Group items tagged

Private healthcare provider CityDoc has partnered with the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) in its bid to widen a "nationwide network of vaccine clinics" to increase footfall to community pharmacies that come onboard. The company says NPA member pharmacies that join the network will have their own dedicated page on the CityDoc website, while benefiting from having online marketing done on their behalf via an extensive Google AdWords campaign and local listings optimisation - all paid for by CityDoc. The participating pharmacies will also have access to their own booking system, marketing materials and access to the latest vaccine and private healthcare information. NPA member Nick Daines, who runs Lifestyle Pharmacy in Bath, said he has partnered with CityDoc for six years and seen "a significant increase in revenue from private services." He added: "The CityDoc partnership has allowed us to establish Lifestyle Pharmacy as a go-to venue for healthcare within Bath. "We have seen significantly increased footfall thanks to our partnership with CityDoc, which in turn has allowed us to grow the NHS and retail aspects of the business."

Our Totton branch has an incredibly high volume of original pack dispensing, roughly 45,000 items. As we became busier and busier in the dispensary we were finding that our pharmacists, dispensers and other technicians simply didn't have capacity to deliver the services that we needed them to. We all know there is a real emphasis right now on pharmacies doing more services and we knew we had to change the way we operate to survive. So we decided it was time to look into a sound automation solution for our medication dispensing process, one that would allow us to free up the time of the pharmacists and the rest of the team so they could better support patients. After a lot of research we invested in Centred Solutions FLOWRx Hub and InStore solutions which were installed late last year. It provides us with the whole package and has automated our entire dispensing process from picking to packing and labeling to checking. Our situation was quite unique as we bought the system initially for our existing high-volume pharmacy in Totton so the hub and the spoke are actually on the same site. People wouldn't usually look at a hub and spoke solution for that kind of set up but it has allowed us to significantly free up time in store for more services. What it has also done is allow us to look at other opportunities to grow and expand. The pharmacy landscape is changing and there are lots of opportunities coming up. We have found that having your technology and the right infrastructure in place to support your existing footprint before you expand is the ideal way to grow in a safe and controlled way. We never thought that five years ago we would buy another pharmacy, yet we have already bought one and are now in the process of buying two more. I'm not worried about the increase in volume this expansion will bring because I know our technology is going to be able to support it. The pharmacies we are buying are struggling but having our solution already in place m

Bristol-based Titan PMR, a technology firm specialising in PMR systems for community pharmacies, is set to roll out an innovative platform named 'Titanverse,' that it claims will redefine pharmacy management, offering comprehensive solutions extending beyond prescription management. This new platform takes a versatile approach, efficiently managing all facets of pharmacy operations, from high-level management down to daily tasks, according to top company officials. "Our aim is to reshape pharmacies into genuine health hubs, providing advanced services and harnessing state-of-the-art technologies," said Tariq Muhammad, CEO of Titan PMR. "Titanverse, our latest offering, is positioned to ignite this transformation, revolutionising clinical services in the same way its predecessor revolutionised dispensing. With Titanverse, we have the vehicle to drive this vision forward, placing pharmacies at the forefront of primary care in the future." Titanverse adopts a Teams approach, catering to pharmacies with multiple locations or specific focuses. It furnishes real-time analytics and employs a color-coded rating system for swift performance evaluation. Moreover, the platform eases operations by enabling task delegation, encompassing clinical checks and dispensing, all while backing private services with adaptable templates and workflows.

The large majority of adults in the England knew that flu jabs are available in many pharmacies, just over half were aware of the GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service or the New Medicine Service, according to a new survey by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA). The new survey revealed the need to raise the public awareness of key NHS services such as the New Medicine Service. According to the survey, 56 per cent of those asked believed that pharmacies in England offer NHS consultations for people newly prescribed a medicine for a long-term condition. While 48 per cent believed that many pharmacies in England offer blood pressure monitoring (NHS or private). 51 per cent believed it to be true that GPs can formally refer patients for same-day clinical advice from their local pharmacist about minor ailments.

The Challenges There cannot be anyone working in or with community pharmacy that either feels or sees the pain that emanates from the current operating climate. Pharmacy closures; increased workload and operating costs; increased patient and commissioner expectations; and, more fundamentally, an inadequate, undervalued and poorly structured remuneration and reimbursement contractual framework. As important as they are, we will not focus on these points here as they are not in the control of pharmacy owners and managers. They are the responsibility of those organisations that represent them at a national and local level who must deliver a better outcome as difficult as that may be. However, there are matters which are in the control of pharmacy owners and managers. These include their premises, their team, their systems and processes, their relationships with other healthcare providers and the broader community, their NHS and private service offer, and how they promote and deliver them to give the best patient experience. In order to create the head space to develop and implement a business plan, pharmacy owners and managers must make time to work on their business as well as in it. Then it requires the capacity and capability within their team to deliver the services and that excellent patient experience.

