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Ravi's Blog: you can never do enough for patients 02/03/2010 Patients… You bend over backwards for them, run around after them, chase up their delayed prescription repeats which they did not order until the very last minute, deliver medicines to their home, even in 6 feet of snow… Mike Hewitson: A tale of two pharmacies – which are you? 24/02/2010 Imagine two identical pharmacies in two different PCTs. The first has a very pro-pharmacy PCT; the second exists in a wasteland where monies negotiated at national level for pharmacy are diverted to fill the PCT’s financial black hole. But how can some PCTs be allowed to effectively opt out of a national funding deal to balance their own books?
One rule for doctors, another for the rest 18/02/2010 If you’ve read my jottings about pharmacy’s disciplinary procedures, you will know I have not always been complimentary about them.
Xrayser: It’s not easy being perfect 11/02/2010
When evidence doesn’t match reality 11/02/2010 Should community and hospital pharmacists have separate leadership bodies? 11/02/2010 It is regrettable that the new professional leadership body (PLB) has got off to a potentially inauspicious start for an organisation that is intended to be the representative body for the whole of pharmacy, Colin Rodden writes. We can’t afford not to pay the cost of advice 03/02/2010
Making POM to P switches a surefire success 03/02/2010
Ravi's Blog: Did good propaganda sway Boards' election? 02/02/2010
Sue Sharpe: Do your bit to help the cost of service inquiry 27/01/2010
David Reissner: Casting a legal eye over 2009 21/01/2010
Richard Smith: Will 2010 be a good year for pharmacy? 13/01/2010
David Reissner: Testing time for necessary or expedient rules 16/12/2009
Sue Sharpe: A first for pharmacy - an inter-party love in 09/12/2009
Terry Maguire: Will it be a brave new world? 25/11/2009
David Reissner: 100-hour headache just around the corner 18/11/2009
Mark Simmonds: Flu vaccination not hitting the target 11/11/2009
Georgina Craig at the NHS Alliance conference 29/10/2009
Nick Barber: Why care homes really need your help 29/10/2009
Sue Sharpe: Commissioning – are we nearly there yet? 21/10/2009
Sandra Gidley: Policy on the hoof, yes it’s conference time 07/10/2009
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From Kavita Gupta, Pharmacy Services Manager for PLUS from GSK and Locum Pharmacist 11/01/2010 According to the latest NHS data, the number of pharmacies in England providing MURs rose to 83 percent between 2008 and 2009. Whilst an improvement over previous years, these figures do not tell the whole story, as the number of pharmacists meeting the government’s target of 400 MURs a year remains suboptimal. With £11,200 of funding available and with clear benefits for patients I believe meeting this quota should be a priority for all pharmacists. Xrayser: Where is it all heading next for pharmacy? 24/02/2010 As we await the cost of service inquiry results, and rumble along the bottom of recession, an essential skill is that business mind to identify new services and – more importantly – get paid for them.
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“If you were to spend the rest of your life with your peeing condition the way it is now, how would you feel about that?” An odd question for Mrs Xrayser to ask me, especially at work…
Twice the bridesmaid. In the English Board Elections, in both the open and academic sections, I got more votes than anyone else – anyone who was not elected, that is. In each case I was beaten by candidates who are against remote supervision. 
I walked into the pharmacy this morning, and saw another sackful of returned drugs. I feel like showing our overflowing drug disposal bins to every patient who raves about the current drug shortage and saying: “Help yourself to some of the £100 million worth that goes unused.” With such anxieties, why is medicines adherence such a problem?
For reasons unknown, I was recently invited to an MHRA meeting to investigate how the public might get better access to medicines.
Community pharmacy contractors hold a unique position in the NHS primary care network. They are (as the Conservatives noted in their recent public health Green Paper) “a vital resource for healthcare and condition management” and are “many people’s most frequent link to a knowledgeable health professional”. They are also retailers and business owners, delivering a high quality service while keeping an eye on the bottom line.
What a year 2009 was! The MHRA issued guidance trying to stop exporting. The NHS Counter Fraud Service began investigating specials. The Medicines Act was amended to bring in a requirement for responsible pharmacists. The National Health Service Act was amended to introduce as from this year a new control of entry test. But the most prominent legal issues faced by pharmacists in 2009 were in the criminal courts...
A precarious financial situation, a likely change of leadership and a series of seemingly impossible choices. I could be talking about Britain in 2010 or about pharmacy in the year ahead. Take your pick...
PSNC’s community pharmacy question time last week marked the first time all three parties have fielded representatives to publicly debate pharmacy issues. I was joined by...
I am concerned that the swine flu vaccination programme is in confusion, with GP surgeries only receiving a small number of doses each and some practices having to wait a month for any doses to arrive
Healthcare consultant Georgina Craig was at last week's NHS Alliance conference where speakers included England's pharmacy minister Mike O'Brien, both shadow health ministers, and the NHS's boss David Nicholson. So what did she find?
Our key finding is that there are errors across the board – around eight to 10 per cent in prescribing, dispensing and administration (and even higher for the monitoring of important drugs).
With the internet, 24-hour news and a growing thirst for information, politicians are forced to react to events around them and often have to comment without the back-up of a fully thought through policy.
