral Service from June 2019.…

Working group set up to cut climate change impact of asthma inhalers

A national working group has been set up to reduce the climate change impact of asthma inhalers and help meet carbon emissions targets laid out in the ‘NHS Long Term Plan’.…

Funding must be in place to support NHS workforce plan pharmacy foundation proposals, RPS says

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has called for funding to be put in place to support proposals for foundation training promised in NHS England’s interim workforce plan.…

NUMSAS referrals to community pharmacy more than double in a year

The number of referrals to community pharmacy through the NHS Urgent Medicine Supply Advanced Service (NUMSAS) has more than doubled in the past year, according to data from NHS England.…

Emergency contraception services should be commissioned nationally as part of community pharmacy contract, CCA says

The Company Chemists’ Association has called on NHS England and other healthcare bodies to establish a single national pharmacy specification for emergency hormonal contraception services to be used by all healthcare commissioners in England.…

Funding for Genomics England to reduce by £40m under 2019/2020 DHSC spending plans

The Department of Health and Social Care has put forward plans to reduce its funding to Genomics England by £40m in 2019/2020 as the body receives a new funding model to match its latest target to sequence five million genomes in five years.…

NHS England cannabis access review to speak with families paying £40k for private prescriptions

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Medical Cannabis under Prescription has said it has put forward 22 families to speak with NHS England as part of its “rapid processes evaluation” of NHS medical cannabis prescribing.…

Pharmacists to identify AF patients at risk of stroke in £9m NHS England programme

Specialist pharmacists across 23 areas in England will help to identify patients with atrial fibrillation who are at risk of stroke and could benefit from medication, under a £9m programme announced by NHS England.…

Restricting prescription OTC products produces much lower savings than promised

NHS spending on over-the-counter items in England fell by £25.9m in the year to January 2019, despite NHS England promising up to £100m of savings when it published guidance on reducing the number of prescriptions for OTC medicines.…

DHSC commissions ‘rapid’ evaluation of medical cannabis prescribing

The health and social care secretary has asked NHS England to launch an evaluation of medical cannabis prescribing to “address barriers”.…