We know remuneration influences behaviour. If I have a construction company and I pay a bricklayer a fee per brick to supply and fit, I suspect he will source them from the cheapest supplier and lay as many bricks as he possibly can. If one day, I reduce the fee such that it barely covers the cost of the brick, at a time when bricks are in short supply and labour costs have gone up, oh and I take some money off him for the profit he made on bricks he supplied the previous year, I suspect he will tell me to stick my job where the sun doesn't shine. It may be a crude analogy, but it is pretty much what's happened in community pharmacy over the last 20 years. The remuneration we get for dispensing does not cover the cost of providing the service. The reimbursement for the drugs does not cover the cost of the drugs. In fact, we make a loss on many items given all the clawbacks and supply shortages. Wages have gone up. And then each year the government claws back profit they say we've made, apparently! Yet, despite all this, we continue providing the service under this archaic system, allowing our paymaster to repeat the injustice because they know they can and, unlike the bricklayer, we will just suck it up and take it. So, what makes us carry on like this? Is it our conscience towards patient care? Is it that we don't know what else to do and the fear of the unknown? Or is it like the boiling frog story, where the temperature has increased gradually around us that we haven't noticed the government heat slowly killing community pharmacy. I suspect the answer is a mixture of all these factors. The pain is somewhat masked when we see fee paying services

Titan PMR, a pioneer of cutting pharmacy technology has set up additional new team of 12 staff to cater for a deluge of independent pharmacists investing in new businesses. The company is utilising the opportunity that is underway as large chains look to sell off or close their community pharmacies, offering an opportunity for pharmacists looking to provide efficient dispensing and additional services. In January this year Lloyds Pharmacy, which was bought by a private equity firm in 2022, announced plans to close all its 237 branches inside Sainsbury's stores over the course of 2023. Currently, more than 5,500 of around 14,000 registered pharmacy premises across the UK are owned by corporates and supermarkets. Titan PMR - an innovative, cloud-based system which manages end-to-end pharmacy workflow - has become the preferred software platform especially amongst first time buyers who are keen to offer new services to patients. The new team at the Bristol-based company, hired to support this sector, sees its total workforce growing to more than 50 staff.

Sixty-seven per cent of UK independent pharmacists say the pandemic has positively changed how patients view the clinical services offered by community pharmacy. The research - carried out with an independent panel of more than 100 community pharmacists - revealed that 35 per cent of them had increased their clinical services to fulfil patient demand during the pandemic. Seventeen per cent said they had expanded their private clinical services such as vaccinations and dermatology, with a further 17 per cent adding sexual health services such as emergency contraception and chlamydia screening in their services offer. Thirty per cent introduced NHS health checks and emergency supply NHS services during the pandemic.

Pharmadoctor, a company which provides clinical service packages to pharmacists, has announced the launch of the UK's first private Covid vaccination service via its nationwide network of partner community pharmacies. For the first time, people who are eligible for the Covid-19 vaccine (those aged 12 years and over) will be able to get the shots from their local independent pharmacy by paying as little as £45 per jab, the company said. The delivery of the new service is expected to start by 1st April at the latest by "thousands of pharmacists" using the Pharmadoctor eTool. To encourage pharmacists to sign up early to provide the service, the company is offering its package at half-price until 31st March.

The Department of Health and Social Care has clarified that community pharmacists will not be among those allowed to issue sick notes, calling the service unsuitable to be provided over the counter. In response to a question from Pharmacy Business, a spokesperson for the department said that the policy change was "aimed at pharmacists working within general practices or hospital settings", adding: "The intention is that 'where' the fit note is issued will remain the same but 'who' issues it will change. The DHSC went on to explain that fit notes, known technically as 'Med3', were "not part of the NHS commissioned services" and therefore private providers, such as high street pharmacies, were unable to provide it under government provision. It added that since "fit notes should only be issued following a full assessment of a patient's fitness for work", it "would be an unsuitable service to be provided 'over the counter'.

