 The 30-day challenge With the 30th run over, Alastair McMurray reflects on a long and torturous 30 half marathons and looks forward to his next run |
 Blogs A day he thought may never come has finally arrived, Alastair McMurray reflects on the last 29 days as he prepares to run his final half marathon |
 The 30-day challenge With only two runs to go, Alastair McMurray was joined by a marathon runner - and a blistering heat wave |
 The 30-day challenge With the end in sight, half marathon runner Alastair McMurray reflects on why, to some, people who do challenges for charity are just daft |
 To whom are pharmacists supposed to turn for support, asks Xrayser. The plethora of representation is confusing, but if Mike Holden plays his cards right, the NPA could hold the answer |
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The NPA's renewed focus on independents is a bold move, writes Jennifer Richardson, but if it can translate into tangible successes for the independent sector, then it may well be the right one |
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Having just returned from a conference of community pharmacy representative organisations, it was interesting to reflect how similar the challenges are around the world - supply chain, healthcare... |
More from Dr Livingstone
 A train of pharmacists lined up to get into the training sessions for MURs for asthma and COPD, writes Terry Maguire, reflecting the enthusiasm for this style of working |
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Until the issue of time management is properly tackled, taking on new services will only ever be a struggle, writes Terry Maguire |
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When Northern Ireland first played host to Game of Thrones, pharmacist Boyd Rankin swapped his white coat for medieval weaponry and hasn't looked back, writes Terry Maguire |
Terry Maguire is a community pharmacist in Northern Ireland with over 20 years' experience. He is recognised as a pioneer in the development of pharmacy services in the UK and beyond, having developed a model service for pharmacists in screening for raised cholesterol in the 1980s, and a smoking cessation programme in the early 1990s.
 We've got a small collection of NVQ portfolios appeared on the shelf for checking, in time for the next technician workshop. The current candidates are getting towards the end of the... |
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I've dutifully filled in the C+D Salary Survey, but it did get me wondering where I slot in to the profession. Am I community? Am I academic? I do training in community pharmacy; I still face... |
Mark Sykes is not your typical pharmacist. He's an employee community pharmacist practising in Yorkshire who qualified eight years ago. After starting as a branch pharmacist, he turned to the dark side and now spends most of his time looking after his company's dispensing technician and assistant qualifications, and pre-reg training. Outside of work, he can be found out and about enjoying the countryside while trying to improve his landscape photography. You might see some of the results of this from time to time (it'll provide a break from the prescriptions)
 In order for us to save lives by helping smokers go smoke-free, it would be beneficial for us to look at the ways we can improve support for patients when they conquer one of the most difficult... |
Darush Attar-Zadeh , a pharmacist and cognitive behavioural hypnotherapist, provides training and consultancy services for both NHS primary care trusts and private companies. His innovative style of running rolling Group programmes has been a theme in the Global Health Alliance 2009 in Athens and at the UK national Smoking Cessation Conference for 2007 and 2008. And he was asked to help review the new National Training Standards for Smoking Cessation.
 Forget the Brown-Cameron-Clegg debate; "The Great KCL Pharmacy Debate 2011" was definitely one to watch. An event that put classmate against classmate and friend against friend. ... |
Anshu Bhimbat is a fourth year pharmacy student at Kings College and regular contributor to Chemist+Druggist
 Very difficult choices need to be made about how the NHS is funded, writes Brian Austen, and he reckons he’s got the solution to the problem of pharmacy services |
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Blog With many independent pharmacies struggling to grow in the shadow of multiples, Brian Austen takes a look at how other professions have changed and developed their business models and what pharmacy can learn from them |
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Blogs EPOC Health director Brian Austen is well-versed in the spat between pharmacists and dispensing doctors, but says the focus should always be on benefits to the patient |
 Blogs Department of health hospital pharmacy tsar Martin Stephens discusses new Department of Health guidance on antibiotic prescribing |
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Department of health hospital pharmacy tsar Martin Stephens writes about the importance of knowing exactly what medicines or treatments a patient is receiving on admission to hospital |
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Blog In his latest blog, Martin Stephens discusses how patients with Parkinson's Disease can get the most from their medicines |
 What is it about patients and inhalers? Yesterday I saw a patient in my COPD clinic – someone whom I have seen twice before and spent a lot of time deciding what sort of inhaler device she would... |
Two-time C+D Award-winner Valerie Sillito is a community pharmacist based in Aberdeen. An independent prescriber, she runs clinics in hypertension, and COPD and asthma. A keen skier and sailor, she describes pharmacy as another of her interests, rather than simply a job.
