England

Community pharmacy bodies appeal for urgent investment

Community pharmacy has issued its starkest warning yet about the state of the sector in England, in a joint letter to secretary of state Steve Barclay

PSNC reaches contract deal with Government

Agreement finally reached on years 4 and 5 of the contractual framework in England.

All 16 and 17 year olds to be offered Covid vaccination by August 23

The DHSC has said over 800 GP-led sites will offer vaccines to youngsters.

CCA & NPA update crisis guidance for second wave

Providing Pharmaceutical Care in Crisis Situations updates guidance first published in the spring.

Covid-19 deaths continue to decrease

Deaths involving Covid-19 fall to lowest level in eight weeks.

Go compare – burden of disease in England

England outperforms other home nations in most areas of disease burden.

Drug deaths in England and Wales hit record levels

Misuse of heroin pushes drug misuse deaths up by 17 per cent to 2,917.

Deprived areas see twice as many A&E visits

The 10 per cent of people in the most deprived areas accounted for twice as many A&E visits than those in least deprived areas. 

Going, going, gone!

It has been an enormous privilege and I have been fortunate enough to be asked to speak at several weddings, forums all over the world, and even three eulogies. Two of these requests came from patients’ families, and at the last one the priest joked he was scared because it sounded like I could do his job! But an old university friend who’d been let down at the last minute gave me a unique invitation that I couldn’t refuse.

We met at her local town hall, which was stuffed to the gunwales with people who’d donated prizes. There were dozens of them, and I know because I was the auctioneer.

England performs well on drug misuse treatment, says review

Public Health England reports drug misuse treatment systems performing well

Pharmacy's public health role promoted

Better commissioning and collaboration advocated for pharmacists' public health role

Pharmacy's public health role promoted

Better commissioning and collaboration advocated for pharmacists' public health role

Antibiotic scripts fall for first time

Over 2 million fewer antibiotic prescriptions dispensed in England in 2015 than previous year

A state secret?

I wonder how many of us knew that NHS England has a head of community pharmacy strategy. Her name is Anne Joshua; however, in her biography I can’t find any mention of experience of working in or with community pharmacy, or even primary care. Previously, she worked for 10 years as the associate director of pharmacy leading the Health and Medicines Information Service at NHS Direct, before becoming the NHS England pharmacist lead for the NHS 111 Digital Urgent Care programme.

I wouldn’t hold any of that against her, and I have no reason to believe that she did anything other than a first-class job in these roles, but ...

PSNC rejects DH 12% funding cut

PSNC rejects "reckless" proposed funding package for 2016/17

3.8m adults in England now have diabetes

Around 9 per cent of adults in England have diabetes