Atorvastatin, a medicine to treat high blood cholesterol, is the most dispensed drug with 59 million items in England in 2022/23, revealed the NHS Business
Services Authority (NHSBSA) on Thursday (8 June).
While Apixaban (an anticoagulant) was the drug with the highest costs of £430 million. Apixaban 5mg tablets had the largest increase in cost between 2021/22 and
2022/23 in England, with an increase of £280 million.
NHSBSA's annual statistics report 'Prescription Cost Analysis-England 2022/23' published also has revealed an eight per cent rise in the prescription items that
were dispensed in the community in England.
The report highlighted that in 2022/23, 1.18 billion prescription items were dispensed at a cost of £10.4 billion in the community in England, witnessing an
increase of eight per cent from £9.69 billion in 2021/22.
Atorvastatin was the most dispensed drug in England in 2021/22 with 53.4 million items, revealed the annual Prescription Cost Analysis (PCA) published by
NHS Business Services Authority.
According to the official statistics, Apixaban (an anticoagulant) was the drug with the highest cost of £401 million.
The statistics revealed that the cost of prescription items dispensed in the community in England was £9.69 billion, a 0.87 per cent increase of £83.7 million
from £9.61 billion in 2020/21.
"The number of prescription items dispensed in the community in England was 1.14 billion, a 2.58 per cent increase of 28.7 million items from 1.11 billion in
2020/21."
FreeStyle Libre 2 Sensor kit (a glucose monitoring system) was the presentation with the largest absolute increase in cost between 2020/21 and 2021/22 of £69.8
million, from £2.84 million to £72.6 million.
Rising chronic illnesses and an aging population are threatening to bankrupt the National Health Service, Labour's Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting has
said on October 11.
Streeting announced a substantial £1.1 billion injection to strengthen the NHS with the goal of clearing the backlog and introducing additional clinics on
evenings and weekends.
The frontbencher outlined a reform agenda to ensure NHS is back on its head for the future of healthcare in the UK.
Streeting said that a Labour government will not waste "money we don't have"- instead aims to revolutionise the NHS by shifting its focus from hospitals to
communities.
"Our emphasis is on transitioning from an analogue to a digital framework and prioritising prevention over sickness-oriented healthcare," he noted.
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.
Healthcare reform emerged as a cornerstone of the Labour Party's manifesto leading up to the recent general election. A standout pledge was the establishment
of a Community Pharmacist Prescribing Service, aimed at granting pharmacists independent prescribing rights where clinically suitable. This initiative is seen as a
positive step in addressing critical challenges within the National Health Service (NHS).
Numark Chairman Harry McQuillan praised Labour's recognition of pharmacists' role in patient care through expanded prescribing rights.
"Let's be honest, pharmacists are an underutilised resource within the healthcare system. We possess extensive training and expertise, yet our full potential
hasn't always been acknowledged.
"By harnessing pharmacists expanded prescribing rights, Labour is acknowledging our significant role in patient care. This initiative aims to recognise our skills
and enhance patient care, ensuring quicker access to necessary treatments," he said.
However, he pointed out that the concept requires further exploration, as the rights to prescribe are already granted through the recent change to undergraduate
training that incorporates prescribing.
In response to new research that revealed inequality in menopause support with 51 per cent of women from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds,
Holland & Barrett, the UK's leading health and wellness retailer, has decided to continue its menopause campaign work to make "every menopause matter".
A quarter of women (26 per cent) from minority ethnic communities say they find it difficult to access menopause support relevant to their specific backgrounds.
Alongside support from Olympian and menopause campaigner, Michelle Griffith Robinson and expert, Meera Bhogal, the retailer is launching several new initiatives
to make its information and support on menopause more inclusive by offering more diverse and personalised advice and content, tailored to different needs.
Almost a third (31 per cent) believe being able to speak to a female healthcare professional of the same ethnicity as them would have made a difference to their
menopause experience. Fifteen per cent go as far as saying that communicating in their native language would have made a positive difference.
Based on these findings, Holland and Barrett is the first retailer to launch a free, multi-language menopause online consultation service. The service will
see trained H&B menopause advisors offering guidance and symptom support in multiple languages, starting with Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati and Punjabi.
Southwark Crown Court on Thursday sentenced two pharmacists to two years of imprisonment each, suspended for 24 months, after they were found guilty of
selling 'industrial' quantities of Class C controlled drugs.
Mandip Sidhu (47) of Littleover, Derby and Nabeil Nasr (42) of Cheadle, Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing following an investigation by
the Criminal Enforcement Unit of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA).
Both Sidhu and Nasr were pharmacists registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council at the time of the offenses, which took place between May 2013 and
June 2017. Sidhu was the director of Pharmaceutical Health Limited (PHL) in Derby, while Nasr owned several pharmacies across the North West of England.
