The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has launched a new revised RPS Professional Standards for Hospital Pharmacy Services at its annual conference held on
Friday (11 November).
RPS developed the standards through an extensive consultation with the profession, multidisciplinary teams and patients. They are relevant for providers of pharmacy
services in acute, mental health, private, community service, prison, hospice and ambulance settings.
The revised Standards contain two brand new descriptors - research, audit and quality improvement, and inclusion and wellbeing. Updates have been made to the
supporting statements to ensure they reflect current practice and are fit for the future. A new assessment tool has been developed to support organisations either
self-assess or peer-assess against the Standards.
"For the first time the Standards apply UK wide, having gained support from Pharmacy Forum NI, alongside endorsement from The Association of Pharmacy Technicians
UK and other professional groups," RPS said.
Well Pharmacy has announced a new partnership with RangeMe, a product discovery, sourcing and purchasing platform, as it looks to increase the diversity of
products available to its customers.
The independent pharmacy chain said the partnership will provide new, emerging and diverse brands increased access to its buying teams. There are already over
200,000 suppliers registered on the RangeMe platform.
"We pride ourselves on being at the heart of the communities we serve and are delighted to be working with RangeMe to increase the diversity of the products we
are able to offer to our customers across the UK," Reena Takhar, head of OTC & NHS buying at Well Pharmacy said.
"Given the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, we're keen to do all we can to give businesses of all sizes the opportunity to connect with our buyersto allow us to
offer new and interesting great value products to our customers."
RangeMe helps retailers and their buying teams scale product sourcing efforts with streamlined submissions, simplified discovery tools, and the industry standard
digital sell sheet.
As we transition in England through yet another NHS organisational change, I ask myself what does this mean for community pharmacy? I would like to think that
this change will bring about opportunity and a chance for community pharmacy to showcase and continue the excellent work that was carried out during the height of
the pandemic and is still ongoing today.
I hope that it allows community pharmacy to be regarded as part of the NHS rather than sitting on the side lines. This change has to lead to better funding for
community pharmacy, without sufficient funding we will see more pharmacies close.
We are hearing a lot about winter pressures but this year it feels like all year round pressure. What I have seen, whilst the NHS is under such pressure, is North
East London (NEL) CCG transitioning to an integrated care board (ICB) almost seamlessly.
I have seen people transitioning into new roles, whilst working hard to ensure that all plates are still spinning, which at the moment is no mean feat. I spent a
day out recently visiting pharmacies with the chief medical officer of NHS NEL, Dr Paul Gilluley.
The visits were positive, we felt listened to and understood. The feedback was great, it was recognised that community pharmacy is often the informal front door to
the NHS and that we have so much to offer in terms of ill health prevention.
Community pharmacy can offer a total solution as long as we have the tools to do so, which can save so much time and money. An example is the GP CPCS service, which
has launched well across NEL.
A new report based on research from pharmacists across England by Sanofi, has called for the introduction of a 'national self-care strategy' to relieve the
burden currently faced by health services.
The new report, titled 'Driving a self-care revolution in the UK', explores the views of pharmacists, patients and doctors on self-care and the support needed to
deliver it more effectively. While self-care policy measures are estimated to increase monetary savings for healthcare systems and national economies by 16%, this
report highlights the right tools and resources are not yet in place to enable pharmacists to play a greater role in delivering self-care advice and medicines to
patients.
"As many as 77% of pharmacists said they would support the creation of a National Self-Care Strategy to provide national leadership on improving understanding of
self-care and encourage its use among both patients and clinicians," the report said.
According to the report, currently, 33% of pharmacists working for independent or small pharmacy chains do not have the resources to support patients with self-care,
alongside their other roles. "To tackle this, close to half (45%) of pharmacists believe greater emphasis by primary care practitioners on the benefits of self-care
would leave pharmacists in a better place to support patients. Similarly, 42% believe that training and recruiting more pharmacists would improve their capacity to
deliver self-care advice."
Britain has become the first country to approve a Codiv-19 vaccine that targets both the original and Omicron variant of the virus.
Medicines regulator MHRA approved the so-called bivalent vaccine made by US drug company Moderna as a booster for adults.
