More than 1.5 million people could be given tirzepatide for weight loss under NHS proposals Priority will be given to patients with the highest clinical need, identified as those with a BMI of more than 40 and at least three specific weight-related health problems.…
Patient safety improvement and medicines waste targeted by repeat prescribing toolkit The Royal Pharmaceutical Society says the new resource is the first national good practice guidance on repeat prescribing published in 20 years.…
Number of independent prescribers rose by 37% in 2023, reveals NHS workforce survey Responses to the annual survey recorded 1,494 full-time equivalent independent prescriber roles, up 37% on the 1,087 recorded the year before.…
BGMA recommends longer lead times on NHS medicines contracts to address shortages The British Generic Manufacturers Association has made several recommendations to reduce overall medicines shortages, of which it says the “vast majority are commonly used generic medicines”.…
Electronic prescription service used to dispense 100,000 items Digital Health and Care Wales said the 100,000th medication was dispensed in Boots Old Colwyn in Conwy, North Wales.…
The 20-year path to placing specialist pharmacists in all critical care units With the launch of a new advanced pharmacist curriculum for critical care, a leading pharmacist in the field outlines the specialism’s progress over two decades.…
Pharmacy First monthly payment threshold cut for a second time The monthly threshold to qualify for a £1,000 payment was due to be increased to 30 consultations in October 2024, but this has been reduced to 20 consultations.…
Changes to hub-and-spoke legislation will be delayed, government tells CPE Community Pharmacy England says it has been told by the Department for Health and Social Care that the changes will not happen from 1 January 2025 as planned.…
Prescribing dilemma: balancing risk and benefits of off-label migraine treatment in a child The second of a new series of articles exploring real-world dilemmas that pharmacist prescribers encounter in clinical practice.…
NICE rejects cabotegravir for PrEP in draft guidance Draft guidance said the HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) treatment cabotegravir is not recommended because “it is not possible to determine the cost-effectiveness estimate ... without further analyses from the manufacturer”.…
