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In our special issue of "The 10 Leading Diagnostic Solution Providers 2019", we have featured top diagnostic companies that have not only enabled correct...

I have always been passionate about Community Pharmacy and am proud of the way that the sector navigated itself through Covid-19 and is currently navigating itself through all the changes in the NHS landscape. When I started my role in Sep 2019 as the CEO of Kent LPC, I used to say that community pharmacy has changed more in the last five years than the 15 before that, however, I now believe community pharmacy has changed more in the last two years than the 20 before. The year 2019 saw the start of the five-year Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework which set out how community pharmacy would support delivery of the NHS long term plan. What PSNC (or any of us) when negotiating this deal had not envisaged was the Covid-19 pandemic. Whilst the world turned upside down, we saw high street shops close their doors and immense pressure flood the NHS. Community pharmacy did what they always do, they adapted, teams came together, worked through, and showed resilience in the face of adversity. In Kent, I saw us integrate into primary are and into the NHS structure very quickly, in the first few weeks after Covid-19. All the usual red tape was removed, we all worked together to implement services to help patients in a matter of weeks when they would have normally taken months.

The British Generic Manufacturers Association (BGMA) has published a positioning paper which sets out the objectives that need to be delivered through the next Voluntary Pricing and Access Scheme (VPAS) on Thursday (15 June). The paper details how a financially sustainable VPAS can support widened medicines access to patients. VPAS is an agreement between the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI). The scheme aims to limit increases in spending on branded medicines to no more than 2% per year via a rebate system which is charged on companies' sales revenues. Two years ago, the rate was 5.1% but for 2023 it has soared to 26.5%. Last year, the association had raised concerns over the rise in the VPAS rate for 2023 to 26.5 per cent. "The rocketing rate is in large part due to the growth in spend in on-patent medicines since 2019. Looking at the four completed years of the current VPAS scheme, data shows that the average annual growth rate for on-patent medicine sales value from 2019-22 was 18% compared to just 2% for off-patent products," said the association.

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.

Long waits for an ambulance or surgery led to the death of 112 people, and nearly 8,000 more people suffered harm while waiting for help in England last year. The data from NHS England, obtained by The Guardian, show that patient deaths arising directly from care delays have risen more than fivefold over the last three years. In 2019, there were 21 patient deaths due to NHS care delays, and 96 people suffered "severe harm" as compared to 152 last year. Adult mental health care was mostly affected with 471 patients experiencing harm due to delays, followed by childbirth care (253), eye problems (221), and trauma and general surgery (207). There has been increase of 97 percent in the overall number of people suffering some degree of harm, from 3,979 in 2019 to 7,856 in 2022.

The British Generic Manufacturers Association (BGMA) has raised concerns over the rise in the VPAS rate for 2023 to 26.5 per cent. The Department of Health Social Care (DHSC) today announced that the 2019 voluntary scheme payment percentage for 2023 will be 26.5%. The 2019 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access is an agreement between the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry. BGMA believes that the high VPAS tax for 2023 risks more medicines shortages, rising prices for the NHS via reduced competition, and new medicine launches to the UK being deferred. Mark Samuels, Chief Executive of BGMA, said: "Raising the VPAS tax to 26.5% will damage the UK's medicines supply because it will make some products lossmaking. It is more than a five-fold tax increase from 2021, and no industry can cope with this unpredictable and exceptional tax volatility.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in recent response to the questions asked by members of the House of Lords addressed the concerning trend of pharmacy closures in rural areas across the UK. Led by The Bishop of St Albans, inquiries focused on the number of community pharmacies that had ceased operations over the past five years and the ongoing financial challenges faced by those remaining in rural regions. Lord Markham, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care, provided insights into the stark reality confronting rural communities. Highlighting data as per Guide to applying the Rural Urban Classification to data (2019-2023) Markham illustrated the significant closure rates of rural pharmacies compared to the limited number of new openings between 2019 and 2023. The figures revealed a fluctuating trend over the past five years, indicating a dynamic landscape within rural pharmacy provision.

