Prescribing

RPS asked for clarification on dispensing timelines following death of patient with diabetes

A coroner has issued a ‘Prevention of future deaths’ report seeking information on a repeat prescribing toolkit published by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Royal College of GPs.…

Discussing evidence with patients when prescribing

To facilitate shared decision making, prescribers need to guide patients through the risks and benefits of medicine use and be confident to explain the evidence-base underpinning different treatment options.…

Prescription tracking app to be used by more than 5,000 pharmacies within a year, says NHS England

NHS England said the tracking feature will reduce how long pharmacists spend on the phone and give them more time to offer advice to patients.…

Consultation on prescription flexibility expected ‘by summer 2025’, government says

The consultation is likely to consider whether enabling community pharmacies to change prescriptions should only be in “cases of immediate clinical need", the Department of Health and Social Care said.…

More than 17,000 consultations delivered under independent prescribing pathfinder service

Data from NHS England show that, as of 6 May 2025, more than 8,000 new medicines have been commenced and around 2,000 medicines have been changed under the Independent Prescribing Pathfinder Programme.…

SABA inhaler carbon emissions have dropped by one-third since 2020, NHS England data show

Exclusive: Pharmacy experts said the fall in short-acting beta-2 agonist inhaler emissions most likely owes to patients switching from the Ventolin Evohaler to the Salamol inhaler.…

Patients to be able to nominate a pharmacy on NHS App more easily from July 2025

Rahul Singal, chief pharmacy and medicines information officer at NHS England, announced at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress 2025 that several other prescription-based user features would be introduced to the NHS App by early 2026.…

More than 3,000 pharmacy students accept place on first cohort of all-independent prescribing foundation year

NHS England data show that 68% of the training places offered under the Oriel scheme for 2025/2026 have been filled.…

Repeat prescription opioids most commonly linked to patient harm and deaths, study results show

Researchers found that between January 2019 and December 2023, opioid analgesics made up 76% of the medications mentioned in coroners’ prevention of future deaths reports.…

RPS to launch development programme for prescribing pharmacists

For each of the six themes that will be covered as part of the programme, the Society has said that participants will receive “exclusive learning content, including podcasts, blogs and webinars on essential prescribing topics”.…