The regulatory amendments proposed will enable pharmacists to dispense medicines in their original packaging for private prescriptions starting this Autumn, according to the Department of Health and Social Care. In the recently published draft OPD regulations, the DHSC has indicated that the alterations, permitting pharmacists to vary the dispensed quantity by up to 10 per cent to avoid splitting medicine packs, will be implemented for private prescriptions 'immediately upon the enforcement of the Human Medicines Amendment Regulations in the autumn,' as highlighted in a briefing by Community Pharmacy England. CPE stated that the regulations related to NHS prescriptions will come into effect when the pharmaceutical terms of service regulations expressly apply the OPD amendments. Moreover, new directive mandating the dispensing of sodium valproate products solely in their original packaging (except when an assessment of risk necessitates an alternative approach) will align with the rollout of the private prescription regulations during the autumn. CPE further noted that these regulations are currently in draft, indicating that they are not currently in effect and may undergo revisions prior to their implementation.

In the competitive landscape of healthcare, strategic alliances can be a game-changer. Dr. Dupe, a General Practitioner at Christchurch Clinics, and Baba, a Pharmacist at Christchurch Pharmacy, married for 24-years cultivate their synergy through mental wellbeing walks. Their recent 24 kilometres fundraising walk to support a local hospice - Farleigh Hospice, is one of such. Having met Dupe first in 1994, first as interns at a teaching hospital, now married, the couple offer a comprehensive range of services, including pharmacy, private clinics, homecare services as proprietors of Christchurch Health-centre in Braintree. gp; pharmacist; mental wellbeing walks, healthcare Dupe and Baba in their clinic Dr. Dupe and Pharmacist Baba Akomolafe in their clinic, demonstrating their synergy and dedication to patient care. United by faith, a love for healthcare, and a shared commitment to service the community, their 'Mental Wealth Management' as they call it comprises of daily morning walks covering a distance of six kilometres.

The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has issued a new policy statement which encourages a "life-course" approach to vaccination by pharmacists. In the statement, published on September 27, FIP backed expansion of vaccine schedules and strategies so that patients of all age groups could be vaccinated throughout their entire lifespan, from infancy to old age. A life-course approach in public health and healthcare focuses on an individual's health and well-being, including vaccination, administered throughout their entire lifespan, from infancy to old age. FIP urged governments and policymakers to eliminate regulatory barriers, enabling pharmacists to prescribe and administer all relevant vaccines throughout the life-course. Additionally, FIP recommended that policymakers develop remuneration models for pharmacies to deliver sustainable life-course vaccination services within the private and public sectors.

Community pharmacists in England have slammed the government's latest decision to reduce the number of people who get a free winter flu jab in the 2022-23 flu season, as concerns related to Covid-19 still exist. This follows a letter from the NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I) to clinicians, which stated that the flu vaccination service in 2022-23 will be offered to patient groups eligible in line with pre-pandemic recommendations. The eligibility was widened significantly after the pandemic struck in 2020 to help reduce the death toll from the Covid-19. With the change in place people aged 50-64 and schoolchildren aged 11-15 will not be eligible to receive the free jabs on the NHS next winter, pushing millions of people to pay for their jabs privately. It further recommended that vaccination for frontline healthcare workers and social care workers should be provided by employers as part of the organisation's policy to prevent the transmission of infection.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England last month issued a "safety critical" national patient safety alert, warning about the UK-wide shortage of a life-saving drug used to treat patients with chronic breathing issues. NHS trusts, health authorities, ambulance services, GP practices, private healthcare providers, and community pharmacy contractors were informed that salbutamol 2.5mg and 5mg nebuliser liquid unit dose vials are in short supply, with the latter likely to remain "out of stock" until mid-April 2024. As per the alert, the shortage of the drug resulted from a combination of manufacturing issues, leading to heightened demand for alternative suppliers. It was mentioned that while terbutaline, salbutamol with ipratropium, and ipratropium nebuliser liquids remained available, they could't meet the increased demand.

LloydsPharmacy Clinical Homecare, a leading provider of home healthcare services in the UK, on Monday announced the appointment of Paul Adams as the company's new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Before assuming his role at LPCH at the end of last year, Adams was leading transformation efforts at DD Group, formerly known as Dental Directory. With a career spanning over two decades, Adams has held influential positions at Diageo, Smith+Nephew, and served as a CEO for various Private Equity companies. He has also co-authored "The Little Black Book of Change." Adams will lead the LPCH's mission to pioneer the delivery of specialist clinical treatment therapies to patients, thereby enhancing patient outcomes within homecare and community settings while improving accessibility.