Group items tagged

Take New Year resolution to stay sober and clean. Difficult but not impossible! Here are following goals to help you keep your resolution through the year. Learn how to stick to your New Year resolution in New Horizon Recovery's latest blog.

Take New Year resolution to stay sober and clean. Difficult but not impossible! Here are following goals to help you keep your resolution through the year. Learn how to stick to your New Year resolution in New Horizon Recovery's latest blog.

May I be one of the last people to wish you a 'Happy New Year' The new year is traditionally a time to reflect on the year past and look forward to the new year and all the joys and challenges it will bring, possibly by making a resolution. However, the statistics do not bode well for your resolution lasting. Whether it is to improve your health/lose weight (the no.1 resolution) or performing better at work (3%), the Forbes Health/One Poll survey found that the average resolution lasts just 3.74 months. Only 8% of respondents tend to stick with their goals for one month, while 22% last two months, 22% last three months and 13% last four months. So that's nearly 2/3 gone by 4 months. I only mention this because at the tail end of 2024, I thought Pharmacy, or more specifically Pharmacy Representative bodies had taken an early resolution and decided to get along. I am passionate about Collaboration and am a member of the Institute for Collaborative Working (ICW) and have spoken on the topic at conferences, the Pharmacy Show, etc, and also written in this very magazine on the subject (see Volume 20 March 2024). I have also been pretty dismayed at the lack of collaboration at a representation level leading to headlines such as "Don't underestimate the power of unity" and "Sector disagreement over call for unity" coupled with some 99% of participating pharmacy owners saying they were willing to limit their services unless funding is improved.

Smoking is more harmful than previously thought. New research from University College London (UCL) reveals that every cigarette smoked shortens a smoker's life by an average of 20 minutes. Published today (30 December), the study estimates that a pack of 20 cigarettes results in nearly 7 hours of life lost. The research, commissioned by the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC), also highlights the positive impacts of quitting smoking. Smokers who stop on New Year's Day could save a whole day of their life by 8 January, assuming they smoked 10 cigarettes daily. By 20 February, this figure increases to a week, and by the end of the year, they could avoid losing up to 50 days of life. Public health minister Andrew Gwynne has urged smokers to make a New Year's resolution to quit, describing smoking as "an expensive and deadly habit." "The new year offers a perfect chance for smokers to make a new resolution and take that step."

Healing from arthritis normally requires impressive remedies. Having resolutions is one way to strengthen that resolve and to precisely exactly what your new course of action will be.

Healing from arthritis normally requires impressive remedies. Having resolutions is one way to strengthen that resolve and to precisely exactly what your new course of action will be.

The current structure of global incentives to develop new antibiotics is insufficient and requires urgent resolution revealed a new report 'Incentivising new antibiotics' by the Office of Health Economics (OHE). OHE analysis demonstrates that on a global level, it is estimated that an effective 10-year incentive would require £3.5bn ($4.2bn) to adequately cover the entire research and development process for a new antibiotic. The report considers how health systems in the UK and around the world can stimulate the research and development (R&D) of new antibiotics. In 2020, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England initiated an Antimicrobial Resistance pilot with the aim of incentivising pharmaceutical companies to develop new antibiotics by addressing the issues associated with reimbursement, which historically has deterred companies from pursuing AMR research.

The drug, 'durvalumab', can double the overall time someone can survive with an aggressive form of lung cancer from two-and-a-half to five years. It has been approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and the NHS has sealed a deal with manufacturer AstraZeneca to begin rolling it out. The new treatment will be offered to more than 550 patients a year with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have already undergone both chemotherapy and radiotherapy concurrently. NHS said: "The drug can stop the cancer from getting worse for more than two years - significantly longer than treatment with a combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which can only hold the disease at bay for around six months. This increases overall survival time and gives patients more precious moments with their loved ones." Dame Cally Palmer, national cancer director for NHS England, said: "We are resolute in our ambition to fight the devastating effects of cancer and new pioneering treatments like durvalumab are a vital lifeline for people living with cancer - giving them more precious time with family and friends.

It was an unprecedented move, to call for the first ballot in the 103-year history of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), and now the organisation has warned that it's more than just a scare tactic and pharmacies will go through with action in January if there isn't an acceptable resolution forthcoming from the government. "We're looking for the government to consider our ballot, digest the results, and then come up with a proper proposal for community pharmacy - a fair deal," chief executive officer Paul Ree told Pharmacy Business. "If that's not forthcoming, we've got a board meeting in a couple of weeks, we then need to decide when to take action, but we would be looking at taking action in January." The NPA announced the results of the collective action ballot on 14 November in which nearly all pharmacy owners, who participated in the ballot, voted to limit their services, insisting that a lack of additional funding is jeopardising patient health and safety. "Our members have voted, they've spoken clearly, and unless the government come up with a fair deal soon, we will regrettably have to move to the next step, which is calling for action," said Rees.