Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson has been appointed as a Minister of State in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in the latest ministerial reshuffle.
As the new 'Minister for Health and Secondary Care', Stephenson would be looking after elective care recovery and screening, as well as the fight against
major diseases like cancer, diabetes and stroke, as reported by Burnley Express.
"Helping NHS services recover from the legacy of the pandemic, whilst dealing with winter pressures and the challenges of inflation will not be easy, but it is
a challenge I am looking forward to," Stephenson told Burnley Express.
"I am also keen to ensure that significant manifesto commitments, such as the pledge to deliver 50,000 nurses and 40 new hospitals remain on track. Especially as
one of those 40 new hospitals is Airedale, which is used by so many Colne and West Craven residents," he added.
Health secretary Sajid Javid visited Medicine Chest Pharmacy in London on Friday (January 28) and thanked pharmacy teams across England for delivering well over 20 million Covid-19 jabs.
According to the latest research conducted by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and PharmData, independent community pharmacies were the biggest deliverers of Covid-19 vaccines during January 2021 to September 2021 as compared to corporate-run pharmacy sites.
As of January 2022, pharmacies across the whole sector had delivered 22 million Covid jabs, with the majority of them being independents of whom most are NPA members.
In a video message released after the visit, Javid said: "Today I am here at Medicine Chest pharmacy in London to thank them, all pharmacies, the NHS, for the fantastic job they have done particularly over the last few months to get our country boosted. It's because of this phenomenal success that today we are able to return to Plan A as we see Omicron in retreat and we learn to live with Covid."
The Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA) has expressed its interest to support pharmacists impacted with the latest announcement of the closure of Tesco
pharmacies.
"Tesco have followed ASDA and LloydsPharmacy (at Sainsbury's) to announce cost cutting changes to their stores, impacting hundreds of jobs," the association said.
The PDA's interests in the announcement relate to the planned closure of eight in-store Tesco pharmacies and the impact of those closures upon pharmacists, however
the union is of course concerned for all those impacted.
The PDA Union will support individual PDA members impacted by the decision so that they are aware of, and can exercise, their rights at work in relation to this
situation.
Paul Day, PDA Union Director said, "In addition to the immediate impact on pharmacists employed at the stores marked for closure, this is the third instance in just
twelve days of reductions in the overall access to a pharmacy for NHS patients. We expect those who represent communities to be concerned about the loss of a key
part of their local NHS service."
In an announcement following Keir Starmer's and Wes Streeting's visit to a hospital in the East Midlands, Labour Party has unveiled a groundbreaking
partnership with Virgin Media O2 aimed at ensuring every child with type 1 diabetes can access the latest medical technology to better manage diabetes.
With the NHS providing patients with type 1 diabetes the option of an 'artificial pancreas' in the next five years to manage insulin levels and Continuous
Glucose Monitors launched nearly 2 years ago to monitor children's glucose levels, the initiative aims to address the financial barrier hindering hundreds of
families from benefiting from this breakthrough.
Labour's plan to provide every child in need a smartphone, facilitating access to modern glucose monitors, aligns with the centre-leftist party's broader vision
to harness technology for healthcare transformation.
Announcing the partnership in an interview with ITV News, Keir Starmer, Labour Party Leader, highlighted the lack of equitable access to medical advancement
amongst patients as "travesty" and "impact of fourteen years of Conservative chaos has had on the NHS", stating:
A new study has revealed that public trust in services provided by local pharmacies ranks highest in the UK, although confidence in the NHS has nosedived
following the pandemic.
The 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer report published on Wednesday (April 21) found that around 78 per cent of respondents trust their local pharmacies, the highest for any provider cited in the survey.
Besides, 72 per cent said pharmacists are among the most trusted to tell the truth about health matters and protect public health, almost similar to 'my doctor' (75%) and health experts (74%).
Just under half of them said the pandemic has decreased their confidence that the NHS is well-equipped in handling major health crisis. The survey also revealed that 60 per cent think they lack access to high-quality healthcare.
While thanking the provisionally registered pharmacists and their employers for supporting NHS services during the pandemic, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has asked the 63 eligible candidates to join the main register by January 31 to continue practicing.
A total number of 4,799 provisionally-registered pharmacists have been on the provisional register since it was introduced in July 2020 in response to the Covid-19
pandemic, which had affected the registration assessment schedule.
As of Tuesday (January 18), 237 were still on the provisional register, of which 84 have begun the process to join the main register, 90 did not sat an assessment, while 63 eligible candidates are yet to start their application.
The register enabled trainees who had completed their training to support NHS services and provide patient care effectively as provisionally-registered pharmacists,
while they waited to sit the registration assessment.
After providing three potential opportunities to trainees to sit the registration assessment - in March, July and November 2021, the provisional register will close
on January 31, 2022.
Susan Rienow, UK Managing Director and Country President of Pfizer is all set to take up her role as President of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical
Industry (ABPI).
The association had announced her appointment in March. Last year in September she was appointed as the vice-president of ABPI.
