Twelve Lloydspharmacy branches will join the COVID-19 booster programme as soon as possible, C+D has learned.

More than 900 medicines are no longer “readily available” in Northern Ireland, with many more on track to be withdrawn, British Generic Manufacturers Association (BGMA) CEO Mark Samuels has revealed.

Some pharmacies in England could start administering COVID-19 booster vaccinations under an updated PGD from next week, but if and when will those in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland follow suit?

The CCA, AIMp and the NPA* are taking measures to ensure greater protection for pharmacists and pharmacy staff facing increased levels of violence at work, they have told C+D.

In the latest episode of a new podcast series, which explores the interesting hobbies pharmacists get up to in their spare time, pharmacy professor Parastou Donyai speaks to C+D about how knitting helped provide silver lining through the clouds of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Boots and Well are preparing to support phase 3 of the COVID-19 vaccination programme but are waiting for NHSE&I to confirm the number of branches from which they will be able to offer the service.

Healthcare at Home, which delivers specialist medicines and provides nursing staff to administer them, has been told to improve after it failed to deliver medicines in time to thousands of patients, causing “a number of incidents where harm had occurred”.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has highlighted the benefits of parallel trade in response to a government consultation on the issue.

The JCVI has recommended that those who received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine during phase 1 of the vaccination programme “should be offered” a third top-up dose.