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The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has published the full text of the 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth (VPAG). The 2024 VPAG agreement text sets out the detailed terms of the agreement reached between DHSC, NHS England and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) to support patient access to medicines, the financial sustainability of the NHS and the UK life sciences sector. The new voluntary scheme will come into force on 1 January 2024, following expiry of the 2019 Voluntary Scheme and shall remain in force for a period of five years, until 31 December 2028. Manufacturers or suppliers of branded medicines to the NHS have been given time till 15 January 2024 to decide whether to join the new 2024 Voluntary Scheme, or default to the updated Statutory Scheme.

NHS England has agreed to offer an additional payment of £2.50 per jab if pharmacies would be willing to extend the duration of their COVID-19 vaccination contract until 31st August 2024. Pharmacies currently providing the autumn vaccination are asked to let their local commissioner know, by 22nd February 2024, if they can provide cover for a potential Spring booster programme, if the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advises in their guidance expected to be published soon. NHS figures showed that more than 3,500 community pharmacies signed the contract to deliver COVID-19 vaccinations between 1 September 2023 and 31 March 2024, as part of the autumn booster programme. The health service is hoping that most of these pharmacies will be able to continue to support the Spring campaign, which will run from 1 April 2024 to 31st August 2024, to help protect the nation's most vulnerable populations. For the Spring campaign only, pharmacies would be offered an extra £2.50 per jab in addition to the existing item of service fee of £7.54, NHS England said.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), NHS England and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) have reached an agreement on the 2024 voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing, access and growth (VPAG). The landmark deal will save the NHS £14 billion over 5 years in medicines costs, boost the nation's health, and support research investment. The new VPAG scheme, which will be a non-contractual voluntary agreement between DHSC and ABPI, will run for 5 years from 1 January 2024 until 31 December 2028. It will double the annual allowed growth of sales of branded medicines from two per cent per year in 2024 to four per cent per year by 2027.

Boots and the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) Union have released a joint statement to confirm that there will be a pay increase for trainee pharmacists in England and Northern Ireland from April 2024. From 1 April 2024, the new hourly pay rate for trainee pharmacists working at Boots pharmacies will be £12.69 for Zone A in England/Northern Ireland, £13.79 for Zone B in England and £14.05 for Zone C in England. "This increase will be applied centrally in the April pay run," said the statement from the Boots and the PDA Union. Team members can see the new rate of pay in the Benefits Box during the annual enrolment window from 20 February 2024, it added. In August 2023, pay for trainee pharmacists at Boots in England and Northern Ireland was increased to £11.64 per hour for Zone A, £12.77 per hour for Zone B and £12.88 per hour for Zone C.

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.

6th Edition of World Critical Care and Anesthesiology Conference 2024 (WCAC24) is organized by Episirus Scientifica (ES) and will be held from Mar 09 - 10, 2024 at Grand Mercure Bangkok Atrium, Huai Khwang, Bangkok, Thailand.The conference will address the complex nature of critical care cases, including their unique physiology, an array of procedures, and potential complications.

HPC 2024: Hospitalist and Emergency Procedures Course is organized by Hospital Procedures Consultants and will be held on Jan 20, 2024, in Nevada, USA.

PPE 2024: The Advanced and Difficult Airway Course is organized by Provider Practice Essentials, LLC, and will be held on Jul 18, 2024, in Dallas, USA.

Community pharmacies in England will continue to receive the free protective equipment (PPE) as the Government's scheme has been extended for another year until March 2024. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has announced that it will continue to supply all categories of PPE, free of charge, for frontline health and social care staff according to demand until the end of March 2024, or when stocks run out. Last year, DHSC implemented a new and improved portal platform for eligible providers to access free COVID-19 related PPE supplies. The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Commitee (PSNC) said: "Community pharmacy teams can continue to order PPE from the NHS PPE portal for free for as long as stock is available."

The 2-Day Skills and Procedure Workshop is organized by Provider Practice Essentials (PPE), LLC, and will be held from Jun 14 - 15, 2024 in Florida, USA. We don't go above 30 students, and we staff to a 6:1 ratio. Our staff auditions, orients, and goes through extensive training to give you the best experience possible.

URF's 4th Global Congress on Psychology and Neuroscience is organized by the United Research Forum and will be held from Apr 18 - 19, 2024 in the UAE. Our Psychology and Psychology and Neuroscience 2024 is prestigious for its idea and forefront content, unmatched networking opportunities, and speaker-benevolent climate.

Orthopedics And Sports Medicine For Primary Care is organized by AMS and will be held from Apr 22 - 25, 2024, in Sarasota, USA.

Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has launched its third annual Pressures Survey to uncover the various challenges encountered by individuals owning or working in a community pharmacy. The Committee expressed concern that community pharmacies in England are now in a critical situation, significantly affecting workload, stress levels, patients, and businesses. The 2024 Pharmacy Pressures Survey is aimed at finding out more about these issues and other areas such as medicines supply problems and workforce challenges as well as the recently launched Pharmacy First service, it said. CPE chief executive Janet Morrison said that they were able to receive a huge number of responses in previous surveys and they are expecting to achieve a similar level of engagement this year too.

General practitioners (GPs) across England have made a resolute stand against proposed alterations in the 2024/25 national GP General Medical Services (GMS) contract put forth by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England. This firm opposition coincides with the declaration of an extended six-month strike by 33,869 junior doctors within the NHS, advocating for full pay reinstatement and reforms in the pay recommendation process. The latest survey conducted by the British Medical Association (BMA) has revealed that an overwhelming 99.2% of GPs in England are against any changes to the existing contract. The proposed amendments, slated for implementation from April 1st, 2024, encompass a meagre national practice contract baseline funding uplift of just 1.9%, notably falling short of recent inflation rates. This corroborates with GP Online poll that recently unveiled widespread GP dissatisfaction with proposed changes to the national GMS contract. 83% of GPs in favour of strikes cite pay and funding concerns, while burnout, high workloads, and patient safety also fuel discontent.

The University of Lincoln has clinched the top spot on The Guardian's 2024 list for pharmacy and pharmacology studies. This marks a significant advancement from its second-place position in the 2023 rankings, where Ulster University had secured the leading position. Interestingly, Ulster has moved down to claim the second spot this year. Forty universities were assessed using eight criteria, which encompass student satisfaction with teaching, the effectiveness of feedback from instructors, student-to-staff ratio, expenditure per student (excluding academic staff costs), and the average UCAS scores of entrants under 21. Also included were the effectiveness of teaching methods, the proportion of students securing graduate-level employment or pursuing further studies within 15 months of graduation, and the percentage of first-year students progressing into their second year. Among the 40 universities in the ranking list, the University of Lincoln achieved a perfect score of 100 out of 100, followed by Ulster (96.2), Portsmouth (87.9), Leeds (86.3), Glasgow (85.7), Sunderland (84.3), St George's (84.3), Aberdeen (81.3), UCL (81), and Queen's, Belfast (80.1).

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has decided to increase the renewal fees of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy premises by 7.5% from April 2024. The pharmacy technician's renewal fee will see an increase by £9 from £121 to £130, pharmacists fees from £257 to £276, and pharmacy premises from £365 to £392. The following decision came even despite the renewal fees being frozen for individual registrants since 2019 and for pharmacy premises since 2021. This move was facilitated through cost savings measures like using financial reserves and downsizing to a smaller office. However, the council confirmed that the fee hike is due to higher rates of inflation, increase in utility bills and supplier costs. Duncan Rudkin, Chief Executive and Registrar of the GPhC, said: "We know that these are challenging times and that this increase will come as unwelcome news to those we regulate. But to be effective in our role of protecting the public we need to make sure the fees we charge cover the cost of regulation going forward."

The Airway Anesthesia Course is organized by the Airway Management Education Center (AMEC) and will be held from May 03 - 05, 2024 in San Diego, USA.

The Urgent Care Symposium is organized by CME4LIFE and will be held from Feb 05 - 08, 2024 in San Juan.

The government has joined hands with Prostate Cancer UK to launch a massive screening trial in the country next year. Called TRANSFORM, the trial will use innovative screening methods like an MRI scan to detect prostate cancer, which is the most common cancer in men in the UK. The trail is scheduled for launch in Spring 2024, and recruitment is likely to begin in Autumn 2024. For the £42 million trial, the government will invest £16 million through the National Institute of Health Research, and £26m will be provided by Prostate Cancer UK. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) believes that thousands of men's lives could be saved each year if prostate cancer is detected early with effective screening methods.

Derriford Hospital is set to move its outpatient pharmacy to a bigger unit, which will be twice as big as the current size. The new pharmacy, due to open in Spring 2024, is located adjacent to the hospital's on-site Costa Coffee shop in the multistorey car park building. University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust said work is ongoing on the new 155 square metres pharmacy, but measures such as covered seating has been implemented. Additionally, the pharmacy's opening times would be extended during the weekends to benefit patients who are unable to attend during the week, the Trust said, noting that demand for its services has grown by 25 per cent. Kandarp Thakkar, Chief Pharmacist & Clinical Director of Medicines Optimisation, said the pharmacy serves thousands of outpatient appointments each week.