Society, law and politics

Developing the clinical pharmacy technician role for mental health triaging

NHS England & NHS Improvement are building on the 'NHS long-term plan', focusing on the mental health provision within mental health services. Against this context, we wanted to improve the therapeutic inpatient mental health care within our service by developing a clinical pharmacy technic…

Pharmacists advised to complete training course before certifying fit notes

With pharmacists working in general practice and hospitals now able to certify fit notes, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has published guidance on considerations they should make before issuing them.…

Community pharmacies will be unable to issue NHS fit notes under new legislation, government confirms

Following the government announcement that fit notes will be able to be issued by pharmacists from 1 July 2022, it has been clarified that this will be in a general practice or secondary care setting.…

RPS publishes guidance on expanding scope of prescribing

The document will support independent prescribers who want to broaden the areas in which they prescribe.…

Members must be consulted on the future of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

The president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS)’s letter to members, which was reported in The Pharmaceutical Journal on 23 March 2022, is an object lesson in obfuscation. As a former council member of the then RPSGB who fought against the arrogant, closed and unaccountable culture…

Pharmacist medication reviews not putting patient outcomes first, claim researchers

A series of interviews with pharmacists revealed that structured medication reviews were not being treated as a priority and corporate incentives were being put before patient outcomes.…

Legal defence for inadvertent dispensing errors to be extended to hospital pharmacists

If approved by Parliament, the defence will now protect hospital pharmacists as well as those working in the community.…

LloydsPharmacy reports 11 percentage point increase in gender pay gap for 2021/2022

The median hourly pay gap at LloydsPharmacy was found to be 14.7% in favour of men, with women's mean hourly pay 32.1% lower than men's.…

MPs vote in favour of continued online provision of medical abortion drugs

Temporary measures to allow women to have early-stage abortions at home following a video consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic will now be made permanent.…

Controlled drugs prescribing and management in hospital is lagging behind — it must go fully digital

A combination of outdated guidance and misconceptions about the law mean secondary care is missing a golden opportunity to reduce bureaucracy and improve patient safety.…