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The National Pharmacy Association (NPA)'s Health Education Foundation (HEF) has funded a major study that aimed to test the SPUR tool and evaluate how effective it was at measuring medicines adherence. The study has been published in the British Medical Journal Open. Dr Joshua Wells, a fourth year PhD candidate at Kingston University, who was awarded the NPA bursary, was the lead researcher for the SPUR UK study, under the guidance of Professor Reem Kayyali. Created by Observia, a health research group, SPUR is a self-assessment questionnaire which helps to detect a patient's risk of medicine non-adherence and aims to accurately articulate the reasons for health behaviour. As well as funding from HEF, the study was made possible via a partnership with Kingston University and Kingston Hospital. HEF chair of Trustees, Dr Ian Cubbin, said: "We are delighted that NPA's Health Education Foundation has played a part in such an important study. This research could lead ultimately to a far more personalised, tailored approach to medicines optimisation - recognising that people's medicines behaviour can be highly individual to them."

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) brought together a wide range of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy organisations from across Scotland at the Scottish Parliament on Monday (3 October) to support people living with disabilities. The meeting was chaired by Jeremy Balfour MSP, Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Cross-Party Group on Disability, and the meeting was also attended by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer Alison Strath. Attendees of the meeting committed to bold actions to support people living with seen and unseen disabilities to work in pharmacy. Last year, a survey of RPS members identified that living with a disability was considered to be the biggest barrier to working in pharmacy. This year, RPS is running a disability in pharmacy awareness campaign, to highlight some of the barriers and challenges raised by RPS members and to work with stakeholders across pharmacy to overcome these. Yesterday's conversation at the Scottish Parliament was a significant step in achieving this.

Former pharmacy minister Steve Brine was on Wednesday (November 2) elected chair of the influential Health and Social Care Committee, the cross-party parliamentary group that scrutinises the work of the Department of Health and Social Care and its associated public bodies. The Conservative MP for Winchester won 253 out of 432 votes beating off four other contenders for the role - Stephen Hammond, Dr Caroline Johnson, Anne Marie Morris and James Morris - in a four-stage election in which MPs voted by ranking candidates in order of preference. Dr Johnson, who was Mr Brine's main challenger, bagged 148 votes in the final round. An election for a new chair of the Health and Social Care Committee was triggered following the resignation of Jeremy Hunt MP who was appointment as chancellor of the exchequer on October 14. Issuing a statement after his election, Mr Brine said: "I welcome the opportunity as chair to continue the calm, measured work of Jeremy Hunt and to examine new solutions to support the NHS to enable it to continue providing the services that we all depend upon."

Blackwells Chemist, a community pharmacy in South East London did not meet all the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) standards. The pharmacy was inspected on Thursday (01 June) and it was found it did not keep all its records up to date and accurate, particularly its responsible pharmacist records. Investigation report stated that the principle of Governance and principle of Services, including medicines management was 'not met at all'. Under the principle Governance, the report stated: "The pharmacy generally manages the risks associated with its services adequately. People using the pharmacy can provide feedback or raise concerns. And staff generally protect people's personal information well. Team members know what to do to help protect the welfare of a vulnerable person. The pharmacy has written procedures, but these are not easily accessible to team members to refer to. And they are not regularly updated. So, they may be less useful to staff, and may not reflect current best practice." In the inspection it was found that the pharmacy does not always store its medicines properly. It cannot show that it stores all its medicines requiring cold storage at the appropriate temperatures.

Community pharmacies were responsible for dispensing over 99 per cent of items in 2022/23, revealed General Pharmaceutical Services for Northern Ireland, Annual Statistics 2022/23 published on Thursday (29 June). While the remaining one per cent dispensed by appliance contractors and dispensing doctors. According to the statistics, on average, each community pharmacy dispensed over 84,000 items in 2022/23, witnessing a growth of over 3 per cent on the previous year to 44.6 million in 2022/23, which is the highest level of dispensing recorded. This equated to BSO processing 2.1 million prescription forms per month, on average, throughout the year, representing a 4 per cent increase on the just over 2.0m processed each month last year. The total ingredient cost over the year was £486.9 million. This was an increase of approaching 7 per cent on the previous year, which was around double the percentage increase in the number of items dispensed. The annual ingredient cost total has fluctuated since the beginning of the series but was over 18 per cent higher in 2022/23 than in 2013/14.

AstraZeneca said on Monday (June 27) two of its existing therapies were recommended for treating patients with some forms of high-risk breast cancers in the European Union, in a boost to the company's oncology portfolio. Lynparza, a cancer drug developed jointly with U.S.-based Merck, was backed for standalone use or in combination with endocrine therapy in adults with a form of genetically mutated early-stage breast cancer. The drug, which has received a similar recommendation in the United States in March, is a key asset for AstraZeneca. It was recommended in patients with low-to-normal levels of a protein known as HER2 that is the target of several new therapies. Enhertu - developed jointly with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo (4568.T) - was the other drug that was endorsed by the European Medicines Agency for treating an aggressive form of breast cancer characterised by a high rate of HER2.

