Group items matching

in title, tags, annotations or url

The 14th Annual Community Pharmacy Conference by Sigma Pharmaceuticals began on Monday, 25 February at Sun City, South Africa. Dr. Bharat Shah, Manish Shah, and Kamal Shah, co-founders of the company, extended a warm welcome to the delegates in attendance at the event. In a written message, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak extended his best wishes to all the participants attending the conference. The message read: "This conference is timely as it coincides with the launch of the Pharmacy First, a new initiative launched across England that will enable patients to receive treatments for seven common conditions directly from a pharmacist without the need for a GP appointment or prescription." "We are all grateful for the tremendous contributions that pharmacists make to our NHS. The fantastic work you do is critical to the success of Pharmacy First and many other initiatives."

"It is crucial that patients can access care when they need it, whether from a pharmacist or a GP, " Paul Rees, Chief Executive of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has said. In response to a recent survey conducted by the General Medical Council (GMC) highlighting alarming trends among General Practitioners (GPs), the NPA has issued a warning about the growing crisis in the UK's primary care system. Rees emphasised the urgent need for government intervention, saying, "Only by reversing these cuts and providing pharmacies with a new funding deal will we be able to end the 8am scramble for appointments." The GMC survey reveals that there is a significant increase in the number of doctors reducing their working hours to safeguard their wellbeing, spotlighting concerns about the long-term impact on patient care. According to the report, nearly half of GPs ( 48 per cent) are struggling to manage their workload, with several resorting to decreasing their hours or declining additional work to protect their mental and physical health.

PHOENIX UK and the British Heart Foundation has joined hands for a charity partnership to continue the ongoing commitment of improving heart health across the UK. The PHOENIX team have set the donation goal of £20,000 by June 2023 and are set to take on a range of exciting challenges over the course of the next year, such as a Tough Mudder and the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge, all in a bid to raise funds for the heart health charity. Nigel Swift, Managing Director of Rowlands, PHOENIX UK's largest community pharmacy member organisation, commented: "We are thrilled to be partnering with The British Heart Foundation. Its lifesaving research perfectly aligns with our mission across PHOENIX UK - to enable more people to live happy and healthy lives - and so we look forward to raising vital funds and supporting the excellent work of the charity." Hayley Gough, Community Relationship Manager at The British Heart Foundation, added, "It's fantastic to see the team at PHOENIX UK commit to raising so much money for The British Heart Foundation. We can't wait to see all that they achieve and are so grateful for their fundraising efforts."

A pharmacist based in the East Midlands of England plans to run 150 kilometres during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to raise funds for an international food charity. Shahid Akhtar from Rainworth, Nottinghamshire started running five kilometres each day from March 23 "from about an hour before sunset and the time I can break my fast." So far, the 50-year-old locum pharmacist who used "to own and run a community pharmacy not so long ago", has managed to run 55 kilometres and has already raised a total of £2,173 for the cause. By the end of Ramadan, Shahid aims to exceed his personal target of raising £2,500 to help feed children around the world. He says the money raised through him will go towards providing school meals for children and young people in neglected communities around the world through Charity Right. Shahid will run everyday without consuming any food or water before, during, or immediately after the race. Having never run whilst fasting before, he thinks this will be an "interesting new experience" for him.

A group of drugs commonly used to treat erectile dysfunction may be able to boost the effect of chemotherapy in oesophageal cancer, according to new research funded by Cancer Research UK and the Medical Research Council. The research, published on Tuesday (June 22) in Cell Reports Medicine, found that the drugs, known as PDE5 inhibitors can reverse chemotherapy resistance by targeting cells called cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) residing in the area surrounding the tumour. Although this is early discovery research, PDE5 inhibitors combined with chemotherapy, may be able to shrink some oesophageal tumours more than chemotherapy could alone, tackling chemotherapy resistance, which is one of the major challenges in treating oesophageal cancer. Oesophageal cancer affects the food pipe that connects the mouth to the stomach, and while it is a relatively rare cancer, the UK has one of the higher rates in the world, with 9,300 new oesophageal cancer cases in the UK every year. Resistance to chemotherapy in oesophageal cancer is influenced by the tumour microenvironment, the area that sounds the tumour. This is made up of molecules, blood vessels, and cells such as cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which are important for tumour growth. It feeds the tumour and can act as a protective cloak, preventing treatments like chemotherapy from having an effect.

A new Attention-Deficit-Hyperactive disorder (ADHD) taskforce has been launched by National Health Services England (NHSE) to counter the challenges faced by many suffering from the neurodevelopmental condition. The ADHD taskforce aligns with the NHS Long Term Plan's vision to revolutionise mental health services, with a specific emphasis on bolstering community-based care and reducing reliance on inpatient services. The NHS has partnered with the government to tackle the escalating demands including increasing funding, improving system efficiency, altering the service provision model, and clinical prioritisation by bringing together expertise from across a broad range of sectors, including the NHS, education and justice, to help provide a joined-up approach in response to concerns around rising demand. Over the past two decades, there has been a significant expansion in the acknowledgement and successful medical interventions for ADHD, leading to a steady rise in clinical requests throughout the UK.