"Record long NHS waits are forcing huge numbers of people out of work, including doctors and nurses," said Wes Streeting MP, Labour's Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary as Labour announced a new partnership with Nuffield Health today to tackle joint pain issues among NHS staff and reducing waiting lists. Musculoskeletal problems, including back, knee, hip, and neck pain, are the second leading cause of NHS staff absences, surpassed only by mental health issues. In December 2023 alone, NHS workers missed a record 198,000 days due to these issues, marking a 13 per cent increase from the 174,000 days recorded in December 2019. Nurses and health visitors accounted for 52,000 of these days, up from 47,000 pre-pandemic, while doctors took 3,500 days off, a 9 per cent increase from 2019. The partnership with Nuffield Health will provide up to 4,000 extra places for NHS staff in Nuffield Health's Joint Pain Programme at no cost.

From CBD infused-foods to dairy-free alternatives, Verdict Foodservice rounds up some of the health food trends that are launching across restaurants in 2019.

Market Industry Reports (MIR) has published a new report titled "Urinalysis Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2019-2030." According to the report, the global urinalysis market is estimated to be over US$ 1.4 Bn in 2017. It is anticipated to grow at a substantial CAGR from 2019 to 2030

Market Industry Reports (MIR) has published a new report titled "IV Equipment Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2019-2030." According to the report, the global IV Equipment market is estimated to be around US$ 10.0 Bn in 2017. It is anticipated to grow at a substantial CAGR from 2019 to 2030.

ImmunoGen has presented full data from the Phase III Forward I study of mirvetuximab soravtansine in ovarian cancer at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2019 Congress in Barcelona, Spain, saying that it failed to meet the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS).

The NHS England is rapidly expanding the targeted lung health check programme (TLHC) across England to detect lung cancers at an early stage. Launched in 2019, it is a national scheme that identifies people aged 55-74 at increased risk of lung cancer to invite them for a lung health check and chest CT scan, if appropriate. Since then, it has heled detect over 3,000 lung cancers, mostly at an early stage when the condition is more treatable, Dr Jason Page, Clinical Director of South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw targeted lung health checks, revealed in a blog on the NHS website. The decision to initiate the programme follows a study that showed CT screening reduced lung cancer mortality by 26 per cent in men and between 39 per cent and 61 per cent in women.

Recently, the Indian Army took the Twiterrati by surprise as it claimed to have discovered the footprints of a Yeti around the Makalu base camp of Nepal on 0th of April. Indian Army even tweeted pictures of the mythical creature of Nepali folklore as well. Their Twitter post read, " For the first time, an #IndianArmy Mountaineering Expedition Team has sited Mysterious Footprints of mythical beast 'Yeti' measuring 32×15 inches close to Makalu Base Camp on 09 April 2019. This elusive snowman has only been sighted at Makalu-Barun National Park in the past."

A Phase 3 study comparing Samsung Bioepis' SB8 with Avastin in patients with metastatic or recurrent non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) demonstrated equivalent efficacy in terms of risk ratio of overall response rate (ORR).

Digital health interventions (DHIs) are fast emerging as vital tools to promote personal health and provide essential services. DHIs can be accessed through mobile phones, tablets and computers, as well as serve as effective support systems to improve personal health.

Digital health interventions (DHIs) are fast emerging as vital tools to promote personal health and provide essential services. DHIs can be accessed through mobile phones, tablets and computers, as well as serve as effective support systems to improve personal health.

Research and development (R&D) in liquid biopsy is increasingly being funded by both public and private sectors due to its promising features such as early detection of cancer tumour, new lesion characterisation and identification of cancer drug target.

Liquid biopsy, a minimally invasive cancer diagnostic tool, has gained momentum in the last five years due to its advantages over the archaic painful procedure of solid tumour biopsy.

Despite advances in the renal cell carcinoma (RCC) therapy landscape, the majority of patients with RCC will eventually develop resistance to available therapies and the disease will progress through several stages, requiring further lines of treatment.

Advances in cancer treatments, such as immunotherapies and precision medicines, have been associated with a corresponding rise in the cost of new and innovative medicines.

The global dialysis market is expected to grow at a steady rate, indicating a CAGR of 5.0% during the forecast period 2019-2025. This is one of the most serviced market in the healthcare industry. The factors that drive the growth of this market include increasing incidence of ESRD diseases, along with a rise in chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. The surge in funding by government and private sectors for dialysis has helped the market witness steady growth. In addition, the increased disposable income also acts as a growth driver. However, the high embedded costs and related challenges in the dialysis industry, along with lack of kidney donors and reduction in reimbursement is expected to dampen the growth of this market.