The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has called for action on differential degree awarding and registration assessment attainment gaps for Black trainees
in initial pharmacy education and training.
According to a new report published by the RPS on Tuesday (6 February), there's a pharmacy degree awarding gap of eight per cent and a registration assessment
attainment gap of over 22 per cent between Black and White trainees.
The variation in pharmacy attainment for Black trainees was first recorded by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) in 2013, and the Pharmaceutical Journal
has been tracking the awarding gap at undergraduate level.
Even after a decade, significant differences exist in the awarding and attainment gaps for Black students and trainees compared to their White counterparts, the
report said.
The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in a report of a meeting of an international insight board published on Friday (27 January) highlighted the
potential for pharmacists to close the existing gender gap in pain management.
The insight board, assembled by FIP in Seville, Spain, in September 2022, was co-chaired by FIP vice president Professor Parisa Aslani. "Research indicates that pain
experienced by women is underestimated and undertreated. Alarmingly, in addition to receiving less effective pain relief, evidence suggests that women with pain are
more likely to be prescribed antidepressants," Prof. Aslani said.
The insight board attributed much of this "gender pain gap" to implicit biases and put forward the view that pharmacy curricula and continuous professional
development programmes must be able to provide adequate self-awareness and training to enable pain management without any bias. It also suggested ways in which
pharmacists could be supported in addressing the gender pain gap in their practice.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has revealed the "differential attainment" gap among Black pharmacy students and Foundation trainees.
Research conducted by pharmacy education has revealed unique challenges leading to lower attainment in the registration assessment and an undergraduate awards
gap compared to white students.
The organisation plans to work with new groups including BPSA, GPhC, NHS England, Pharmacy Schools Council and representatives from Schools of Pharmacy, to achieve
a fair and equitable education and training experience for the students.
They plan to reach out to student representative organisations to secure their participation in a quarterly meeting of the group.
Differential attainment is the unexplained variation between groups who share a protected characteristic, for example, ethnicity, gender and disability.
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Making your home both heat and cold-resistant may seem like a daunting task, but there are actually a few simple things you can do to make your home more
comfortable no matter the season. In this article, we'll share four ways to make your home both heat and cold-resistant.
INSTALL WEATHERSTRIPPING OR CAULKING
One of the best ways to make your home more resistant to both heat and cold is to install weatherstripping or caulking around all of the doors and windows. This
will help to seal up any cracks or gaps that might let the air escape, making it much easier to keep your home at a comfortable temperature no matter what the weather
is like outside.
One of the best ways to make your home both heat and cold resistant is to install weatherstripping around all of your doors and windows. This will help to seal in
the cool air during the summer and the warm air during the winter, making your home much more comfortable year-round.
Another way to improve your home's resistance to extreme temperatures is to caulk any gaps or cracks that you may have in your walls, floors, or ceilings. By doing
this, you'll prevent heat or cold from seeping into your home through these tiny openings, saving you money on your energy bills.
"Only around half of ICSs have a Chief Pharmacist," indicating a significant gap in leadership that hampers the pharmacy sector's ability to influence
critical healthcare decision, a report on medicine optimisation by the Public Policy Projects (PPP) highlights.
In PPP's latest report, a notable concern highlighted is the inadequate representation of pharmacy leadership within Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) despite the
role of pharmacy being "central in the delivery of system priorities, with pivotal roles in improving population health and tackling inequalities".
In recent years, the role of pharmacy within the NHS has evolved significantly with recent developments including Pharmacy First Services and legislative
amendments that allows pharmacy technicians under PGDs to administer and supply medicines.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE), the Company Chemists' Association (CCA), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and the National Pharmacy Association
(NPA) on Tuesday (5 March) released a joint manifesto for community pharmacy in anticipation of the upcoming general election expected later this year.
The manifesto has been designed for widespread use within the community pharmacy sector to facilitate engagement with political parties and parliamentary candidates.
In their #VotePharmacy manifesto, the pharmacy bodies have highlighted a robust six-point plan to unleash the potential of pharmacy.
Election candidates are urged to express their support in six key areas, which include:
Filling the funding gap and committing to long-term sustainable funding to empower pharmacies to deliver more NHS care.
Enhancing the community pharmacy workforce to ensure they can meet the evolving needs of patients.
As Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announces the forthcoming UK general election, pharmacy bodies are calling on all political parties to commit to solving the
issues facing the sector.
The next UK general election will be held on 4 July, Sunak announced it on Wednesday afternoon during a press conference outside 10 Downing Street.
"As the election is called it's imperative that any incoming government addresses the crisis in primary care and the looming cliff edge facing pharmacies, which
for millions of people are the front door to the NHS and a crucial source of frontline health care," said Paul Rees, Chief Executive of the National Pharmacy
Association (NPA).
Noting that the first responsibility of the government is to keep its people safe and healthy, he emphasised the importance of addressing the "deep funding gap
that is pushing record numbers of pharmacies to the edge of closure and beyond, exacerbating the issues of waiting lists for GPs and hospital care."
