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The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England last month issued a "safety critical" national patient safety alert, warning about the UK-wide shortage of a life-saving drug used to treat patients with chronic breathing issues. NHS trusts, health authorities, ambulance services, GP practices, private healthcare providers, and community pharmacy contractors were informed that salbutamol 2.5mg and 5mg nebuliser liquid unit dose vials are in short supply, with the latter likely to remain "out of stock" until mid-April 2024. As per the alert, the shortage of the drug resulted from a combination of manufacturing issues, leading to heightened demand for alternative suppliers. It was mentioned that while terbutaline, salbutamol with ipratropium, and ipratropium nebuliser liquids remained available, they could't meet the increased demand.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is pushing ahead with its plans to implement a new drug tariff from April 2024. However, this move has sparked strong opposition from Community Pharmacy England (CPE), raising concerns about its potential impact on pharmacies and patients. Earlier, it was announced that the April drug tariff will include the new 'Retrospective top-up payment for Concessionary prices, which will be applied automatically for the products listed in Part VIIIE each quarter by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), according to the volume the contractor was paid for. However, CPE argued that the government has imposed these "untested" changes without their agreement, and strongly opposed them stating that "no recovery or downward pressure on margin is acceptable given the financial fragility of community pharmacies." Janet Morrison, chief executive of CPE, has voiced strong opposition to these changes, arguing that "any system expecting pharmacies to dispense at a loss" jeopardises the sector's financial stability and compromises patient care.

Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has reminded community pharmacy owners that the deadline to complete the 2023/24 Data Security and Protection Toolkit to make their information governance (IG) declaration is 30 June 2024. Sometimes referred to as the "NHS IG toolkit", the DSPT is a set of security requirements that companies are required to fulfill to supply goods and services to the health service to ensure the safety and protection of sensitive patient information. To help community pharmacy contractors complete the mandatory questions within the Toolkit, CPE on Monday (12 February) published new guidance, which also contains references to other useful materials. CPE is working with the NHS DSPTK team to keep the workload associated with Toolkit completion manageable whilst ensuring that appropriate data security protections are maintained. Pharmacy owners with three or more pharmacies can complete a single submission for all their premises through the NHS Parent Organisation Code (POC) headquarters (HQ) batch submission feature.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has redetermined the December 2023 concessionary prices for four medicines following requests made by Community Pharmacy England (CPE) on behalf of community pharmacy owners. For Ezetimibe 10mg tablets (pack size 28), the price has been fixed at £17.78, up from £9.44. Other drugs included in the list are Aripiprazole 5mg (£8.52), Digoxin 125microgram (£3.70) and Digoxin 250micrgram (£3.70) tablets. Contractors would be reimbursed at the new prices only for prescriptions submitted for payment for the dispensing month of December 2023. CPE said they are still working with DHSC to agree price concessions for January. Check the final the December 2023 price concessionary here. Additionally, DHSC on Friday confirmed that there's now sufficient stock of Clarithromycin 125mg/5ml oral suspension to meet normal demand, and the Serious Shortage Protocol (SSP), SSP053 for the antibiotic expires on 12 January 2024.

As whooping cough cases rise sharply across the UK, the NHS has reactivated the serious shortage protocols (SSPs) for clarithromycin - a commonly prescribed antibiotic to treat this bacterial infection. Pharmacy bodies had recently warned that community pharmacies were struggling to obtain source clarithromycin for patients. Two SSPs, covering clarithromycin 125mg/5mL and 250mg/5mL oral suspensions, were reactivated on 22 May 2024, and extended until 21 June 2024. These protocols state that for every 5mL of clarithromycin 125mg/5mL oral suspension, pharmacy contractors must supply 2.5mL of clarithromycin 250mg/5mL oral suspension; and for every 5mL of clarithromycin 250mg/5mL oral suspension, one clarithromycin 250mg tablet must be supplied. The SSPs apply to cross-border prescriptions, both NHS and private.

Steve Rector is the CEO of Corizon Health. He was brought on board after a 2017 corporate reorganization resulted in new investors and a new board of directors, including - for the very first time - three independent board members and a significant decrease in corporate debt.

Simon Harris bought an average-sized store from a national chain and turned it into a profitable business in just over a year - a great example of how to start up a pharmacy and become successful. His formula was quite simple - recognise the available opportunities, take some calculated risks and reap the rewards. Simon went into pharmacy because he felt it was a profession that would allow him to "help people" and have a direct impact on their lives. "I also thought it was a profession which would allow me to have my own business one day." Since qualifying as a pharmacist from Bath University in the late 90s, Simon did his pre-reg at a large Boots store in Broadmead, where we had some "great experience" as a pharmacist manager. He decided to take a year out and went around the world with his "now wife" and ended up working as a pharmacist for a pharmacy group Down Under which had a contract with the sports industry, i.e. Australian Open and the Australian Football League. "It was quite an experience because at the time I knew nothing about Aussie football but I ended up being their pharmacist after a short conversion course."