It was my great privilege be appointed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to serve as her representative in South Glamorgan as Deputy Lord Lieutenant and also as Honorary Captain in the Royal Navy. During that time I was incredibly lucky to have met her on a number of occasions, including the state opening of Parliament, the Buckingham Palace Summer Garden Party, the Commonwealth reception and at various culture celebrations. I remember clearly the first time I met her at Buckingham Palace in 2010. Her Majesty looked at my name badge and saw that I had an OBE, and said: "Oh, did I do that one?" I replied: "No Ma'am that was bestowed by the Prince of Wales." She looked at me kindly, smiled and said: "That's a shame, I missed out on that one." I replied, slightly cheekily: "It was a shame for me too."

Asda Ramsgate pharmacy worker Claire Twyman saved life of a regular patient Rose Doyle by giving her a timely advice to visit A&E after spotting a blood clot on her leg. Doyle (75) spent five days in Margate Hospital, and after recovering she called in at the store to thank Twyman for her quick-thinking actions. She handed her a thank-you note which read: "Thank you for making me go to A&E. You may have saved my life, so thank you once again I am really grateful." Twyman, who has worked at the store for nine years, said: "I was just happy that I was able to help her and give her that advice, which made a difference. It could have been a lot worse if she'd left it. I'm so glad she's okay. "Rose came over to the pharmacy for advice on her leg. I looked down and told her it was really swollen, and then asked to look at her foot. I thought straightaway that it was a thrombosis, a blood clot. Her toes were very white, but I didn't want to alarm her."

Simon Harris bought an average-sized store from a national chain and turned it into a profitable business in just over a year - a great example of how to start up a pharmacy and become successful. His formula was quite simple - recognise the available opportunities, take some calculated risks and reap the rewards. Simon went into pharmacy because he felt it was a profession that would allow him to "help people" and have a direct impact on their lives. "I also thought it was a profession which would allow me to have my own business one day." Since qualifying as a pharmacist from Bath University in the late 90s, Simon did his pre-reg at a large Boots store in Broadmead, where we had some "great experience" as a pharmacist manager. He decided to take a year out and went around the world with his "now wife" and ended up working as a pharmacist for a pharmacy group Down Under which had a contract with the sports industry, i.e. Australian Open and the Australian Football League. "It was quite an experience because at the time I knew nothing about Aussie football but I ended up being their pharmacist after a short conversion course."

Individuals who took LSD were said to "trip out" because their hallucinations and other side effects seemed to transport them to an alternate reality. This reality was full of unexpected visions and experiences that, in some cases, caused harm to the person in real life. Not only was their conscious thought affected, the resulting actions often resulted in the person's physical death.

Individuals who took LSD were said to "trip out" because their hallucinations and other side effects seemed to transport them to an alternate reality. This reality was full of unexpected visions and experiences that, in some cases, caused harm to the person in real life. Not only was their conscious thought affected, the resulting actions often resulted in the person's physical death.

The different views and opinions on surrogate motherhood are as vast as those on abortion. Everyone has their views and ideas of the social and ethical issues related to surrogate motherhood. Let's look into some of these issues and what the different sides think about it all. Is it morally correct to rent your body? Some would argue that renting your body to have a baby is hand in hand with renting it out for sex. You are being paid for the use of your body. On the other side, pro surrogates would say that this is an unfair comparison, as sex for money is seen to be dirty and having a baby to help someone who can't is a pure thing. What does religion say about the ethics of surrogate motherhood? Roman Catholicism and Islam forbid it. The Roman Catholics refer to the story of Sarah, wife of Abraham, in the bible. She was barren and gave her maid Hagar to her husband so that she could bare them a child. Abraham impregnated her through copulation. In the end Sarah got jealous, Hagar didn't want to give the baby up and she and the child were thrown out. Not a good ending. In Islam the belief is simple; a woman should bare only her husband's children. How does being born from a surrogate mother affect the child when it grows up? What does a person say when asked, who is your mother? Some people argue that being born from another woman can confuse a child and cause it to have issues as an adult; have feelings of confusion on the subject. The pro surrogates will say that there are many stories of successful children born of surrogate mothers that don't have these problems. It is simply explained to the child. The parents were unable to have children so they took each part of the child from the parents and put it in a surrogate to be born. Can a surrogate mother truly consent to the taking of the child after it is born? This is a major issue. Before gestational surrogating, it was only through artificial insemination of the father's sperm that a surro