Sidhu was sentenced to two years imprisonment on each of five counts of supplying Class C drugs and four months for forgery, all to run concurrently and suspended
for 24 months. Additionally, she must complete 200 hours of community service for her role in the illegal supply of diazepam, zolpidem, and zopiclone.
A pair of pharmacist brothers, who also own a popular restaurant in Kent, have started an innovative initiative 'Jabs with Kebabs' to encourage their community in England to come forward and take their Covid-19 vaccines.
Rav and Raj Chopra, who own V's Punjabi Grill, an Indian restaurant in Gravesend, established the walk-in vaccine site after their father, Jagtar Chopra, became unwell with Covid-19 last year.
The duo is among thousands to volunteer for the National Health Service (NHS) vaccine programme.
Talking to the PA news agency, Raj said he was inspired by the experience of his father, who got infected with the virus and has fully recovered since then.
"From a personal point of view, it was very debilitating to see Dad like that," said Raj Chopra. "It got everyone's emotions in play.
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.
Whether it's the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and those suffering with long Covid, or the financial pressures of rising living costs, these hard times
can affect absolutely anyone's mental health.
Mental health problems have worsened across all age-groups in the last few years, from lack of social interaction, unexpected bereavements or the significant impact
of a physical injury or long-term illness taking its toll on mental wellbeing - these challenging experiences and situations that we face throughout life leave a
big strain on the population.
Ultimately, there is an urgent need to reduce rising levels of mental ill-health in our society. As a pharmacist with 25 years' experience in healthcare, I feel I
have an obligation to my patients to support them with their healthcare needs, and mental health should be treated just the same as physical health.
Despite efforts to improve NHS mental health services, patients may still not be receiving the appropriate immediate care as they are often provided with online
counselling or an App for long-term support (online support introduced since the pandemic).
Community pharmacists are in a unique position to be advocates for patients with mental illness as they are the healthcare professionals' patients see most often.
This is a good opportunity for pharmacists to speak to patients face-to-face and give them advice in a more practical way rather than potentially waiting weeks for
an GP appointment.
Professional translators recreate texts, not simply matching word-for-word, but understanding the underlying meaning, purpose, and interpretation of the original
language, and reproduce it using appropriate terminology and structure to ensure there is no potential for misunderstanding.
An experienced technical translator addresses conventions to ensure the meaning of the information is preserved, using medical expertise and quality review processes
to adapt documentation to meet the needs of patients, medical practitioners, and peers.
Attention to detail is fundamental to medical translations and a non-technical translation is an unacceptably high risk for any organisation involved in publishing
or circulating medical information of any kind.
WHAT IS MEDICAL TRANSLATION?
Medical translation is a technical process where capable translators reproduce content or documentation used anywhere in the medical industry, including psychiatry,
systematic reviews, tuition and training, patient communications for pharmaceutical translation services.
Important clinical trial translations can include labelling, prescriptions, medical devices and patient records, with millions of medicines and treatments used
globally and written in multiple languages.
Qualified medical translators must have exceptional linguistic skills but also a thorough understanding of medical sciences in all the native languages concerned.
However, the complexity of translating one label or one document into several languages can mean that organisations may assume a simple translation is sufficient -
when it is anything but!
In a remarkable turn of events, the NHS App has emerged as a financial saviour for the National Health Service, slashing costs by over £1 million in the
last year alone.
The revelation comes as a testament to the app's growing significance in streamlining patient communication and service delivery.
Throughout the fiscal year 2023/24, a staggering 22.5 million messages traversed the NHS App, a feat previously reliant on traditional methods like text messages
or letters.
This monumental shift not only signifies a boon for efficiency but also heralds substantial savings, with each text message costing an average of 5p.
Drastically reducing these expenses has amounted to a commendable £1.1 million in savings, marking a pivotal milestone in NHS expenditure management.
The National Health Service will begin its autumn Covid vaccine program next week, a month earlier than planned in response to the spread of a new variant
dubbed Pirola. Covid vaccines will be administered to care home residents and housebound individuals from Monday onwards, while over-65s and other vulnerable
groups will receive their appointments the week after.
On Aug. 30, NHS England shifted the autumn vaccination drive to start on September 11 in response to the new Covid-19 variant, BA.2.86, detected on August 18.
The primary groups can book through a national system upon receiving an invitation from the NHS. Some people may get an earlier call from their GP, and a few have
already scheduled Covid vaccinations alongside their flu jabs.
The NHS will begin inviting other eligible groups from Sept. 18. However, it is important to note that not everyone will receive a call at the same time. These
groups will include individuals aged 65 and over, those aged six months to 64 years in a clinical risk category, frontline health and social care workers, and
individuals aged 12 to 64 who are carers or household contacts of those with immunosuppression.