Politics

NHS England has a clear role in commissioning PrEP

On 31 May 2016, NHS England confirmed it would remove pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP, an HIV prevention drug which has been proven to be effective) from the NHS specialised commissioning process. The NHS says it does not have legal power to fund PrEP because it is used as prevention rather tha…

How the exit of the UK from the European Union could affect healthcare, science and research

Should the UK remain a member of the European Union or should it leave? We put two opposing views together to help you decide. …

Hospital pharmacist elected to Scottish Parliament

Hospital pharmacist Maree Todd has become a member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for the Scottish National Party (SNP) after standing for election for the first time.…

Uniting community pharmacy

In December 2015, the Department of Health (DH) and NHS England notified the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee of changes they intended to make to the remuneration of community pharmacies. The response to these proposals is unprecedented. At the time of writing, more than half a million …

If you want to influence pharmacy’s future, vote in the RPS elections

Our profession continues to face many challenges, not only those raised by the Department of Health consultation and the Carter review but also those such as the development of five-year integrated MPharm degree and improvements to training and experience in the preregistration year. Strong national…

Community pharmacist: the primary care experts

The need for strong and bold leadership is greater than ever before. Never has the pharmacy profession been presented with a greater opportunity to prove its worth than now. Medicines optimisation is a step change in the way in which pharmacists can help patients live well with their long-term condi…

Critical factors for pharmacy to survive reforms and funding cuts

Recent headlines have all been about the funding cuts for community pharmacy, which I have commented on previously ( The Pharmaceutical Journal 2016;296:39), but the planned reforms go much deeper. The intention is to look at access with potential changes in the number and distribution o…

Must fight against community pharmacy funding cuts

Pharmacists are making a huge contribution to improving the health of our nation. We are the most accessible healthcare profession bar none. Our clinical skills have never been better and they have never been more needed. The recent report demonstrating the phenomenal impact pharmacists are having i…

How proposed community pharmacy funding cuts will affect my business and my patients

I find it impossible to reconcile the government’s stated desire to put pharmacy at the heart of the NHS (as stated in its open letter to the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Commitee on 17 December 2015) with the suggestion that up to 3,000 pharmacies will close. Worse still is the suggest…

Community pharmacy cuts: a breakdown of a flawed rationale

The government’s decision to cut funding on a large scale for community pharmacy is short-sighted and will cause long-term damage to patients and pharmacy.…