The Department of Health has published 'A Guide to Developing the Role of Consultant Pharmacists' in Northern Ireland on Thursday (22 June).
The guidance provides direction on supporting a consistent approach to the introduction of senior clinical pharmacy roles within and across HSC organisations.
The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer Professor Cathy Harrison said: "There is a recognised need for increased clinical pharmacy and medicines focussed leadership
across our HSC."
"Consultant Pharmacists have an essential role in healthcare as clinicians and as leaders who make a significant impact to medicines optimisation and clinical
governance, providing a vital link between clinical practice and service development by generating and disseminating evidence to drive improvements in care.
"I am delighted that this guidance has been published to take forward the strategic development and appointment of the consultant pharmacy workforce in both
primary and secondary care and to enable pharmacy to be at the forefront of healthcare in NI".
The new board of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has adopted 10 principles for transforming the contractual framework in England.
The board met for the first time in April, believes that the current Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework is failing NPA members, the wider sector, the NHS,
Government and patients.
The association's new vice chair, Jay Badenhorst, said: "We can't wait until the current framework limps to its finish line in 2024 before giving serious thought
to the new race we must all run in the future."
"Before negotiations for a new contract begin in earnest, we want to make our position clear to all of those who will be involved in its development. Years more
of the same would be totally unacceptable. Tinkering at the edges of the current arrangements as the basis for a new deal could not achieve the transformation
that is needed."
Former chair of the NPA, Andrew Lane, listed some of the principles in a speech to industry leaders in January, but this is the first time the approach has been
agreed in its entirety, following months of testing with NPA members.
The government has unveiled its much awaited 'NHS Long-Term Workforce Plan' to tackle the staff shortage in the pharmacy sector. The plan set out an ambition
to increase the training places for pharmacists to around 5,000 places by 2031/32.
David Webb, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, in his open letter to pharmacy professionals said: "The NHS LTWP sets out how we can build on changes,
addressing the changing needs of patients over the next 15 years, by closing the current workforce shortfall through funding for increased education and training
places and a comprehensive retention strategy."
The plan commits to expand training places for pharmacists by 29% to around 4,300 by 2028/29 and Grow the number of pharmacy technicians in future years.
"The development of independent prescribing as part of initial education and training is a gamechanger for pharmacists, patients and the NHS, with
approximately 2,800 newly registered pharmacist independent prescribers due to join the workforce every year from September 2026," said Webb.
"This will be transformational for all pharmacy teams, creating improved access and quality of care for patients and, importantly, a more flexible workforce with
skills that are equally applicable in all pharmacy settings, enabling multi-professional clinical teams to work in new ways."
Two more independent community pharmacists have been appointed to the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership.
NPA board member Reena Barai and Sheelin McKeagney from Lurgan in Northern Ireland will join 25 other commission members, including Ash Soni who was the only
practising community pharmacist on the initial list published in June.
Welcoming the announcement, the National Pharmacy Association chief executive, Mark Lyonette, said: "To their great credit, the co-chairs of the commission and the
UK's chief pharmaceutical officers have listened to our request for more community pharmacy presence on the commission. They have acted swiftly to achieve a better
balance in its membership and we thank them for responding to our representations.
"Around 70 per cent of pharmacists practice in the community. With more voices from community pharmacy within the leadership commission, there is a greater sense
that the profession as a whole will be able to own the final recommendations when they are ultimately made."
The Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies (AIMP)'s members are not going to abandon the dosettes boxes, the association has announced. Instead, it
insisted that this service should be properly funded.
The association has emphasised on the importance of the service provided by pharmacists to elderly patients living independently.
Dr Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of AIMP, said it was vital that patients for whom this service is suitable can continue accessing it and that it is properly
funded.
Blister pack trays or dosettes assist thousands of people across the UK in living independently and remaining in their own homes for longer.
"This is largely attributable to the care and professionalism shown by local pharmacies," said Hannbeck.
"Our members, as independent family-owned pharmacies, are not going to abandon this service for patients."
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has introduced new arrangements for the application of discount deduction to community pharmacy payments which
will be implemented in six financial quarters beginning in October 2022 and concluding in January 2024.
Under the new discount deduction system, the current single scale will be split into three groups: one each for generic medicines, branded medicines, and appliances.
Separate fixed deduction rates have been determined for each group.
This will provide all pharmacies the same rates of deduction applied to their reimbursement for the three different groups, regardless of the total value of that
reimbursement.
Fin McCaul, PSNC member and independent community pharmacy contractor, said: "The discount deduction scale has been a point of contention for contractors for many
years, and PSNC has long been pushing to remedy this.
"The incoming changes are designed to both improve equity of access to margin and manage the distortions presented by branded medicines, which just don't have the
same level of discount available as generics.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has published an update on the work it is doing as part of the Transforming Pharmacy Representation
(TAPR) Programme to take forward the mandate from contractors to deliver the Review Steering Group (RSG) recommendations.
The update is primarily aimed at LPCs - with whom PSNC has been working closely on some of the TAPR work over the summer.
