NI pharmacies set to receive £15m additional funding by 2027

 
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The Northern Irish Department of Health (DH) has announced that “an additional £15m” will be invested into community pharmacy and GP pharmacy by April 2027, “subject to additional funding”.

Killer Clown: Book reveals murder witness pharmacy worker’s story

 
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The daughter of a pharmacy worker who became a key witness in prosecuting the “Killer Clown” John Wayne Gacy is releasing a book featuring diary entries that shed a light on the impact of the murders on survivors.

CPE targets nurseries and schools with Pharmacy First checklist

 
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Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has launched a new checklist, along with other resources, to promote Pharmacy First services in nurseries and schools.


Third of US pharmacies have closed in a decade, study reveals

 
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Almost 30% of US retail pharmacies closed in the decade between 2010 and 2021, a new study has revealed.

‘Scandal’: Online IPs set ‘one weight loss script every 4 mins’ target

 
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An online pharmacy has come under fire for “treating injectable medications like grocery items at a Lidl checkout”.

GPhC mulls ‘video call’ inspections for relocated pharmacies

 
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The pharmacy regulator has suggested that its inspection of some bricks-and-mortar pharmacies be delayed, amid attempts to focus efforts on “pharmacy types known to present greater risk”.


‘Our daughter would still be alive’: Campaign launched over MPharm suicide after wrong exam results

 
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The mother of a pharmacy student who died by suicide after her university wrongly told her that she had failed her second year is campaigning for universities to have a statutory duty of care to prevent more student deaths.

‘Sick man of Europe’: UK ‘bottom of league’ for drug spending

 
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New analysis by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has found that the UK is “one of the worst countries in the OECD” for pharmacy provision.

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Pharmacists risk being ‘sidelined’ by pharmacy techs, Streeting told

 
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A pharmacy group has warned that pharmacists have been “inadvertently undermined” and are at risk of being “sidelined” by recent government policies aimed at “upskilling pharmacy technicians”.


Mounjaro: NICE sets out £317m annual NHS weight loss jab rollout

 
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The “first” NHS Mounjaro patients of a possible 3.4 million are set to receive the weight loss jab by March 2025, NICE has revealed in new draft guidance, while the first generic GLP-1 weight loss drug could soon follow.

CPE ‘united in anger’ as pharmacy contract negotiations ‘stuck’

 
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CPE has expressed “severe frustration and intense anger” as it reveals that pharmacy contract negotiations are “stuck” between the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) and NHS England (NHSE).

Pharmacist gets 180hrs community service for pharmacy POM theft

 
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A 27-year-old pharmacist has been sentenced after he “abused his position of trust” and stole pregabalin, diazepam, co-codamol and codeine phosphate from the pharmacy where he worked.


Employers ‘forcing’ pharmacists to be DPPs amid ‘two-tier’ IP system

 
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Some pharmacies are “forcing employees to be designated prescribing practitioners (DPPs)” while DPPs at “one large multiple” are not “routinely prescribing themselves”, Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) members have warned.

CCA calls for pharmacy BP checks to treble amid GP bid to stop them

 
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The CCA has said there is an “urgent need to scale up” hypertension screening services in pharmacies despite GP leaders voting for these services to be “terminated with immediate effect”.

‘Ye Oldest Chymist Shoppe in England’ on the market for £125k

 
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England’s “Oldest Chymist”, now a café and gift shop, is available for “offers around £124,950”, an estate agent has revealed.


Coroner: Young man overdosed after receiving double script from P2U and Lloydspharmacy

 
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The inquest of a 22-year-old patient who received his prescription twice due to a “prescribing error” has raised concerns over Pharmacy2U’s “swift dispatch of medication”.

Draft HIV guidance backs website selling PrEP for Bitcoin

 
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The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has warned about “patient safety” after discovering that draft HIV guidance directs patients to purchase pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) from a website using cryptocurrency.

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Pharmacy2U takeover of LloydsDirect approved after safety concerns

 
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The NHS has accepted Pharmacy2U’s application to take over the ownership of LloydsDirect, after previously refusing it earlier this year.


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PDA ballot could secure Superdrug union recognition ‘by spring’

 
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The PDA has confirmed that a “formal ballot” will take place to secure union recognition at Superdrug – with the vote forecasted to be concluded “by the spring” – after the chain said it is “not willing to recognise the PDA voluntarily”.

Pharmacy workers lose right to tattoo without licence in Wales

 
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Pharmacy technicians, students and pharmacists are among those who are no longer free to practise tattooing or body piercing without a licence, while exemptions around take-home naloxone have expanded.