In her new role, she will oversee the ABPI, the ABPI Board, and the ABPI's Code of Practice, which is administered by the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice
Authority (PMCPA).
Susan takes up the Presidency as negotiations begin for a new Voluntary Scheme for branded medicines pricing between the government, NHS England and the ABPI.
All parties are looking to secure a new agreement that will help improve patient outcomes, support a healthier population and a financially sustainable NHS, while
also supporting economic growth for the UK.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC)'s 2022 Pharmacy Advice Audit revealed that more than 1.2 million consultations a week - or 65 million
a year - are now being carried out by community pharmacy teams in England.
This is an increase from 2021, when the audit results suggested that in total pharmacies were providing 58 million consultations per year.
PSNC has published the findings of the audit of over 4,000 community pharmacies carried out earlier this year. During the audit, 82,872 informal patient consultations
were recorded, with the average pharmacy completing 19 consultations per day.
This suggests that more than 1.2 million informal consultations are taking place in community pharmacies in England every week.
The audit helped to quantify the number of informal referrals being made to pharmacies by GPs and NHS 111, with 7,774 informal patient referrals into pharmacy
coming from these routes; grossed up to a national level that means 117,000 cases per week.
These are all referrals that could and should have been made by the NHS Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (CPCS).
England is set to reopen temporary field hospitals to contain a possible overspill of inpatients due to a surge in coronavirus cases, the national health service said Thursday.
Fuelled by the highly contagious Omicron variant, daily cases have ballooned, standing at more than 183,000 on Wednesday.
NHS England said it would start building the structures in the grounds of eight hospitals in cities including London, Bristol and Leeds from this week, with each
designed to house around 100 extra patients.
"Given the high level of Covid-19 infections and increasing hospital admissions, the NHS is now on a war footing," National medical director Stephen Powis said.
The extra beds are designed for patients who are recovering from illnesses, including those who no longer have Covid, to free up space and staff to treat large numbers of virus cases.
Health Education England (HEE) has invited community pharmacy contractors to a meeting to discuss training of pharmacists to become Independent Prescribers (IP).
Earlier, HEE together with NHS England and NHS Improvement has supported a first phase of IP training for community pharmacists from January to March 2022, and is now working to secure a further rounded of funded training from Autumn 2022.
The upcoming virtual meeting is aimed to help inform future independent prescribertraining offers by ensuring it is aligned with the needs of the pharmacy workforce.
Thousands of lung cancer patients in England will benefit from a ground-breaking new drug that can reduce the risk of relapse.
This follows a deal brokered by NHS England and approval from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for atezolizumab therapy to treat
non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
More than 850 patients are expected to be eligible for the drug in the first year, rising to more than 1000 in the third year.
It is the first immunotherapy approved for patients with early-stage NSCLC who have undergone surgery and chemotherapy.
Clinical trials have shown that atezolizumab can reduce the risk of cancer relapse or death by 34 per cent in patients with early-stage NSCLC.
The government on Wednesday (March 2) announced an investment of £260 million to support research, development and manufacturing of new drugs, devices and
diagnostics.
Of the total funding, up to £200m has been allocated for research to better access NHS data through Trusted Research Environments and digital clinical trial services, enabling availability of crucial data with the highest levels of privacy.
This will allow the NHS to deliver new life-saving treatments to patients, tackle health inequalities and improve patient care, a government release stated.
The remaining £60m will support commercial-scale manufacturing investments by companies at the leading-edge of innovation, from cell and gene therapies and earlier
and better diagnostic technologies, to medical devices.
The funding for manufacturing investments will be distributed through the new Life Sciences Innovative Manufacturing Fund (LSIMF), following the success of the earlier Medicines and Diagnostics Manufacturing Transformation Fund.
Change is sweeping through Westminster as the newly elected Labour government makes strategic cabinet appointments following their landslide victory in the
general election held on Thursday, July 4.
With Sir Keir Starmer stepping in as the new Prime Minister and Wes Streeting assuming the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care role, the announcement of
Karin Smyth and Stephen Kinnock as health ministers on Monday marked a pivotal moment in Labour's healthcare agenda.
Who is the new Minister of State for Health?
Karin Smyth, the Labour MP for Bristol South, has been appointed as Minister of State for Health.
Smyth has a robust background in healthcare, having served as a shadow spokesperson on health since December 2021.
Her previous roles include Shadow Minister for Northern Ireland and Shadow Deputy Leader of the House of Commons.
Before her parliamentary career, Smyth worked as an NHS Manager and held a non-executive director position at an NHS Trust.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has called on the NHS England to uplift funding for pharmacy contractors to enable them to cover higher staffing costs
along with a range of other cost-inflating factors.
This follows latest data released by the recruitment platform Locate a Locum, which showed a huge increase in locum rates for pharmacists in 2021 and predicted the
trend to continue.
The report noted a 71 per cent surge in the cost of employing locum pharmacists in England, from the 2020 average to the second half of 2021.
