As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announces the forthcoming UK general election, pharmacy bodies are calling on all political parties to commit to solving the
issues facing the sector.
The next UK general election will be held on 4 July, Sunak announced it on Wednesday afternoon during a press conference outside 10 Downing Street.
"As the election is called it's imperative that any incoming government addresses the crisis in primary care and the looming cliff edge facing pharmacies, which
for millions of people are the front door to the NHS and a crucial source of frontline health care," said Paul Rees, Chief Executive of the National Pharmacy
Association (NPA).
Noting that the first responsibility of the government is to keep its people safe and healthy, he emphasised the importance of addressing the "deep funding gap
that is pushing record numbers of pharmacies to the edge of closure and beyond, exacerbating the issues of waiting lists for GPs and hospital care."
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's (RPS) second roundtable on workforce wellbeing resulted in a series of collaborative actions to address pharmacy
professionals' mental health and wellbeing challenges.
The roundtable brought together key stakeholders from the pharmacy sector, including organisations like the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), Community
Pharmacy England (CPE), the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), and the profession's independent charity Pharmacist Support (PS).
A report detailing the outcomes of the meeting was published on Friday, highlighting the key areas of discussion and the agreed-upon actions by the participants.
During the roundtable, participants discussed the importance of understanding the workforce demographics, both nationally and locally, and using data to address
wellbeing issues effectively.
They also emphasised the need for using supportive standards set by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) quality
statement to support and empower pharmacists' wellbeing positively.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee announced last week that it is in discussions with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS
England about relieving capacity pressures, such as a relaxation of pharmacy opening hours requirements.
PSNC is also scheduling webinars to talk with contactors about the steps they might be willing to take in future, to cut costs, should emergency financial relief
fail to materialise.
The pharmacy regulator reported that many of its members felt that it was no longer tenable for pharmacies to keep offering all of the free and non-core services to
patients that they would like to, and that all contractors should consider what steps they could take to try to safeguard their businesses and their core services
for patients.
PSNC is also keen to talk to contractors about their current situation and the steps they might be willing to take in future, should emergency relief not be
forthcoming.
With the government gearing up and pushing community pharmacies in England to adopt the hub and spoke dispensing model, stakeholders of the sector and industry
leaders analyse the pros and cons related to the new concept.
The model rose to prominence in 2015 in community pharmacy and the medicine supply chain in the UK, and has undergone a few consultations and reviews at the
professional and governmental level since then.
From a broader perspective, the industry agrees that the model will bring in efficiency to the system, much needed amid community pharmacy's flat funding settlement in England, at the same time highlighting some real challenges.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has so far released three reports on this matter and a review of the challenges and enablers of the hub and spoke in the UK in 2016. Besides, a review of international evidence and the report of a roundtable meeting was brought together in the supply chain with government
and regulators in early 2020.
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is to host a reception at St James's Palace in early May to celebrate exemplary work of community pharmacist during
the Coronavirus pandemic.
Up to 200 community pharmacists have been invited by Prince Charles to the event organised to "celebrate community pharmacists", which commences at 5:30pm on
Wednesday, May 4 at the London residence of the Prince of Wales.
The invitation comes in less than six months after Prince Charles praised community pharmacists for their efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic in a video message sent to the National Pharmacy Association (NPA)'s centenary dinner at Apothecaries' Hall in central London in November last year.
He said throughout the pandemic pharmacy teams' "commitment to patient care has never wavered, despite the many enormous pressures you have faced.
"During this pandemic period, we have learned, as never before, that pharmacies are one of those vital places where science and society meet. Crucially, they are about people and places, not just pills."
The Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) provide an opportunity to break the silo mentality in the health and care sector, National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chair
Andrew Lane told MPs.
While giving evidence to the Health and Social Care Select Committee on 6 December about the effectiveness of ICSs, Lane also poured cold water on newspaper reports
that community pharmacists will be drafted in to break the NHS strike, as he reiterated the call for a "properly costed and funded environment."
"We've been in different silos historically and ICSs are an opportunity to pull all systems together for the benefit of patients," he told committee members.
Lane pointed to dementia-trained pharmacy delivery drivers and the Discharge Medicines Service as instances where the influence of community pharmacy already
stretches beyond primary care into hospitals and social care.
"We've seen pharmacists prescribe and get UTIs off doctors' desks, so we are starting to release capacity [in the system] and we're on that clinical journey.
We welcome that, but it has to be with the right level of funding," he added.
It's time for pharmacists to get their technology forecasting hats on and be selective in choosing digital technologies, commented Prof James Woudhuysen, of
London South Bank University, at the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) Conference, Pharmacy Odyssey, held on Thursday (13 October).