The agency's decision was based on clinical trial data that showed the booster triggered "a strong immune response" against both Omicron (BA.1) and the original
2020 virus, it said.
The MHRA also cited an exploratory analysis in which the shot was also found to generate a good immune response against the currently dominant Omicron offshoots BA.4
and BA.5.
"The first generation of Covid-19 vaccines being used in the UK continue to provide important protection against the disease and save lives," MHRA chief executive
June Raine said in a statement.
"What this bivalent vaccine gives us is a sharpened tool in our armoury to help protect us against this disease as the virus continues to evolve."
Charac, an NHS-integrated one-stop platform for independent community pharmacies, and Positive Solutions, the fastest growing pharmacy IT provider in the UK,
have agreed on a collaboration to support community pharmacies through new integrated technology platform - MyHealthHub.
The tech platform aims to give pharmacies a powerful and compelling tool to both help retain and attract new patients. The app will also allow the over 7,200
independent high street pharmacies which are lacking a digital footprint to compete with larger online pharmacies by providing them with an online presence.
The long-term strategic partnership brings together Charac's innovative approach to patient relationship management and Positive Solutions trusted expertise in
digital solutions for pharmacy.
With Positive Solutions' Analyst PMR used daily by 16,000 pharmacy team members to process over 87 million scripts and 180 million items, the collaboration will
help transform patient engagement and continue driving service business to pharmacies across the UK using a new innovative, integrative technology platform,
MyHealthHub.
MyHealthHub will not only integrate with Analyst PMR, but also forms part of an entire new technology ecosystem from Positive Solutions, the Hx platform and will
be entirely interoperable.
The pharmacy business is one of the most profitable businesses on the planet. However, the trends are changing and as we move forward in this digital world,
we see a transition from traditional business practices to modern and digital business practices that change the whole scenario.
In this era of advanced technology, if you don't keep up with the world, you lose the race. It is a fast-paced world where trends change every day, something might
work today but it won't work tomorrow, it will be replaced with something better and more efficient whether it is a tool, a technique, a marketing strategy, or a
manufacturing process.
Everything is being replaced with better alternatives more than ever. Now it is time to realize this change and bring some new guns to your business arsenal. You can
employ an auto attendant for your pharmacies, or build a website for online orders and deliveries. Online pharmacies are getting popular a lot and they are the
future.
Here are a few tips and tricks that you can use to run your pharmacy business like a pro.
The future of community pharmacies is in danger. With some 639 local pharmacies closing in England since 2016, action is clearly needed to ensure their
longevity and maintain their rightful place on the high street.
With increasing pressure on the NHS, which is suffering from healthcare backlogs and long waiting lists following the harsh impact of the pandemic, pharmacies
have an opportunity to create a more substantial contribution within the healthcare industry.
To ensure that pharmacies are able to embrace this opportunity, they need to be equipped with the necessary tools to enable them to meet the needs of an increasingly
digital population.
One way of doing this is to support pharmacies online, by providing them with a means to connect to patients via mobile, tablet or desktop. In turn, the UK population
needs to be more aware of the services that can be provided by a pharmacist - many of which would save them from visiting a GP.
Being accepted and appearing attractive has always been among the most coveted goals in the world, which has given rise to the multibillion-dollar cosmetic
and beauty industry. Fairy stories have been written about everlasting charm, and battles have been waged over attaining beauty. For the most part throughout history,
people have continuously sought ways to improve their features using natural materials, and as technology advanced, they began to use technical methods like light
therapy to accomplish the same goal.
Chains of cosmetic clinics have sprouted up as a result of advances in technology and cosmetic materials, providing a variety of techniques to slow down the aging
process or improve our appearance. So how can you set up your own beauty treatment and plastic surgery clinic to take advantage of this rapidly expanding market?
Here are some pieces of advice!
FIND QUALITY EQUIPMENT
Your success depends on securing the greatest tools available for skin care and plastic surgery. Good quality equipment is a complete solution for distinguishing
yourself from the competition. The initial step would be to locate different vendors. Using criteria like the cost of the equipment and replacement parts, the
vendor's training, the company's reputation, the after-sales services, yearly maintenance, system performance, warranty, and extended warranties, you may narrow
down your list of recommended suppliers. When selecting the appropriate medical supplies and equipment for your clinic, keep your budget in mind.