NPA chief executive Mark Lyonette said: "There is a heavy reliance on locums in community pharmacy to maintain continuity of services with the average pharmacy
operating 50 hours per week. Consequently, increases in locum rates have a big effect on the cost base.
"Pharmacies face a range of general cost pressures beyond locum rates, including much higher energy costs. We hear a lot about the cost of living crisis; our
members are facing a cost of doing business crisis and it's every bit as real.
"The underlying underfunding, significant general inflationary pressures and specific cost increases relating to the locum workforce together make a powerful and
urgent case for new funding."
Alliance Healthcare, the UK's largest pharmaceutical wholesaler, announced today (December 7) the appointment of Marie Evans as its new managing director.
Evans, who is the current commercial and category director of the firm, will report to Juan Guerra, Alliance Healthcare's senior vice president and managing director of International Wholesale.
Commenting on the new appointment, Guerra said: "The last 18 months has shown just how important wholesale and distribution is to the NHS and I am so excited to
welcome Marie to her new position at this critical time.
"Her experience and leadership will be key as we continue to evolve our services in response to the changing needs of pharmacy, the health service, and industry."
Preet Kaur Gill, Shadow Minister for Primary Care and Public Health, has paid a recent visit to a community pharmacy in Staffordshire to personally experience
the services it provides to patients, while staying updated on the latest sector developments.
Her visit to Eason's Pharmacy in Tamworth on September 22nd marked her first since assuming new responsibilities for pharmacy policy matters within Labour's health
team. Gill was also joined by a member of the National Pharmacy Association staff.
The Minister received a comprehensive briefing on Eason's Pharmacy from its third-generation owner, Kieran Eason (R). He outlined the NHS services, which include
the New Medicines Service and blood pressure monitoring, and showcased two consultation rooms and an operational dispensary.
"It's great that Preet came to learn firsthand about the challenges we face and the substantial potential of community pharmacies nationwide," Eason said. "As an
independent prescriber, I have the expertise to provide even more convenient care, but the current funding levels severely limit our contribution."
The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) has published the Drug Tariff Category M price list for July which reflects an increase in reimbursement
level of approximately £5m per quarter.
An adjustment of -£23.8m was announced, in light of the results of the margin survey (latest result up until end of December 2022), and the phasing down of the
additional £100m agreed across years 4 and 5 as part of the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework and uplifts for underlying market prices
(between January - March 2023).
Community Pharmacy England has agreed the adjustments based on the analysis of margin delivery and on current projections for 2023/24.
It said: "The objectives are to ensure full delivery of agreed margin and smooth delivery as much as possible. As always, the impact on individual pharmacies
will vary depending on dispensing mix."
NHS England delivered 358 million general practice (GP) appointments, including Covid-19 vaccinations, in the 12 months to October 2023, an increase
of 50.9 million compared to October 2019.
This equals to 44 more appointments per practice per working day, with over 70 per cent of these taking place within two weeks of booking, data published by
NHSE on Thursday (30 November) showed.
Health Minister, Andrea Leadsom, thanked GPs and primary care teams across the country for making it possible to deliver around 32,500 more appointments
every day, which clearly demonstrate that "more people are getting the care they need, when they need it."
"While this is positive news, we know that there is more to do to make it easier and quicker for patients to contact their general practice and continue to
focus on delivering the Primary Care Recovery Plan," she added.
The Primary Care Recovery Plan published earlier this year is focused on improving access to primary care. It provided GPs in England with £240 million to
support them to embrace the latest technology to tackle the 8am rush, and handle more appointments.
As of August 2023, more than 1,000 general practices had signed up to digital upgrades to make booking GP appointments easier.
There were an estimated 408,700 hospital admissions due to smoking in 2022-23, an increase of 4.8 per cent from 389,800 in 2021-22, latest statistics
published by NHS England have shown.
In 2020-21, there were 314,100 admissions attributed to smoking, which was consistent with fewer hospital admissions overall that year, according to the
health service's Statistics on Public Health, 2023 report.
However, smoking-related admissions in each of the past three years remained lower than in 2019-20, prior to the Covid pandemic, when there were 446,400 cases.
Smoking accounted for around one in six (16 per cent) of all hospital admissions for respiratory diseases last year, eight per cent of all admissions for cancers
and seven percent of admissions for cardiovascular diseases.
More than 10,000 pharmacy contractors those have declared their March FP34C submission figures through the Manage Your Service (MYS) portal by 5 April will
receive earlier advance payments on Monday 11 April, the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) announced.
Around 10,700 pharmacy contractors have made their submissions through MYS portal. They will receive their advance payments some 20 days earlier than the normal
payment timetable.
However, due to late submission (after April 5), over 500 contractors will not receive any earlier advance payments in April. These contractors will receive their advance payments on 1 May, in accordance with the normal payment timetable.
From this month, MYS is the only route available to contractors for all monthly FP34C submissions.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) reminded contractors that from this month (for prescriptions dispensed in March), the NHSBSA may apply an administrative deduction of £25 if a prescription bundle is submitted late.
