UK drug advisory council warns against limiting duration of methadone therapy Government drug advisers have rejected a proposal by government ministers to impose a time limit on prescribing methadone to heroin addicts.…
UK bill aims to allow off-patent drugs to be licensed for new purposes A bill going through Parliament wants the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to appraise off-patent drugs to allow them to be used for new indications.…
Study upholds use of metformin monotherapy for first-line diabetes treatment Patients recently diagnosed with diabetes who are prescribed metformin monotherapy are less likely to require treatment intensification compared with patients prescribed other oral glucose-lowering medications as a monotherapy.…
Review of fitness-to-practise cases suggests pharmacy regulator acts fairly Pharmacists are likely to be dealt with fairly if they find themselves up before the professional regulator’s fitness-to-practise committee, according to published research.…
Pharmacists will have to be competent in speaking English to practise in the UK All pharmacists, even UK nationals, will in future have to be competent in speaking English if they want to practise in the UK, under new proposals.…
Family to take civil action after dispensing error deathRelatives of a woman who died after a dispensing error are to take civil action, the family’s lawyers have confirmed.…
How does lack of anonymity facilitate shared learning in error reporting? Why Joy Wingfield is concerned about the decision to abolish anonymity for community pharmacies in reporting errors before the decriminalisation of dispensing errors has become a reality.…
CPS will not act against pharmacist whose error led to patient’s deathA pharmacist involved in a dispensing error that led to the death of a patient is being investigated by the General Pharmaceutical Council.…
Research confirms faecal microbiota transplantation is safe and effective An age-old treatment has shown remarkable clinical cure rates for Clostridium difficile infection, achieving far better outcomes than antimicrobial therapy.…
What are the barriers to closing the gender gap in senior roles in pharmacy? More research needs to be done to examine why women are under-represented in senior roles in the profession.…