NHS England has commissioned the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) to develop guidance that helps community and hospital pharmacy teams across Britain to
reduce the impact of pharmacy services, pharmaceutical care and medicines on the environment.
The RPS said the Greener Pharmacy Guidance will enable pharmacies to self-assess their impact against the standards, benchmark and improve through evidence-based
activities and actions.
"I'm delighted our strong commitment to helping pharmacy reduce its environmental impact can now be taken to the next level through developing guidance and
accreditation for pharmacy teams," RPS president Professor Claire Anderson said.
"Medicines account for 25 per cent of carbon emissions within the NHS and this initiative underscores our commitment to promoting sustainable healthcare and
supporting the NHS's goal of achieving 'net zero' emissions by 2040."
Peter Morgan, medicines assistant director at NHS England, commented: "Pharmacy staff are involved in the purchasing and dispensing of almost every medicine used
in the NHS and the new Greener Pharmacy Guidance and Self-accreditation scheme will provide support for pharmacy professionals by outlining clear actions to deliver
more environmentally sustainable pharmacy practices."
The RPS said the guidance and digital self-assessment toolkit will integrate with carbon calculator tools to help pharmacy teams to measure their carbon footprint,
action plan to reduce use of carbon and improve sustainability.
BioNTech and Pfizer are to start tests on humans of next-generation vaccines that protect against a wide variety of coronaviruses in the second half of the year.
Their experimental work on shots that go beyond the current approach include T-cell-enhancing shots, designed to primarily protect against severe disease if the
virus becomes more dangerous, and pan-coronavirus shots that protect against the broader family of viruses and its mutations.
In presentation slides posted on BioNTech's website for its investor day, the German biotech firm said its aim was to "provide durable variant protection".
The two companies are currently discussing with regulators enhanced versions of their established shot to better protect against the Omicron variant and its
sublineages.
The virus' persistent mutation into new variants that more easily evade vaccine protection, as well as waning human immune memory, have added urgency to the search
by companies, governments and health bodies for more reliable tools of protection.
As part of a push to further boost its infectious disease business, BioNTech said it was independently working on precision antibiotics that kill superbugs that
have grown resistant to currently available anti-infectives.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has expressed its concerns over sustained pressures on medicines supply that are having a very
serious impact on community pharmacy teams and their patients.
It has asked contractors and their teams to continue using its regular reporting tools to help them demonstrate the scale of the problems to the Department of
Health and Social Care (DHSC) and to support escalations as needed.
The committee said: "The sustained increases in price concessions that we have seen so far in 2022 - with more than 100 concessions being granted in some months -
show no signs of abating, and we know that many pharmacies now find themselves in a critical situation trying to source medicines in timely manner and facing
significant financial risk due to greater uncertainty around expected reimbursement prices for a large number of medicines."
"We know that some concessions being imposed by the Department do not match contractors' experience on the ground, and we would ask all contractors to continue
reporting pricing issues to us on a regular basis to support our representations: Report product over Drug Tariff price."
An alliance of companies has pledged to ensure equitable access to vaccines and treatments for pandemics, as the friction around intellectual property rights
for Covid-19 interventions between the pharmaceutical industry and developing nations endures.
At the heart of the plan is a commitment to set aside part of the production of vaccines and treatments upfront for vulnerable populations in low-income countries
when the next pandemic arises, given how fragmented access to Covid tools has left many populations unprotected.
In order to do better next time - and without knowing which companies will develop the first drugs and vaccines for the next pandemic - having the industry
collectively make this commitment is potentially transformative, said Thomas Cueni, head of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers &
Associations (IFPMA).
The pledge, called the Berlin Declaration, was made on July 19 by members of the global pharmaceutical industry group that include many of the companies involved
in developing Covid interventions, such as AstraZeneca, GSK, Moderna, Pfizer and Merck.
The declaration is not legally binding.
However, if a company that signed on reneges on its vow, it would face grave consequences in the court of public opinion, said Cueni.
Community pharmacy teams are urged to share their views relating to the new NHS Booking and Referral Standard (BaRS).
"This will ensure that the tool supports the needs of pharmacy team members and their patients," said the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC).
