Omnicell Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Omnicell - an American healthcare technology company, has signed an agreement with the shareholders of Hub and Spoke Innovations Limited to acquire Hub and Spoke Innovations.
Hub and Spoke Innovations Limited is distributor of the Pharmaself24 prescription collection kiosk in Great Britain.
The move will complement Omnicell's total solution technology portfolio for retail pharmacy in the UK, including a pack-pick dispensing robot, automated MDS filling
machine and eMAR solution, thereby helping pharmacies to improve workflows and offer a 24/7 access to medications and patient care.
It will also help community pharmacies achieve their goals, as they increasingly look at ways to make their businesses more efficient and free up staff to offer more pharmaceutical care and services to patients.
In short, the deal would enable Omnicell to offer a wider range of digital technologies to streamline retail pharmacy operations, allowing pharmacists to spend more time with patients and focus on value-added, revenue-generating healthcare services, such as vaccinations.
The parent company of Boots, Britain's largest pharmacy-led health and beauty chain, is reportedly considering putting its UK pharmacies up for sale next
year for an estimated £10 billion.
Walgreen Boots Alliance (WBA), the US health group that owns a stake in Boots UK since 2012, is lining up Goldman Sachs to explore a potential sale next year, as reported by Sky News.
When contacted by Pharmacy Business, WBA said that it would not comment on "market speculation", noting that "Boots is an important part of the Group."
The company, however, acknowledged that "it is accurate that WBA announced a renewed set of priorities and strategic direction for the Group in October, which includes a more pointed focus on North America and on healthcare."
NHS England has urged the pharmacy owners to continue to voluntarily submit New Medicine Service (NMS) quarterly summary data to the NHS Business Services
Authority (NHSBSA) for Quarter 4 (Q4) 2022/23 (January to March 2023).
Community Pharmacy England have agreed with NHS England that the quarterly returns will continue to be on a voluntary basis, with Q4 (January to March 2023) as the
second quarter to be reported.
It has thanked all the members that submitted NMS quarterly summary data for Quarter 3.
The mandatory requirement to submit this data has been suspended since 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"NHS England wants to continue collection of the quarterly returns to provide baseline data to support a long-term evaluation that will be conducted as part of
ongoing work to expand the scope of NMS," said Community Pharmacy England.
Voluntary submissions can be made via the NHSBSA website, where an updated reporting spreadsheet is also available for head offices to use who are able to submit
data on behalf of multiple pharmacies.
Three pharmacists have collectively acquired Leyton Green, a community pharmacy on the outskirts of London Borough, as its owner, Raj Baxi, opts to retire
after 15 years of service.
The pharmacy, which processes an average of 2,697 items per month, was recently sold for an undisclosed sum, said Christie & Co, who facilitated the confidential
transaction. The trio, led by Abdus Subhan, intends to drive the business forward by expanding the range of items and introducing advanced services.
"After nearly 15 years in Walthamstow, we will miss our loyal customers, but we are pleased for the pharmacy to go to experienced operators," Baxi said.
The specification for the Pharmacy Contraceptive Service has been launched for pharmacy contractors to download from the NHSBSA website.
However, the service will not start on 11th January 2023, as originally planned, but it is expected to commence in early 2023, revealed the Pharmaceutical Services
Negotiating Committee (PSNC).
It added: "The exact start date is yet to be agreed, as now the service specification has been published, community pharmacy IT system suppliers need time to develop
support for the service, so this is available to contractors from the service commencement date."
Commenting on the publication of the service specification, Alastair Buxton, Director of NHS Services, at PSNC said: "When time in their busy professional lives
allows, the publication of the service specification ahead of the start of the new service provides contractors and their teams with an opportunity to learn more
about it and to consider whether it is something they will have the capacity to provide in due course.
When it comes to digestive health issues and complaints the frequency of pharmacy visits is high, and a number of digestive health concerns can be attributed to constipation. So, how can pharmacy teams respond and spot patterns when patients come in regularly with the same complaints?
Looking beyond just the symptoms is key in understanding contributing factors; further questions can be asked around diet and lifestyle that may lead to constipation and digestive health issues. Constipation can often be misconstrued, particularly in older people, and exploring lifestyle and diet with a patient could be key to helping and spotting patterns when patients come in regularly to pharmacy with the same complaint.
Standard 20-tablet packs of constipation tablets may be appropriate for a patient displaying mild constipation, but pharmacies are seeing an increased amount of people coming into pharmacy more frequently, so could their digestive health issues be more complex than simply constipation?
Pharmacists, councillors and NHS leaders came together at Portsmouth's first Community Pharmacy Summit to address some of the challenges facing community
pharmacy locally.
They explored ways to reduce the huge pressures on pharmacy, tackle abuse towards staff, enable pharmacists to undertake training to treat more illnesses, and to
protect the current and future workforce.
Portsmouth City Council, which hosted the Summit on Wednesday 15 November, also invited representatives from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, University
of Portsmouth, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board and businesses to discuss new opportunities to work together.