 It could be said that all history is the history of change. Some thrive on continual change and others strive for stability and calm. Instituting changes in an organisation such as a pharmacy... |
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I had an interesting conversation a few weeks ago with a friend who was planning a re-fit of his new premises. There was talk of a retail area at the front, a counter towards the back, the... |
Mohammed Hussain has been a pharmacist for more than 10 years and was previously head of community pharmacy services at NHS Leeds. He is now clinical safety assurance manager for the electronic prescription service at NHS Connecting for Health. He continues to practise in Yorkshire
 I was at the Health Service Research and Pharmacy Practice Conference (HSRPP) ( http://www.hsrpp.org.uk/ ) at the University of East Anglia ( www.uea.ac.uk ), which was a great success on a... |
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Hello C+D readers, let me introduce myself: my name is Amir Rashid and I am a PhD student looking at professional commitment and organisational commitment in the community pharmacy sector in Great... |
Studying for a doctorate, Amir Rashid is based at The University of Manchester'sCentre of Pharmacy Workforce Studieswhere he is supervised by Professor Karen Hassell.
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Care homes are no strangers to controversy. In 2009 the media announced that seven in 10 care home residents were victims of drug error. Now, the BMJl has released a study that shows carers are... |
Norman Niven describes himself as an industry trouble-shooter with 30 years' experience in the health and caring sector. A pharmacist and former director of BUPA Care Services, Norman is the creator of the Biodose medication management system and founder of Protomed
 Patients today seem to choose which pharmacy they use based on location, writes contractor Ravi Patel, so allowing open entry never created healthy competition |
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With his local surgeries having gone live with EPS release two last month, contractor Ravi Patel couldn’t help feel a bit disappointed after all the hype |
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With several experiences of surgery computer’s behaving badly, contractor Ravi Patel wonders just how far mistakes get elsewhere in the country before they're flagged |
 After learning more about what it’s like to live with OCD, pharmacy student Thorrun Govind looks at what can be done to improve treatment |
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Much like Olympic athletes, pharmacists train hard for years, writes pharmacy student Thorrun Govind. But instead of staying focused we seem to get distracted by the little things |
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From funding to demands on healthcare, there was plenty of food for thought at a talk last week attended by pharmacy student Thorrun Govind |
Thorrun Govind is studying pharmacy at King's College London. Coming from a pharmaceutical background, from an early age when asked the question ‘What do you want to do when you were older?', she always replied, a TV presenter and a pharmacist. She's been lucky enough to have had her 15 minutes of fame on BBC Newsround and is working with ITV to produce a mini-documentary about teens on the roads. You can follow Thorrun on Twitter
 As you well know, I have a penchant for all things pharma industry related. An interesting story arose last week from the analysts CMR International. They concluded that research and... |
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Community pharmacies are being invited to put themselves forward to become a Healthy Living Pharmacy as part of a national drive to develop the initiative across England. At least 100... |
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The merger of the School of Pharmacy, University of London (ULSOP) with University College London has been announced, starting in January 2012. Although this had been on the cards for many... |
After qualifying as a pharmacist in 2007, Adnan Khan started his PhD at the University of Nottingham looking at how the immune system can be manipulated to reduce cancer burden. A regular community pharmacy locum, he also acts as a teaching assistant on some modules on the MPharm degree at the University of Nottingham and is involved in projects on EPS and inter-professional learning and development.