In a session on 'Healthcare in tomorrow's digital environment', hosted by Fergus Walsh, Prof Woudhuysen opined that digitisation has its merit, but it's quite tricky,
and slower than we imagine.
"Mechanisation has a digital component that we can look to as a way out of the gloom of the moment. And in dispensing, labelling, prescribing, and many other features
of the conventional retail pharmacist, there's a lot that could be done for productivity and automation," he said.
Replying to a question on 'where are we at the digital front now and where can it go', Woudhuysen replied: "It's taken 20 years for the electronic prescription. It
was Tony Blair, who wanted every prescription electronic. The mishaps on repeat prescriptions and all the rest of it are still quite intense. So, we need to remember
that electronics is only as clever as software and then human input into it. There're still many mistakes.
A roundtable organised by National Pharmacists Association (NPA) discussed how an enhanced role of community pharmacies could help people with obesity.
Seven action points were recommended by the delegates at the virtual event which took place on March 31, in collaboration with Novo Nordisk.
It was chaired by Professor Maggie Rae, president of the Faculty of Public Health and featured representatives from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Royal Society for Public Health, Patients Association, UK Health Security Agency, Diabetes UK and NHS England.
The roundtable also heard testimony from a parent of a young adult living with obesity and a presentation of the personal experience of someone living with the condition by Sarah Le Brocq, director of campaign group, All About Obesity.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) will be hosting a Parliamentary drop-in event for MPs on Monday (14 November).
"The event will last for roughly two hours, during which MPs will have the opportunity to drop-in and have their blood pressure measured by a fully qualified
pharmacist," said the committee.
It added: "This event will be a great opportunity to talk to MPs from across the political spectrum about the incredible work pharmacies are doing up and down the
country, to demonstrate the Hypertension Case-Finding Service and to discuss the frontline role pharmacists play in delivering vital services and free, expert
advice."
The other community pharmacy bodies, including the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), the Company Chemists' Association (CCA) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
(RPS) will also be present on the day, providing the sector with a valuable chance to present a united front on the big issues facing contractors throughout the
country.
In a unified effort to improve women's healthcare, four leading organisations-the Company Chemists' Association (CCA), the National Pharmacy Association (NPA),
the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), and the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH)-are calling for the commissioning of a National Emergency
Hormonal Contraception (EHC) service in England.
They are proposing that this service be provided free of charge through community pharmacies to women of all ages across the country.
They emphasised that such a service would "not only transform access to care for all women, but directly tackle health inequalities and vastly improve health
outcomes."
Eighty-one per cent of the National Pharmacy Association cohort of trainee pharmacists passed the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC)'s common registration assessment which took place in June.
The NPA's team of learning and development pharmacists helped students prepare for the assessment with study days and mock exams.
Celebrating the success of trainee pharmacists, it said: "The 81 per cent NPA pass rate reflected the comprehensive blended learning experience delivered by the
NPA's team of learning and development pharmacists and that we were able to resume face-to-face study days for this cohort after the restrictions of lockdowns."
Last month, the GPhC and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI) published result of the common registration assessment for pharmacists with an overall
pass rate of 80 per cent.
A total of 2,697 candidates sat the registration assessment in four countries on 29 June and 2,147 candidates passed the assessment.
The European Commission is prepared to rewrite European Union law on medicines to ensure stable supply of generic and life-saving medicines in Northern Ireland.
In a press statement issued on Friday (Dec 17), the commission said it put forward a package of measures to ensure the continued long-term supply of medicines from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
In the context of the Northern Ireland Protocol, this means that the same medicines will continue to be available at the same time across the United Kingdom.
Commenting on the news, policy manager at the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) Helga Mangion said: "We are encouraged by the EU's statement on medicines availability in Northern Ireland, though of course we await the final outcome of the negotiations. We have been talking to the government, the MHRA and other stakeholders about these issues for months, highlighting the concerns of our members in Northern Ireland."
The Self-Care Strategy Group (SCSG) has written to Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, urging the new Labour government to fully realize self-care's benefits.
With PAGB serving as the secretariat for the Group, signatories of the letter also include CPE, RPS, CCA, NPA, the Dispensing Doctors' Association, the National
Association of Primary Care, the Patient Information Forum, and the Self Care Forum.
The nine members highlight the importance of collaborative efforts to build an NHS fit for the future.
In the letter, the group emphasises the potential of self-care to alleviate pressure on primary and emergency healthcare services.
They call for expanded prescribing rights, optimised digital health tools, and streamlined referral processes between primary, diagnostic, and specialist care
services.