Held at Portsmouth Guildhall, the event was chaired by Cllr Matthew Winnington, Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing, Health and Care, and Cllr Gerald
Vernon-Jackson, Cabinet Member for Transport.
The sale of these pharmacies has demonstrated that there's demand from independent buyers for quality settings, said specialist business property adviser,
Christie & Co.
All six pharmacies across London and Surrey were bought by independents, including two first-time buyers.
Eagercare (The Pharmacy) in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, which dispenses an average of 1,650 items per month, has been sold to Rifqa Jibara, a first-time buyer.
Ashford Lodge in Ashford, Surrey, which dispenses an average of 4,400 items per month, has been bought by local operator, Tahir Hussain.
Pharmacare in Richmond, Surrey, which dispenses an average of 5,679 items per month, has also been sold to a local operator, named Akhil Shah.
The strength of any organisation lies in its people. This being a common norm in the world of business, several of them are taking healthy initiatives and opening discussions around gender diversity and equality.
Panelists during a session on Empowering Women In the Workplace held during the Pharmacy Business Diversity Conference on Thursday (December 9), agreed that having gender diversity in business, not just benefits women, but the whole organisation.
"It drives engagement, diversity of thinking and ultimately performance," said Ifti Khan, pharmacy superintendent at Well Pharmacy, in the session moderated by the
conference chair and BBC presenter Clive Myrie.
To substantiate his point, he cited a recent report by McKinsey & Company, as per which companies in the top quartile for ethnic and cultural diversity are 36 per cent more profitable than those in the fourth quartile.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has advised pharmacy contractors to use emergency provisions to avoid and reduce temporary closures amid shortage of pharmacists and other staff.
The provision was introduced at the start of the pandemic to enables flexible provision of pharmaceutical services by pharmacies.
It has been extended several times, currently until January 31, 2022.
The negotiator noted that self-isolation requirements and a lack of available pharmacists led to a spike in short-notice closures/late opening/early closing incidents in the community pharmacy sector.
However, it reminded contractors that they have a clear duty to provide services in line with their contractual arrangements.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has raised the issue faced by the pharmacy students on returning to in-person assessments while urging the
universities to take an empathetic approach in transition of online to in-person exams.
It was highlighted by the association that many student members were apprehensive about the return to in-person assessments. This is due to their continuing worry of Covid-19 transmissions and anxiety caused by changing exam formats and procedures.
However, with the ease of Covid restrictions, now pharmacy schools are able to decide how exams are conducted but the PDA believes that they should communicate the
process to students in advance.
"A return to normal university life is considered to be beneficial to student health and well-being. In-person exams are an important part of preparing for students' future trainee assessment examinations, GPhC accreditation for pharmacy schools, and ensuring the integrity of exam results. As future healthcare professionals, face-to-face interaction is also an integral part of the role," said the PDA.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) is encouraging community pharmacy contractors to participate in its third Pharmacy Advice Audit due
to be held in the week commencing Monday (January 31).
The audit is aimed to demonstrate how pharmacies support their communities every day and assist PSNC in gathering evidence for use in the funding discussions with the government and the NHS.
It said that last year's Advice Audit provided compelling evidence for use in negotiations with the government and helped in persuading MPs to support the case for Covid-19 costs.
PSNC said: "We would therefore be very grateful to anyone able to take part in this year's audit."
Out of the 2,805 students who sat for the common registration assessment test for pharmacists this June, approximately 2,150 have passed the exam, according
to the General Pharmaceutical Council. It assesses pharmacy graduates' knowledge and skills to ensure safe and effective practice as pharmacists.
This year, the pass rate was 77 per cent, slightly lower than the 80 per cent pass rate in June 2022, where 2,147 out of 2,697 candidates cleared the assessment,
GPhC data showed.
The exam comprises a written assessment testing pharmaceutical science and pharmacy practice knowledge and a practical assessment evaluating clinical skills and
patient-facing competencies. Eligible candidates must complete an accredited pharmacy degree program and meet GPhC requirements.
The assessment is conducted jointly by the General Pharmaceutical Council and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland.
"The assessment is a primary method for testing trainees' ability to apply knowledge and make professional judgments in pharmacy practice," said Mark Voce, Director
of Education and Standards, GPhC. "This is crucial in assuring patients and the public that they are in safe hands."
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has begun conciliation with 86 pharmacy companies to safeguard the interests of former LloydsPharmacy pharmacists.
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas), a government agency, serves as a mediator between companies and employees to resolve disputes. If the
ongoing mediation prove unsuccessful, individual employees retain the option to file claims in the employment tribunal, the PDA has said.
The ongoing dispute centres around employers potentially failing to conduct the required consultation under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment)
regulations (TUPE) with employees and their representatives during employee transfers, the PDA said.
The TUPE legislation, known for its complexity and technical nature, applies when a section of the company, like a pharmacy sold as an asset using standard disposal,
undergoes a transfer.
