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The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released new data revealing that adult smoking rates in the UK have fallen to their lowest levels on record. In 2023, only 11.9 per cent of adults aged 18 and over-approximately 6 million people-reported smoking cigarettes, marking the lowest proportion of smokers since the Annual Population Survey (APS) began in 2011. Since 2011, the proportion of smokers has decreased by 8.3 percentage points from 20.2 per cent. However, this change was not statistically significant when compared to the previous year's rates, which was 12.9 per cent in 2022. Among age groups, those aged 25 to 34 years had the highest smoking prevalence at 14.0 per cent in 2023. Notably, the 18 to 24 age group experienced the largest reduction in smoking rates, dropping by 15.9 percentage points from 25.7 per cent in 2011 to 9.8per cent in 2023. Commenting on the new ONS statistics, Paul Rees, CEO of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), highlighted the importance of community pharmacies in combating smoking.

Digital pharmacy app Charac has raised over £1 million in debt and equity, bringing total funding to date for the London-based startup to £2.5m. Pharmacy Business understands while the majority of the new finance, worth about £1.2 million, comes from the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) coffer, the remainder is put forward by a number of individual pharmacy businesses. The pharmacy sector is in a state of crisis, experiencing nearly two closures per week over the past two years, Charac said in a statement. According to data from the NHS Business Services Authority, there are now only 11,026 community pharmacies in England, the lowest number since 2015. The current crisis is attributed to escalating operational costs, a shortage of staff, and diminished government financial support.

Data crunched by an online pharmacy delivery company paints a concerning picture for the pharmacy sector in England. Gophr's 'Prescription For Pressure' initiative reveals a challenging time for the sector and is supported by separate analysis by the BBC showing that the number of pharmacies in England is at its lowest since 2010. In addition, new powers being introduced for pharmacists to prescribe common prescription drugs and perform routine tests create an even greater workload for already overstretched pharmacists. Gophr's data reveals that: * Each pharmacy in England serves an average of 6,078 people. * In 2022, pharmacists dispensed 1.043 billion prescriptions, 26.3 million more than 2021. * A single pharmacy in England dispensed 248 prescriptions a day on average in 2022. Based on the most up-to-date statistics from the Office for National Statistics, NHS England and Statista, Gophr's calculations show that pharmacists have around 116 seconds to dispense a prescription, which is less time than the 180 seconds it takes to make a Quarter Pounder at McDonald's.

Dispensing activity by community pharmacy in England has witnessed a 4.2 per cent increase across the year 2021 till March 2022, the Pharmacy Market Review 2022 report revealed. The report launched by Christie & Co, said: "All pharmacy settings saw improvements in dispensing numbers, with standard community settings seeing the highest increase of 4.2 per cent, with the average moving to 7,173 items, albeit still below the combined average." "The independent sector fared better than corporate pharmacy, with a combined average increase of 3.5 per cent versus a 1.8 per cent increase in corporate dispensing. Despite some improvement, integrated pharmacies remained the lowest at 1.9 per cent, in part due to the continued restrictions on patient access." Dispensing activity for England across the year to March 2022 increased by 4.5 per cent to an average of 7,765 items per month, reversing the decline witnessed in 2021.

The world has never been in a better position to end the Covid-19 pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization said on September 14, his most optimistic outlook yet on the years-long health crisis which has killed over six million people. "We are not there yet. But the end is in sight," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a virtual press conference. That was the most upbeat assessment from the UN agency since it declared an international emergency in January 2020 and started describing Covid-19 as a pandemic three months later. The virus, which emerged in China in late 2019, has killed nearly 6.5 million people and infected 606 million, roiling global economies and overwhelming healthcare systems. The rollout of vaccines and therapies have helped to stem deaths and hospitalisations, and the Omicron variant which emerged late last year causes less severe disease. Deaths from Covid-19 last week were the lowest since March 2020, the U.N. agency reported.

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has reminded healthcare professionals that use of systemic (oral and injectable) Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen, naproxen, and diclofenac is contraindicated in the last trimester of pregnancy (after 28 weeks of pregnancy). It has advised that patients who are unsure whether pain relief medicine they are taking is an anti-inflammatory (NSAID), to speak to doctor, midwife, or pharmacist. Some non-prescription pain relief medicines may contain more than one active drug, therefore it is important to read the box or the leaflet provided with the medicine to see if it contains an NSAID like ibuprofen. The use of any non-prescription medicine for the management of pain during pregnancy should be for the shortest possible time at the lowest possible dose, suggested MHRA.

Health leaders have said that delivering faster and more productive patient care would be difficult unless NHS capital budgets are nearly doubled to at least £14.1 billion from the current spending of £7.7 billion. The NHS Confederation has highlighted the impact that low levels of capital investment have had over the last decade in its report published today (29 November). The report, 'Investing to save: The capital requirement for a more sustainable NHS in England', revealed that the UK has lagged behind other comparable countries in terms of health capital investment for more than five decades, resulting in less productivity. It revealed that the NHS now has the sixth lowest number of CT and MRI scanners per million people of the OECD countries.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has expressed "extreme disappointment" that the UK government offered new pay to NHS consultants, while nursing pay deal remain disputed. RCN General Secretary and Chief Executive Pat Cullen has written to new Health Secretary Victoria Atkins demanding fresh negotiations regarding this year's pay deal, and requested an urgent meeting to discuss their dispute. Pat warned that more than 100,000 RCN members in England voted for continued strike action in June, as they feel undervalued. "The government has now shown it has the political will to negotiate on pay reform for some of the highest earners in the NHS in contrast to our members who received the lowest pay rise in the public sector," she wrote in the letter. NHS nursing staff in England was awarded a five per cent pay rise 2023/24, but the union argued that it is not enough to keep up with inflation.