The TAPR Programme is being undertaken in support of PSNC's work to address the severe challenges facing the community pharmacy sector at present.
Alongside ongoing negotiations with Government and the NHS, two of the TAPR workstreams - focusing on Vision and Strategy, and on Influencing and Negotiation - are
essential to supporting CPCF negotiations.
"The workstreams are looking at the future of community pharmacy and how best to persuade policymakers to implement a shared vision, with their objective being to put
the sector in a stronger position going into future CPCF negotiations," said PSNC.
In a recent meeting with the head of the government's HRT Taskforce, Madelaine McTernan, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) board members gave a gist on the ongoing medicines supply issues in community pharmacy.
The meeting, which explored possible solutions to end the nationwide shortage of some Hormone Replacement Therapies, took place on Friday (May 20).
Independent contractors Reena Barai and Olivier Picard gave the so-called 'HRT tsar' an overview of the medicines supply issues in community pharmacy and discussed the new Serious Shortage Protocols (SSPs) which the government introduced in response to the on-going HRT disruption.
Earlier this month, the NPA attended an HRT summit organised by the Department of Health and Social Care, alongside other pharmacy bodies, wholesalers and manufacturers.
Health secretary Sajid Javid and pharmacy minister Maria Caulfield said they would be working collaboratively with manufacturers to meet demand and boost supply.
70 per cent of community pharmacies still waiting for government nod to start Covid booster jabdesc-Nearly 70 per cent of community pharmacies in England that offered to participate in the Covid-19 booster programme are still waiting for approval or have
been refused, ministers admitted on Monday (December 13).
The Liberal Democrats' health spokesperson, Daisy Cooper, exposed the low approval rate and long delays through a written parliamentary question to the health secretary as to "how many community pharmacies were providing Covid-19 vaccinations as of 3 December 2021."In response vaccines minister Maggie Throup said: "As of the end of September 2021, 4,733 contractors submitted 5,376 expressions of interest to take part in the booster vaccination programme, with 1,454 accepted."She added: "As of 3 December 2021, 1,336 community pharmacy vaccination sites were actively providing the service."
Some applications were decided by NHS England rather than the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Community pharmacies in England could soon be allowed to make cancer referrals to hospitals under new plans to improve early detection of the disease.
An NHS pilot scheme, which starts later this year as a pilot in an undisclosed number of places of England, will see community pharmacy staff spotting signs of
cancer in people who might not have noticed symptoms.
Pharmacy teams will be trained to spot red flags, such as patients with symptoms such as a cough that lasts for three weeks or more, difficulty swallowing or blood
in their urine, and send them for scans and checks without needing to see a GP if they think it could be cancer.
Amanda Pritchard, the NHS chief executive, will unveil the plans at the NHS Confed Expo conference in Liverpool on Wednesday (June 15), and say: "These plans have
the power to truly transform the way we find and treat cancer, and ultimately spare thousands of patients and their families from avoidable pain and loss."
The plans include new "roaming liver trucks" - which will be parked near GP surgeries, in town centres and food banks - to encourage people most at risk of getting liver cancer to get "on the spot scans" for diagnosis.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published plans to amend current pharmacy legislation on dispensing errors and clarify how registered
pharmacies are governed.
The Department's response to a public consultation on rebalancing medicines legislation and pharmacy regulation programme first proposed in summer 2018 was
delayed due to Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The programme aims to clarify and strengthen the organisational governance arrangements of registered pharmacies, specifically to define and clarify the core
purpose of the Responsible Pharmacist and Superintendent Pharmacist roles.
It will also give the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) powers to define in professional standards how those roles are fulfilled.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has appointed Professor Parastou Donyai as chief scientist. She will take up the role in June.
Parastou is a pharmacist with a PhD in pharmacy. She also has a postgraduate diploma in Psychological Research Methods as well as a degree in Psychology.
She is currently a professor of Social & Cognitive Pharmacy at the University of Reading and her research examines the psychology of medication use, discontinuation
and decision-making processes.
Prior to this, Parastou also spent more than five years as a senior lecturer in Pharmacy Practice at Kingston University and St. George's University of London. Her
longstanding research interest includes continuing professional development in pharmacy.
Commenting on her appointment, Parastou said: "It is a real privilege for me to be the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's next chief scientist.
"As a pharmacist, scientist and academic, I look forward to working with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's members and key stakeholders to uphold the value of
science across the breadth of our profession."
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has shared materials to help community pharmacy in communicating relevant advice to people during
this heatwave.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has issued a heat-health alert for the next few days. It has also published a beat the heat poster, along with its heatwave
guidance, which could be used in pharmacies to raise awareness.
"During this heatwave, the public may turn to community pharmacy teams for advice about staying well during the hot weather or to seek assistance when feeling
unwell because of the heat," PSNC said.
It has previously developed materials that may be used by community pharmacy teams to communicate relevant messages contained in the Heatwave Plan for England
and the NHS website guidance on how to cope in hot weather.
The Health Education England (HEE) has secured funding to further support growth of the pharmacy technician workforce in 2022/23.
