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Jhoots Group, a West Midlands based independent community pharmacy chain, has unveiled plans to expand its digital services after securing a funding worth £8.23m from HSBC bank. The new money will allow the groups branches to offer a digital platform for customers to request prescriptions online, enabling the implementation of a hub and spoke dispensing system to automate prescription deliveries. The innovation aims to reduce the burden of manual processes on pharmacists, allowing staff to use their time efficiently and support the NHS by offering vaccines and minor ailment medicine services. San Jhooty, chief operating officer at Jhoots Group, said: "When faced with the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic, primary and community services came together to support the community and each other.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has called on pharmacy employers and pharmacists organisations to make donations towards the Pharmacist Support charity in the new year. The association has urged them to donate £1 per pharmacist employee or member to the charity group to increase its funding from 2022 onwards. Pharmacist Support, an independent charity, provides a variety of support services to pharmacists and their families, former pharmacists and pharmacy students in Great Britain. It provides support through twelve sessions of fully funded counselling topharmacists, students, or trainees. Since 2018, the association has donated more than £150,000 to the charity, in turn supporting its members who additionally seek assistance from Pharmacist Support.

Independent charity group, Pharmacist Support has appointed five new trustees to its board - David Downham, Karen Harrowing, Mohammed Hussain, Mala Khiroya, and Alison Scowcroft, for a term of three years. The new recruits will join the existing Board members Anita Cawley, Catherine Harper, Paul Johnson, Steve Lutener, Esther Sadler-Williams, Mark Sweeney and Sarah Willis. Harrowing, Downham and Hussain have begun their 3-year term in January 2022, while Scowcroft and Khiroya would join the board in June. The new appointments are in line with the Charity's plans, announced last year, to enhance its volunteer schemes. "Since the launch of the charity's new strategy in January 2020, the profession has been faced with many new challenges. We are really proud of the work we have done in the last few years to address some of these challenges," said Pharmacist Support chief executive Danielle Hunt.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has opened a survey which asks its members how they would want to take part in and learn about decisions made by the RPS. The RPS said the survey was a core part of the independent review of member participation and communications led by communications consultancy Luther Pendragon. It said: "We will be asking our members to join focus groups to give their opinions on how participation can be developed and strengthened, and how RPS communications about decisions it has taken on behalf of the profession through its governance boards can be improved. We will also be asking our elected members and key external stakeholders for their views over the coming weeks." The Luther team will then build a series of recommendations for RPS and develop a corporate communications strategy which will include action plans to enable greater participation. RPS president Claire Anderson said: "We want to hear from as many of you as possible through our survey to inform how the organisation works with and engages with you, our members.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has published a new professional guidance for prescribing practice on Monday (June 6) which it says will be "for the benefit of all independent prescribers across the UK". Based on collaboration with multi-professional stakeholders, the document is a guidance tool for prescribers wanting to expand their prescribing scope of practice. Commissioned by the Welsh government, the document was developed through an expert group with representatives from many healthcare professions, including from Higher Education institutions, professional bodies, regulatory bodies, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS Education for Scotland, Health Education and Improvement Wales, and representatives from hospital, community and GP practice. RPS president Claire Anderson said: "It's fantastic to see the growth in prescribing, both across the profession and more widely, to improve patient care.