Pharmacy regulator has failed to meet fitness-to-practise standards for the fourth year in a row The General Pharmaceutical Council has failed to meet three standards relating to the transparency, fairness and timeliness of the fitness-to-practise process and the support available for the people involved.…
Independent prescribing pharmacist numbers total 15,000, increasing by two-thirds in two years Exclusive: There were 14,635 independent prescribers on the pharmacy register in August 2022, compared with 8,806 independent prescribers in May 2020.…
Advice for trainee pharmacists using the HEE portfolio practice-based assessments Though there were some daunting moments, Laura Healey says there are valuable lessons to be learnt from the successes of the overhauled foundation training year for pharmacists.…
Government consults on extending temporary pension rules to allow retired NHS staff to return to work Owing to backlogs from COVID-19 and "what could be a challenging winter", the government has proposed extending temporary measures that allow recently retired NHS staff to return to work without losing their pension benefits until 31 March 2023.…
Everything you need to know about ‘hub-and-spoke’ dispensing A look at the government's controversial proposals that it claims will make community pharmacy in the UK more efficient.…
UK is first country to approve bivalent COVID-19 vaccine The Spikevax Bivalent Original/Omicron by Moderna targets both the original strain of SARS-CoV-2 and Omicron variant.…
Safety review launched into anti-epileptic medicine topiramate over fears of harm to unborn children The review was prompted by study results that showed there was a two- to four-fold increased risk of developmental disorders or learning difficulties in children exposed to topiramate before birth.…
Gisela Abbam: ‘Online pharmacy is causing quite a lot of concern’ The newly appointed chair of the General Pharmaceutical Council discusses the issues facing the pharmacy regulator.…
Pharmacy regulator to anonymise fitness-to-practise investigations as safeguard against racial bias Owing to overrepresentation of individuals from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds in fitness-to-practise cases, the General Pharmaceutical Council will redact information relating to ethnicity in case papers.…
Candidates delayed by more than half an hour in registration exam can join provisional register, says GPhC The regulator said candidates affected by "procedural error" during the June 2022 registration exam would be accepted for provisional registration.…