BaRS is an interoperability standard for healthcare IT systems which should enable booking and referral information to be sent to or from care providers, such as
community pharmacies, quickly, safely and in a format useful to clinicians.
"The intentions are that the BaRS IT standard will eventually be available in all care settings. The way the standard could be used in pharmacies is currently being
considered, including the potential for use for referrals from NHS 111 to community pharmacy."
The BaRS team are conducting interviews (usually lasting 30-45 minutes) to hear more the current experiences and the future preferences regarding sending and
receiving referral messages.
Many of us know that oral health plays a hugely important role in our general health and wellbeing. We're continuing to see a rise of cosmetic dentistry
such as veneers and teeth whitening[1] but fundamentally, it shouldn't be forgotten that oral health encompasses so much more than aesthetics. Our diets,
the oral hygiene products we are using, and our brushing techniques are all elements that impact our oral health.
It's been hard to miss in the news that there is a dental crisis in the UK, with 'dental deserts' leaving some areas with over 3,000 patients for every NHS
dentist[2]. With oral health being of such importance to our overall health[3], it's only reiterated to us at Haleon that we must continue to promote access
to dental care and understanding of better dental health.
As I've mentioned in previous articles for Pharmacy Business, an understanding of preventative, self-care is hugely beneficial, not just to improve health
inclusivity but to help reduce these current burdens on both healthcare and dentistry professionals. We know that at Haleon, we, and the consumer healthcare
industry as a whole, have a responsibility to empower people to equip themselves with the tools and information to participate in their own and loved ones'
health - and dental health is such an important part of that.
Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has issued a medicine supply notification for GLP-1 receptor agonists used in the management of type 2 diabetes
on Tuesday (27 June).
"There are very limited, intermittent supplies of all glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) licensed in the management of Type 2 Diabetes
Mellitus (T2DM)," said DHSC.
The supply issues have been caused by an increase in demand for these products for licensed and off-label indications and it is not expected to return to
normal until at least mid-2024.
Pharmacists are urged to refer to the SPS Tool for Medicines Shortages for an up-to-date supply stock situation and clinical guidance on alternative
treatment options.
Over the last few years, we've seen the aftermath of Covid-19, with the demand for consumer health products being unprecedented and unpredictable, placing
pressure on supply chains and labour market. In turn, the industry has experienced acute shortages across the healthcare sector, placing huge pressure on
pharmacists, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.
Europe has an estimated shortage of around 50,000 public-sector doctors[1], which is set to increase in the coming years. While this shortage stems from several
complex problems, there is a hidden force that could play a key part in helping to alleviate this burden. That force is the potential of self-care.
Encouragingly, last month the UK government recognised the unique role that self-care can play through the introduction of its Delivery plan for recovering access
to primary care. Through this, it has pledged to empower patients to manage their own health through several commitments, including improving accessibility to
online tools and reclassifying medicines to make formerly prescribed options available over the counter.
A £5m project has been launched to introduce new blood tests in the National Health Service (NHS) that can diagnose Alzheimer's disease.
The blood tests could be available on the NHS within five years and they can diagnose the disease earlier and more accurately than current methods, experts have said.
Alzheimer's Research UK, the Alzheimer's Society and the National Institute of Health and Care Research have jointly launched the project.
Susan Kohlhaas, Executive Director of Research and Partnerships at Alzheimer's Research UK, said that the NHS doesn't possess the "required levels of diagnostic
infrastructure" to cope with the "growing demand" for dementia diagnosis.
"Low-cost tools like blood tests that are non-invasive and simpler to administer than current gold standard methods are the answer to this," she added.
Starting from January 2024, it will be compulsory for medicine suppliers in the NHS supply chain in England to submit an Evergreen Sustainable Supplier
Assessment each year.
Suppliers who fail to submit the sustainability assessment will not be placed on medicines contracts, said NHS England.
The NHS has taken this move as part of its ambition to reach carbon net zero by 2045.
The Evergreen Sustainable Supplier Assessment is a self-assessment and reporting tool for suppliers to share sustainability information with the NHS.
Chris McAleer, medicines net zero project delivery manager at NHS England, announced this new rule at the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists' Procurement and
Distribution Interest Group Autumn Symposium held in Birmingham on 2 November 2023.