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Tough times for community pharmacies in England are far from over as the industry continues to grapple with major gaps in the workforce.
Even though the latest figures released by the Health Education England (HEE) Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey 2021 showed doubling of pharmacist vacancy rate in England to 8 per cent between 2017 and 2021, it flagged the contractors' difficulty level in filling up these positions.
The survey report showcased changes in the size and make-up of the community pharmacy workforce since the last survey conducted in 2017.
It revealed that 56 per cent of pharmacy contractors reported high difficulty level in recruiting pharmacists, up from 21 per cent in the earlier survey.
Moreover, a greater proportion - 60 per cent of contractors found filling up the pharmacy technician role 'fairly' or 'very' difficult.
Other roles in the sector considered difficult to fill included accuracy checkers and trained dispensing assistants, both at 58 per cent.
There is no doubt that the pandemic has changed the way healthcare professionals work within the primary care setting. The advent of Covid-19 meant that we all
had to rapidly modify the way we supported and met the needs of patients, some of whom saw the services they usually took for granted, virtually cease overnight.
There are around 15 million people in England living with long-term health conditions including asthma. These people have the greatest healthcare needs of the whole
population with 50 per cent of all GP appointments and 70 per cent of all bed days taken by this cohort of patients, and their treatment and care absorbing 70 per
cent of acute and primary care budgets in England.
This situation isn't going to improve any time soon. In the past, most people had a single condition, today multi-morbidity is becoming the norm. At the start of the
pandemic, the Royal College of General Practice and British Medical Association issued guidance to practices on prioritising workload. This included the importance
of maintaining long-term condition reviews in asthma, COPD and diabetes, along with appropriate transition of at-risk warfarin patients. These reviews were deemed as
essential workstreams for patients considered to be at high risk.
Traditionally, the unique skills set of a pharmacist has meant that we have played a major role in supporting these patients. I work with a team of over 90 clinical
pharmacists who, in partnership with individual practices, PCNs, CCGs and STPs, help with the long-term management of people with chronic conditions. But the onset
of Covid-19 meant that we now had to plug a potential gap in service provision, and quickly.
Lapses in strategies to tackle COVID-19 this year continue to create the perfect conditions for a deadly new variant to emerge, as parts of China witness a
rise in infections, the head of the World Health Organization said on Friday (December 2).
The comments by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus mark a change in tone just months after he said that the world has never been in a better position
to end the pandemic.
"We are much closer to being able to say that the emergency phase of the pandemic is over, but we're not there yet," Tedros said on Friday.
The global health agency estimates that about 90% of the world's population now has some level of immunity to SARS-COV-2 either due to prior infection or vaccination.
"Gaps in testing … and vaccination are continuing to create the perfect conditions for a new variant of concern to emerge that could cause significant mortality,"
Tedros said.
COVID-19 infections are at record highs in China and have started to rise in parts of Britain after months of decline.
In a recent interview with The Telegraph, health secretary Steve Barclay stated that he has asked his officials within DHSC to look at a "pharmacy first"
approach to alleviate pressures on A&E departments in order to avoid the widely predicted NHS winter crisis.
On the face of it, this a welcome if long overdue recognition that community pharmacy is an essential part of our national healthcare infrastructure alongside our
GP and A&E colleagues. But let's not get carried away - we have had lots of praise from politicians in the past which have not then been backed by firm commitments
for a sustainable future for the network.
Could this be a turning point? I hope so, but I am not confident it will be. I fear this may turn out to be another emergency stop-gap measure which does nothing to
secure the long-term viability of the sector in England.
The role of community pharmacy during the recent Covid pandemic demonstrated clearly how important we are to ensure people have easy access to essential healthcare
support, advice and services. The NHS winter crisis can only be avoided or at least mitigated if the potential of the community pharmacy network to provide more
patient care services is unlocked and that Barclay requires you to end pharmacy funding austerity and start investing.
The Treasury will no doubt say there is no more money, but what then the alternative other than a NHS winter crisis? And, of course, treating people in secondary care
settings is far more costly than community pharmacy based interventions.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has proposed a 7.5 per cent increase in all fees for pharmacies, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and foundation
trainees, including those for registration and renewal from April 2024.
According to the GPhC's proposal the pharmacist renewal fee would increase by £19 from £257 to £276; the pharmacy technician renewal fee would increase by £9 from
£121 to £130 and the pharmacy premises renewal fee would increase by £27 from £365 to £392
Any changes would be effective from April 2024, which means fees will remain at current levels for this financial year, giving registrants and applicants time to
prepare for any increase in subsequent years.
Fees have been frozen for the last two years (2022 and 2023) to help reduce pressure on both pharmacy professionals and pharmacy owners.
Chief Executive, Duncan Rudkin, said: "In the last few years, we have been able to avoid raising many of these fees by improving our efficiency and by using our
financial reserves to cover any gap between our income and our outgoings. While we are continuing to look for ways to make savings, we now have to consider
increasing fees.
The Company Chemists Association (CCA)'s workforce finding showed that by 2024 eight years' worth of growth of the pharmacist workforce will have been
funnelled away from community pharmacies.
