Policy and politics

PJ view: Access to rare disease treatment should not be a rarity

Policymakers and healthcare leaders must persevere with long overdue changes to improve access to treatments for rare diseases.…

Managing the shift to prescribing at registration for pharmacists

Prescribing from registration offers pharmacy and the wider healthcare sector a great opportunity, but this reform must be managed and supported properly.…

Pharmacy bodies express anger over exclusion from business rates relief

Community pharmacy representatives disappointed that pharmacies were not included in government decision to cut business rates for pubs and live music venues.…

Community pharmacy in focus: research insights on improving patient care

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s former deputy chief scientist and Community Pharmacy England’s director of research reflect on recently published research studies in and through community pharmacy.…

Community pharmacies face ‘economic peril’, CPE warns government

In an “uncompromising” letter, Community Pharmacy England said negotiations for the next pharmacy contract must close the funding gap for the sector.…

Concerns raised that pharmacists in Scotland may not be able to opt out of assisted dying process

Scottish shadow health secretary Sandesh Gulhane has expressed concerns that protections for Scottish pharmacists could be weakened without an opt-out model for the Assisted Dying (Terminally Ill Adults) Bill.…

UKPPLAB to publish proposals for ‘effective’ pharmacy leadership

The UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board said the RPS’s transition to becoming a royal college would offer a chance to “prioritise excellence and ambition in education, innovation and research”.…

MPs push for more details on VPAG and NICE threshold changes

The House of Commons Science Innovation and Technology Committee has asked the government for further clarification on what investment it plans to make into the ‘Voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth’.…

Reimburse business rates for pharmacies like GPs and dentists, says NPA

The National Pharmacy Association has told the government community pharmacies should be exempt from business rates to combat rising pharmacy closures and address funding gaps.…

Working conditions for community pharmacists must improve for neighbourhood health service to succeed, MPs say

In a letter to the government, the Health and Social Care Committee said the NHS ten-year workforce plan must offer proposals to make the community sector “a more attractive place for staff to work and build a career”.…