This support is through expansion of pre-registration trainee pharmacy technician (PTPT) training capacity in community pharmacy or as part of a cross-sector
integrated apprenticeship programme.
HEE will be holding two 90-minute webinars on Monday 27 2022. There will be a morning webinar (10-11.30am) and an evening webinar (7-8.30pm) for attendees to
choose from.
Topics like- available funding; eligibility for funding; PTPT training programme requirements for employers; how to apply for this funding; and the support
available from HEE for successful funding of applicants to develop their PTPT training programmes, will be covered during the webinars.
HEE is also hosting another webinar to provide an update on the Independent Prescribing (IP) for pharmacists training offer that they are developing for Autumn 2022.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has expressed disappointment as the government continued to refuse to "a much-needed broader funding uplift" for the community pharmacies in England.
This follows conclusion of the first Annual Review of the progress of the five-year Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) deal by PSNC, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England & NHS Improvement (NHSE&I).
"We remain deeply frustrated by government's refusal to agree a much-needed broader funding uplift for the sector, but we are determined to continue to look for
better ways forward for the sector throughout 2022 and beyond," said Bharat Patel, PSNC vice-chair, negotiating team member and an independent contractor.
Patel noted that despite some important wins such as recognition of key challenges faced by pharmacies, the commitment to consider these as part of our Year 4
negotiations, and agreement to take forward work on service fee and other regulatory changes, the PSNC is disappointed that the review did not lead to "immediate and tangible outcomes and improvements for contractors."
The negotiator had put forward data and analysis showing the capacity and cost constraints faced by pharmacies.
The Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA) has welcomed the government's action of publishing 'AI Regulation White Paper' which will regulate the artificial
intelligence (AI) system used in pharmacy on Wednesday (29 March).
The Association had raised concerns about the risk of patient harm due to inappropriate use of so-called AI to include that seen in some of the pharmacy systems
undertaking clinical checks.
For some time, it has been receiving concerns from practicing pharmacists describing examples of the potentially detrimental impact of automation and online pharmacy
provision on patient safety and pharmacy practice.
As a result, it raised these concerns with regulators, Chief Pharmaceutical Officers, and parliamentarians in all four nations of the UK to urge action.
It said: "This is required not only to protect patients, but also the frontline pharmacists who could be blamed for potential harm caused by inappropriate use of so
called 'AI' systems implemented by their employer."
The PDA therefore, welcomes the announcement from the UK government that they intend to strengthen regulation of such technology, empowering existing regulators to
come up with tailored, context-specific approaches that suit the way AI is actually being used in their sectors; this will include pharmacy.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in recent response to the questions asked by members of the House of Lords addressed the concerning trend
of pharmacy closures in rural areas across the UK.
Led by The Bishop of St Albans, inquiries focused on the number of community pharmacies that had ceased operations over the past five years and the ongoing
financial challenges faced by those remaining in rural regions.
Lord Markham, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care, provided insights into the stark reality confronting rural communities.
Highlighting data as per Guide to applying the Rural Urban Classification to data (2019-2023) Markham illustrated the significant closure rates of rural
pharmacies compared to the limited number of new openings between 2019 and 2023.
The figures revealed a fluctuating trend over the past five years, indicating a dynamic landscape within rural pharmacy provision.
Pharmacy owners discussed the key concerns and priorities for the future at the Community Pharmacy England's (CPE) digital briefing event held last
week (on 7 May 2024).
More than 500 pharmacy owners and their representatives registered for the event, which provided them an opportunity to learn more about the committee's work
in key areas and share their views on important issues.
Major concerns raised by them included underfunding, dispensing at a loss, and challenges in implementing Pharmacy First.
Attendees described the new service as "slow", "challenging" and "underfunded", while also highlighting the importance of improving GPs' understanding of the service.
Asian Media Group will hold the inaugural Pharmacy Business Diversity Conference on Thursday December 9 - a ground-breaking event exploring and showcasing
diversity and inclusion in the pharmaceutical industry.
The conference, themed 'Change the Ratio', will be be chaired by BBC presenter Clive Myrie and held virtually between 10am and 5pm.
While both both RPS and ABPI are supporting the conference as associate sponsors, Well Pharmacy, the UK's largest independent pharmacy chain, is the headline sponsor
of the event that will have some of Britain's most inspiring leaders and influential diversity and inclusion practitioners.
These leaders will share their knowledge and experience whilst offering tangible steps to positively promote and implement diversity, inclusion and equality in workplace.
Check pharmacy business website for more information.
Despite the government's announcement on lifting most Covid-19 related restrictions from next Thursday (January 27), people working in community pharmacies
will be required to adhere to the UK Health Security Agency's infection prevention control (IPC) guidance.
The ambit the guidance, which aims to protect everyone against the infection, also covers GP practices, dental practices and optometry practices, the Pharmaceutical
Services Negotiating Committee said in an update.
The negotiators also urged community pharmacy teams to encourage patients to wear a face covering while vising pharmacy to keep staff and other patients safe.
Prime minister Boris Johnson announced on Wednesday (January 19) that Covid-19 restrictions re-imposed in England last month would be lifted by from next Thursday
(January 27).