"In 2019, when NHS leaders realised they were unable to find enough GPs to meet the public's needs, they hastily decided to recruit pharmacists and other
healthcare professionals to fill the gaps. This was implemented without any corresponding efforts to increase the supply of pharmacists, creating huge shortages,"
said CCA.
"The bulk of the NHS's recruitment drive was paid for using additional money ringfenced by the NHS - the £2.4bn Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS). We
estimate over the life course of ARRS funding (2019-2024), the equivalent of eight years of growth in the number of pharmacists in England will have been funnelled
directly into primary care at the expense of other sectors.
At the current rate, CCA estimate that community pharmacy will have experienced the equivalent of three fallow years by 2024.
To ensure the pharmacy network is protected and able to take pressure off other parts of the NHS, there are several urgent measures which must be implemented.
Countering the impact of primary care recruitment: Community pharmacists should be commissioned to provide 'packages of care' on behalf of GPs, rather than taking
pharmacists away from accessible high street settings.
The European Union's population shrank for a second year running last year, the bloc's statistics office said on Monday, as the region reels from over two
million deaths from the coronavirus.
According to Eurostat, the population of the 27 countries that make up the bloc fell by close to 172,000 from the previous year and over 656,000 from January 2020.
"In 2020 and 2021 the positive net migration no longer compensated for the negative natural change in the EU and, as a consequence, the EU total population has been
decreasing," it said, pointing to impacts from the pandemic.
The number of deaths began outstripping births in the EU a decade ago, but immigration from outside the bloc helped offset the gap until the first year of the
pandemic.
The previous time the EU had registered a fall in population was in 2011 - the only other time since 1960 - but this rapidly picked up due to net migration.
Eczema (atopic dermatitis), which affects up to 20 per cent of children, is one of the most common conditions pharmacists encounter, but don't underestimate
eczema. Generalised eczema may compromise health-related quality of life (HRQoL) more than several other chronic diseases, including asthma, epilepsy and diabetes.
Despite the impact on HRQoL, underuse of moisturisers and topical corticosteroids often leaves childhood eczema poorly controlled.
UK researchers recently reported that several factors contribute to the underuse of moisturisers and topical corticosteroids in children with eczema. For instance,
most of the 30 parents and carers interviewed felt that they had received little information about eczema.
The lack of understanding may help explain why some parents and carers expressed concerns, such as the risk of skin thinning, about topical corticosteroids. Some
were not convinced that moisturisers (strictly, an emollient is an ingredient of a moisturiser) reduced itch and maintained control of eczema. Some felt that
moisturisers' efficacy declined over time.
Parents and carers also admitted to "incomplete knowledge and skills" about managing eczema (such as whether they should apply moisturisers regularly) and
reluctance to manage eczema in collaboration with their child. Parents and carers wanted advice about using treatments and explanations of moisturisers' and
topical corticosteroids' mechanisms of action. The authors note that healthcare professionals could help identify and address gaps in knowledge.
The Department of Health in Northern Ireland has advised pharmacies to continue providing rota services on Easter after learning that many pharmacies are
unwilling to provide the services on Easter holidays.
"It is extremely regrettable that community pharmacy representatives have advised that access to rota pharmacies in some parts of Northern Ireland will be reduced
over the Easter holidays," department said.
They have also stated that despite a commitment of recurrent investment, support for new patients assessed by Trusts as requiring blister packs may be restricted.
These actions have the potential to impact on patients and other parts of the Health and Social Care system.
The department has also called the CPNI's demand to increase the funding up to 50 per cent in the sector "unrealistic" in the current financial climate.
It said: "Financial pressures across the entire NI public sector are severe with an extremely challenging health budget anticipated for 2023/24."
"The Department is therefore facing a significant funding gap just to maintain existing services and the whole Health and Social Care system is an extremely
unpredictable and fragile position. The core funding envelope available to community pharmacies in NI has increased by 16% over the past three years."
Women accounted for 62 per cent of GPhC registrants in 2019, according to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Despite representing the majority of pharmacists
in the UK, only 2 per cent of women are pharmacy business owners compared with 13 per cent of men. Also, the majority of senior pharmacy leadership positions are
held by men, with research showing that only 36 per cent of senior pharmacy leaders are women.
Sobha Sharma Kandel, superintendent pharmacist and co-owner of Neem Tree Pharmacy, Abbey Wood, London, quoted these statistics while shedding light on the
representation of female leaders in the field of pharmacy.
So, what is stopping women from reaching leadership positions in the profession? According to Sobha, the barriers hindering female pharmacists from attaining
leadership positions include:
Gender Bias and Stereotypes
Lack of Representation and Role Models
Glass Ceiling and Double Standards
Work-Life Balance Challenges
Imposter Syndrome
Unequal Access to Opportunities
Negotiation and Advocacy Challenges
"There also continue to be gender and ethnicity pay gaps affecting women in pharmacy," said Sobha, who has been advocating for women in pharmacy by being a part
of the Female Pharmacy Leaders Network.