Community pharmacies in England have administered almost 2.9 million flu vaccines since the 2021/22 programme began less than two months ago.

A palliative and end of life care (PEoLC) community pharmacy pilot could be introduced in England as early as January 2022, an NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) director has announced. 

NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) has allocated money from the Pharmacy Integration Fund (PhIF) to pay for the development of ICS-based community pharmacy integration leads.

The UK “must” maintain the supply of medicines in Northern Ireland or “we’re going to see some pretty horrific consequences”, National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chief executive Mark Lyonette has warned.

Community pharmacy leaders must “influence” Treasury officials if they do not want further cuts to sector funding, the former PSNC CEO Simon Dukes has advised. 

The European Commission has proposed some changes to the Northern Ireland protocol to ensure the long-term “uninterrupted security of supply of medicines” from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

The Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) has estimated that investing an extra £656 million into England’s community pharmacy sector could trigger annual financial benefits of £1.9 billion to the NHS.

A Deptford pharmacist has praised his pharmacy technician’s “heroic act”, after a patient reportedly attempted to self-harm inside the pharmacy.

Health Education England (HEE) has increased the number of training places for pre-registration pharmacy technicians and opened its pharmacy technician workforce expansion programme to community pharmacy for the first time.

Community pharmacies and GP practices should change the perception they have of one another to ensure the benefits of involving community pharmacy in integrated care systems (ICSs) are realised, a report has concluded.

Integrated Care System (ICS) chief pharmacists will be “crucial” to delivering the government’s revamped medicines optimisation programme, England’s outgoing chief pharmaceutical officer Keith Ridge has said.

Having a “pool of pharmacists” working both in community and GP surgeries could help tackle some of the workforce issues community pharmacy is facing, an NHSE&I director has suggested.