A new study has revealed that the risk of death from COVID-19 decreases significantly after vaccination, but this protection diminishes after six months, providing evidence for continued booster doses. Researchers from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), who analysed more than 10 million cases of COVID-19 in adults in England between May 2020 and February 2022, found a clear association between vaccination and reduced mortality. But they also highlighted a crucial timeframe - within six months of the last vaccine dose - when Case Fatality Risk (CFR) - the proportion of cases that resulted in death - was consistently at its lowest across all age groups. After this, the protective benefit of the vaccine began to wane and CFR increased.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published Lord Darzi's report on the state of NHS England, which revealed that the health service is in "serious trouble." Lord Darzi pointed out that the NHS has failed to meet key promises made to the public since 2015 and patient satisfaction is now at its lowest ever level. Rising waiting times and difficulties accessing GPs were highlighted as major concerns. "There are huge and unwarranted variations in the number of patients per GP, and shortages are particularly acute in deprived communities," the report said. Darzi described the state of A&E as "awful", noting that nearly 10 per cent of patients wait 12 hours or more today. Additionally, Lord Darzi's investigation found that the NHS budget is not being optimally allocated, noting that "too great a share is being spent in hospitals, too little in the community, and productivity is too low."

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) recently published Lord Darzi's report on the state of NHS England, revealing that the health service is in "serious trouble." "The service has been chronically weakened by a lack of capital investment, which has lagged behind other similar countries by tens of billions of pounds," he stated. Shortly after taking office, Health Secretary Wes Streeting commissioned an independent investigation to assess the challenges facing the healthcare system in preparation for a new 10-year health plan. Former surgeon Lord Ara Darzi was appointed to lead this review. In his report, Lord Darzi pointed out that the NHS has failed to meet key promises made to the public since 2015, and patient satisfaction is now at its "lowest ever level." Rising waiting times and difficulties accessing GPs were highlighted as major concerns. "There are huge and unwarranted variations in the number of patients per GP, and shortages are particularly acute in deprived communities," he said. Lord Darzi described the state of A&E as "awful," noting that nearly 10% of patients wait 12 hours or more today.

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has warned of a potential 'mass exodus' of qualified GPs due to mounting work pressures. A recent RCGP survey found that over 40 per cent of GPs are unlikely to remain in general practice over the next five years, with a quarter stating it is "very unlikely." The situation is particularly concerning in England, with the highest rate of GPs considering leaving the profession reported to be in the East of England and the South East (47 per cent) and the lowest in the North West (36 per cent). Stress was cited as the main factor for leaving the profession, with more than half of respondents indicating that they find the job too stressful. Additionally, 13 per cent of respondents intend to leave the UK and work overseas. Almost 4 out of 10 GPs said they regularly worked more than 40 hours a week despite fewer than 1 in 10 being contracted to do so. The pressures faced by GPs are so severe that 22 per cent report feeling overwhelmed and unable to cope once or twice a week. The College noted that GPs and their teams have delivered an average of 30 million appointments per month in the past year - over 4 million more each month than in 2019 - despite the number of fully qualified, full-time equivalent GPs decreasing by 601 over the same period.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has pledged to tackle the rising 'epidemic' of shoplifting in the UK by giving police stronger powers through her proposed Crime and Policing Bill. The Labour MP's announcement follows a media report revealing that shoplifters are increasingly going unpunished, despite the number of recorded offences soaring to record levels. An analysis of official figures by The Times showed that police recorded 443,995 shoplifting offences in the year leading up to March 2024, a significant increase from 326,440 in the same period a decade ago. However, the number of shoplifters being punished has plummeted, with only 431 fixed penalty notices issued in the past year, a 98 per cent decrease from 2014. Fixed penalty notice is the lowest form of punishment used for theft of goods valued at under £100. Moreover, most police forces did not issue a single penalty for shoplifting last year.

A recent analysis conducted by the Company Chemists' Association (CCA) has revealed stark disparities in patient engagement with the Pharmacy First service across the country, likening the pattern to a 'patchwork quilt'. It indicated that patients in the highest-performing Integrated Care System (ICS) received seven times more Pharmacy First consultations than those in the lowest-performing regions. As of April 21, more than 3,000 CCA member pharmacies had delivered 126,484 Pharmacy First consultations since the programme's launch. However, the analysis found significant regional variations, with nearly 13,000 consultations completed in the North East and North Cumbria ICS, while only 948 were completed in Gloucestershire ICS. The CCA calculated that if every ICS had as many consultations as the highest-performing ICS, there would have been an additional 600,000 Pharmacy First consultations nationwide.

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