With England's pharmacy contract unravelling, has the sector blown its chances of a prosperous future, or is there a last hurrah, asks North-East London LPC secretary Hemant Patel   I...

What you said: Pharmacists expressed concerns over the timescale of the service in C+D's pre-Senate survey. While a quarter of pharmacists said they were almost ready to implement the NMS, 60 per...

What you said: Pharmacists were divided on the issue of training, the pre-Senate survey revealed, reporting varying degrees of confidence. A quarter felt they could already offer the advice,...

What you said: The Senate survey revealed widespread concerns over implementing the service. Pharmacists cited a lack of time, lack of patient awareness and pressure to hit targets as key...



What you said : Unsurprisingly, pharmacists said they would ideally like to be paid more than the agreed £25 for the service (subject to pharmacy-based targets, see below). Almost a third would...

What you said: Pharmacists appear to have little confidence in the future of the NMS, as three quarters of Senate survey respondents believed pharmacy would have problems getting the service off...

News Blog As the health bill reaches the end of its passage through the House of Commons, writes Hannah Flynn, it's a reminder for everyone working in the health sector the time will soon be upon them when serious changes have to be made.

As the October launch of new advanced service the NMS draws closer, there is continuing speculation and controversy over how it works and its funding. Emma Weinbren hears C+D Senators tackle questions on pay, workload and timescales

With just six weeks to go until community pharmacists are yet again challenged to justify their existence, the pressure is well and truly on...

Services : what services do we want to provide as standard; does everyone need to provide the same services; will it restrict pioneers if everyone has to do the same? Portsmouth : is the...

New contract: do we need a new contract and what should that look like; when should we look to get that in place? Forgetting volume : do contractors want to switch from a volume based...

The vision : how much of the sector backs it at the moment; how much needs to back it; how do we persuade those who don't back it yet; whose responsibility should that be (employers/pharmacy...

The public: how do they currently view pharmacy; how are the PR campaigns working; what do patients want from pharmacy; how do we convince them we are health professionals not shopkeepers; whose...

Following a lively and passionate debate, C+D's Hannah Flynn caught up with the senators to find out their final thoughts on the debate

A ‘broken’ contract, ‘perverse’ incentives, staff engagement and interprofessional working – Hannah Flynn and Emma Weinbren hear what challenges community pharmacy must overcome in the move to a service-based contract, and how the C+D Senators believe it can be achieved

The C+D Senate ruled last week that understanding PNAs was key to pharmacy’s future, but Senator and LPC secretary Hemant Patel says PNAs will not achieve government aims

Andrew Lansley’s NHS reforms will see a new world with GP commissioners and local authorities as pharmacy’s paymasters. Hannah Flynn finds out what C+D Senators say the sector must do to survive

C+D takes a look back over the last 12 months to see how 2010 was for pharmacy

    Will government plans for generic substitution really work? C+D’s Senators weigh up the evidence and deliver their verdict. Zoe Smeaton reports Generic...

The findings were shocking, the figures unacceptable, the Senators agreed. The week C+D’s 2010 PCT Investigation revealed the sorry state of local enhanced services commissioning, sector...

C+D senate We put your questions to the experts. This week, the topic was business in a tough economic climate.

C+D senate We put your questions to the experts. This week, the topic was pharmacy and the public health agenda

News blog Over the past few months, writes Emma Weinbren there's been a great deal of talk about pharmacy's role in public health. As the NHS reforms take shape, the overriding message seems to be that pharmacists should do more to promote wellbeing in their communities.

As the pharmacy bodies court councillors with speed dating, C+D Senators answer your questions about working with local authorities under the NHS reforms

As the PDA urges pharmacists to respond1 to an RPS review of the Responsible Pharmacist, C+D Senators answer readers’ queries on the contentious regulations

The NHS reforms are no stranger to controversy, and recent changes from the NHS Future Forum have made government plans a hot talking point again. Emma Weinbren puts reader questions to the C+D Senators to dig behind the political jargon and explain what the changes mean for pharmacy

Business Pharmacists would like to see the sector's role split evenly between dispensing volume and service delivery, a C+D Senate Survey has suggested.

Practice Payment for the new medicine service (NMS) is “unnecessarily complex” and will make it difficult for pharmacists to calculate their targets, Day Lewis managing director Kirit Patel has warned.

Exclusive Pharmacists "must" involve GPs in the new medicine service (NMS) to make it a success, PSNC has said. GPs "absolutely" needed to support the service and pharmacists must now communicate with them at a local level, said Alastair Buxton, head of NHS services at PSNC.

Exclusive PSNC has defended the way in which it negotiated the new medicine service, stressing that it did seek "enough input" from grassroots pharmacists during the process.

Business C+D Senators have questioned the payment structure for the new medicine service (NMS), with some questioning whether the system is fair

The government's NHS reforms timetable is partly to blame for the tight timescales involved in delivering the new medicine service (NMS), the C+D Senate has heard. The NMS launches in October...

Pharmacy leaders have stressed the importance of engaging with the new medicine service (NMS) launching in October, following concerns that only around half of pharmacists back the service in a...

The new medicine service has the potential to change perceptions of pharmacy, moving it away from being seen as "a place to get a packet of pills", NPA chief executive Mike Holden has said. ...

Less than 60 per cent of pharmacists are in favour of the new medicine service (NMS) launching this October, preliminary results from the C+D Senate Survey have suggested. A quarter of...

It is "not clear" whether Andrew Lansley's NHS shake-up will be good for pharmacy, despite progress in shaping the government plans, PSNC chief executive and C+D Senator Sue Sharpe has warned. ...