According to NHS England's recent pharmaceutical list, LloydsPharmacy has either sold or shuttered 461 branches since September 2022. According to NHSE data, as of
June 30, the pharmacy chain operates approximately 512 pharmacies in England. This positions it as the third-largest chain after Boots UK and Well Pharmacy.
The Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has called the recent announcement of six per cent pay rise for the public sector workforce as 'unfair' for the
community pharmacy sector.
On Thursday (13 June), the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) announced that pay scales for most doctors and dentists will increase by at least a
six per cent this year after the government accepted the recommendations from the independent pay review bodies in full.
Responding to the recent announcement Chief Executive Janet Morrison, said: "The public sector workforce pay rise will be welcome news for its recipients given
the huge inflationary pressures and the ongoing impact of the cost-of-living crisis. But for community pharmacy owners - who have faced 30% funding cuts in recent
years and who are struggling to meet their rising wage costs - this feels unfair, and very far from good news.
At Community Pharmacy England we are fully focused on the current financial and operational pressures and fighting hard for a sustainable long-term funding
arrangement.
The Centre for Pharmacy Post-Graduate Education (CPPE) has launched Menopause - an introduction for pharmacy professionals e-learning programme.
The new Menopause: an introduction for pharmacy professionals e-learning programme aims to support pharmacist's to increase their knowledge and awareness of
menopause and perimenopause, helping them to have initial conversations with those who need support.
The programme teaches how to equip people experiencing menopausal symptoms with evidence-based information that allows them to make decisions about their own
health management.
This e-learning programme considers a range of topics, including the signs and symptoms associated with menopause and perimenopause, how a diagnosis is made
and the national context supporting a growing role for pharmacy professionals in menopause care.
It also discusses the benefits and risks of treatment options available, the common misconceptions that people may have about menopause and how to apply the
evidence base to practice in order to help support decision making.
National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has appointed Nick Kaye as its new chair on Monday (24 April).
He has taken over the chairmanship from Andrew Lane, who stood down last month after serving his maximum term.
Nick, who part-owns Hendra Pharmacy in Cornwall will serve for two years as NPA chair, after being elected unopposed at the first meeting of the new NPA board.
Jay Badenhorst, Managing Director and Superintendent Pharmacist for Whitworth Chemists in the North East of England, is now vice-chair.
Michael Guerin, the Managing Director and Superintendent Pharmacist of the Medicare group in Northern Ireland, continues as Treasurer.
Nick Kaye said: "As a third generation community pharmacist, I feel very privileged to serve the sector that I love so dearly in this way.
"Andrew will be a hard act to follow. But I can promise my unwavering commitment to independent community pharmacy, with Jay and Michael's 's support, plus that
of board colleagues and our dedicated executive team.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has confirmed that the community pharmacy contractors are 'not required' to undertake a
contractor-chosen or an NHS England determined clinical audit in 2023/24.
"A clinical audit on anticoagulants is included in the Pharmacy Quality Scheme (PQS) 2023/24. If contractors choose to not participate in PQS, and therefore do
not complete the anticoagulant clinical audit, there is still no requirement to complete two clinical audits in 2023/24," said PSNC.
"The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England have also committed to consider, during 2023/24, the removal of the requirement for a contractor-chosen
clinical audit permanently."
RPS Scotland has partnered with charity organisation Marie Curie for an exhibition at the Scottish Parliament this week to highlight Daffodil Standards and
the crucial contribution of community pharmacies to palliative and end-of-life care. The exhibition is being sponsored by Jeremy Balfour MSP.
Community pharmacies offer vital assistance by providing guidance on medication adjustments and side effects, RPS Scotland said in a statement. They are easily
accessible without the need for an appointment, providing essential support and reassurance to families in times of need.
The Daffodil Standards, which is jointly developed by RPS and Marie Curie, drive continuous improvement in end-of-life and bereavement support within community
pharmacies, benefiting terminally ill patients, their families, and caregivers. These standards align with the RCGP/Marie Curie guidelines for general practice
introduced in 2019.
Since its May launch, over 450 pharmacies throughout Great Britain, including more than 30 in Scotland, have implemented these principles, the statement said.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has invited pharmacy contractors, LPCs and others in the sector to share their views on an open
consultation on the "future of community pharmacy".
"The consultation - which takes the form of an online survey - is the first opportunity within PSNC's vision project for individuals and organisations to share
their thoughts with Nuffield Trust and The King's Fund," said PSNC.
The survey is happening in addition to an extensive programme of research, interviews and initial meetings of the vision Steering Group, Advisory Panel, and Working
Groups, all of which have contractors, LPCs and other representatives of the sector at their heart.
The online survey, asks five questions on topics such as Future policy goals; Why previous reviews and policies may not have fully achieved their objectives; Design
principles that should underpin the service offer made by community pharmacy; and Blocks and enablers for change.
