Regulation

Strep A: Toddler died after ‘delay’ in receiving out-of-stock antibiotics, coroner warns

 
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A toddler with a Strep A infection was given antibiotics too late after a pharmacist could not issue alternative medication during shortages due to restrictions, a coroner has found.

RPS: AI can ‘improve safe and effective’ use of medicines

 
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The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has flagged the potential for AI to be used in Pharmacy First and has stressed that healthcare regulation “must not stifle” AI innovation.

‘Significant disappointments’: DH rejects generic substitution recs

 
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CPE has said that while it is “positive” that the government has “partially” accepted the majority of recommendations in the health and social care committee’s (HSCC) pharmacy report, there are still “some significant disappointments”.


Pharmacy worker jailed after ‘clandestine relationship’ with prison inmate

 
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A Doncaster pharmacy worker has been “rumbled” after she created a “false identity” to speak to a prison inmate and steal medication.

Pharmacy student struck off for ‘fabricating’ assessments

 
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A postgraduate pharmacy student has been removed from the register after she “falsified” documents during her studies, “invented reasons for absences” and made “widespread clinical failures” during her time of employment.

GPhC and NHSE announce ‘unique’ new pharmacy tech fellowship

 
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The GPhC has announced that it is “co-hosting a national pharmacy technician fellowship” with NHS England “for the first time”, with applications opening this month.


CPE ‘battling to get details right’ as OPD reforms come into force

 
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Pharmacy bosses have stressed that pharmacists must use their “professional judgment” before using new original pack dispensing (OPD) rules but that they will not be reimbursed in line with dispensing until IT systems are updated.

exclusive

‘New front line’: MHRA removes 150 social media posts selling fake weight loss drugs

 
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Social media has become the new “front line” for the sale of counterfeit weight loss drugs with 150 online posts “actively” selling them targeted by the MHRA last year, C+D has learned.

Government set to ‘introduce’ hub-and-spoke legislation in 2025

 
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The pharmacy minister has revealed government plans to implement hub-and-spoke legislation this year.


Pharmacist suspended for sending Xanax ‘to Africa for charitable causes’

 
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The regulator has issued a year’s suspension in an “unusual case” that saw a pharmacist send prescription only medicines (POMs) “hidden in a barrel with clothes and shoes” to Sierra Leone.

CVS slapped with nationwide lawsuit over ‘unlawful’ opioid prescriptions

 
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The US DOJ has filed a lawsuit against CVS alleging its “actions helped to fuel the opioid crisis” as it “prioritized corporate profits over patient safety”.

GPhC greenlights controversial education and inspection reforms

 
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The pharmacy regulator has revealed that it will go forward with some changes to pharmacy education quality checks, despite “long-standing concerns” raised during its consultation.


Superintendent’s FtP restored after patient data, methadone and syringe ‘fly-tipped’

 
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The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has found that the fitness to practice (FtP) of a pharmacist who was in charge when patient confidentiality was breached by the “fly-tipping” of medical waste in an “unsecure location” is “no longer impaired”.

Pharmacy tech struck off for rape of ‘vulnerable’ 13-year-old girl

 
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A pharmacy technician has been removed from the register after he “took advantage” of a teenager who he messaged on Snapchat and gave cannabis “to facilitate the offence of rape”, the regulator has revealed.

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”.


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.

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.

‘Gross incompetence’: High Court orders GPhC to reconsider FtP case

 
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The High Court of Justice has called out the “gross incompetence and unfairness” of the GPhC’s handling of a pharmacist’s alleged role in “fraudulent” medication sales overseas, ordering the regulator to “undertake the whole process again”.


LloydsDirect pharmacist suspended for attempting to smuggle tramadol from warehouse

 
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A pharmacist has been suspended for six months by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) for attempting to remove a “strip of Tramadol” from a LloydsDirect Pharmacy warehouse.

John Bell & Croyden fails inspection standard over P-meds in ‘retail area’

 
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The pharmacy regulator has ruled that the luxury pharmacy, which held the Royal Warrant as pharmacist to Queen Elizabeth II, has not met its inspection standard on “governance”.