A 7-year-old boy from Southport, who was born with a medical condition that restricts his ability to play with his friends, is set to have much more fun in the playground thanks to receiving a Specialist Tricycle. Matthew Evans, who has Kabuki Syndrome, a condition which left him with a narrowing aorta in his heart, and weak muscle tone in his legs, was unable to walk until he was 3½-years-old. Although he can now walk by himself he can be unsteady on his feet.Buy online Tricycle for Disabled People and disabled at lowest price and cheap cost in india from wheelchair india online shopping store of Tricycle manufacturer, distributor, dealer and supplier of variety of Tricycles at low price in india for handicapped 10169.13 Matthew Evans tricycle - document As a result he's found it difficult to play outside with other children, often having to watch them from indoors. Matthew's mum, Kathryn, explained that the tricycle has had an immediate impact on her sons quality of life: "He's taken to it so well. Until now the lack of power in his legs made him unable to pedal. But the new tricycle has been engineered to make pedalling that much easier, and now he pedals everywhere with a huge smile on his face." The tricycle has a steering rod which enables Kathryn, along with dad Frank, to steer whilst Matthew puts in the leg work; further developing the muscle tone in is limbs. Kathryn explained that it's not just about physical development: "Obviously, the more Matthew uses the tricycle the more strength he will develop in his legs, however, it's also making him a more confident boy. He's pushing himself to go faster and he's now much more involved with other children. He's competing against them, so the tricycle is improving him both physically and emotionally." Wheelchair india is manufacturer, supplier, distributor and dealer of Standard Single Hand Drive Tricycle For Disabled and handicapped in india Matthew's 4-year-old sister, Laura, is also ben

One day, a prof entered the room and declared a surprise test. Hearing this, all students got anxious and commenced considering what would come back up within the test. The prof distributed the question paper, with the front side facing down. when turning in the papers to all the students, he asked them to turn the page and begin the test. To everyone's surprise, there have been no questions within the test paper. There was simply a black dot within the center of the page. everybody was surprised and checked out the prof in awe. The prof told the students: "I need you to write a few lines regarding what you see on the paper." All the scholars were stupefied however since they didn't have a alternative, they started writing the solution. Once everybody was through with the test, the prof collected all the solution sheets, and commenced reading out every answer aloud before of the full class. without an exception, all the scholars had written regarding the black dot, mentioning regarding its position, size etc. when reading out all the answers, the prof addressed the scholars and told them: "None of you'll be ranked on this test. I simply needed you to ponder over one thing. All of you wrote regarding the black dot. nobody wrote regarding the white part of the paper. a similar issue happens in our lives too. we tend to all have a white paper to watch and learn from, nevertheless we tend to continually target the dark spots. we've got so many reasons to celebrate - our folks, co-workers, friends, good health, a satisfactory job, a child's smile, the miracles we tend to witness daily, and so on. However, we tend to merely limit our horizons by focusing on simply the dark spots - our disappointments, our frustrations, our fears and anxieties, things that hassle us, those that wronged us, etc. In our daily lives, we tend to take such a lot of good things with no consideration, and focus our energy on insignificant dot-like failures and disappointments." Though

What Is Leprosy Disease? Leprosy is a chronic, granulomatous infection caused by the... According to historical records, this disease spread through the slave trade and migration routes from... In this article, we talk about the causes, symptoms, and treatment of Leprosy

Like TB, leprosy is caused by a bacterium. The bacterium is Mycobacterium Leprae. It was discovered by Armauer Hansen in Norway in 1873. This is why it is also called Hansen's disease. Although its bacterial nature was known at the time, it was not considered infectious.

Like TB, leprosy is caused by a bacterium. The bacterium is Mycobacterium Leprae. It was discovered by Armauer Hansen in Norway in 1873. This is why it is also called Hansen's disease. Although its bacterial nature was known at the time, it was not considered infectious.

The University of Oxford on Tuesday said there was no evidence that vaccines would not prevent severe disease from Omicron, but that it was ready to rapidly develop an updated version of its vaccine developed with AstraZeneca if necessary. Earlier on Tuesday, the head of drugmaker Moderna said that Covid-19 shots were unlikely to be as effective against the variant, jolting global markets. The University of Oxford said that there was limited data on Omicron so far, and that it would carefully evaluate the impact of the variant on its shot, echoing an AstraZeneca statement last week. "Despite the appearance of new variants over the past year, vaccines have continued to provide very high levels of protection against severe disease and there is no evidence so far that Omicron is any different," it said in a statement.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) says initial tests of the antibody-based Covid-19 therapy it is developing with US partner Vir suggest the drug is effective against the Omicron variant. A GSK statement on Thursday (December 2) said that lab tests and a study on hamsters have demonstrated the sotrovimab antibody cocktail to work against viruses that were bio-engineered to carry a number of hallmark mutations of the new variant. The tests are continuing to confirm the results against all of the Omicron mutations, with an update expected by the end of the year, it added. The antibody is designed to latch on to the spike protein on the surface of the coronavirus, but Omicron has been found to have an unusually high amount of mutations on that protein. "Sotrovimab was deliberately designed with a mutating virus in mind," said Vir chief executive George Scangos, adding that the drug was targeting a region of the spike protein that was highly unlikely to mutate.

The Health Select Committee Expert Panel has concluded in its report published on Tuesday (25 July) that the funding aspect in the community pharmacy sector 'requires improvement' based on the evidence received. The Expert Panel reviewed nine Government commitments, seven of which were from the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework. It was found that available funding was not sufficient to keep pharmacies open, struggling financially with increased demand for dispensing, workforce pressures and rising costs due to inflation. One of the other commitments requiring improvement covered a scheme intended to protect access to local physical NHS pharmaceutical services in areas where there were fewer pharmacies. Professor Dame Jane Dacre, Chair of the Expert Panel, said: "Pharmacy plays a key role in the delivery of care so it's disappointing that progress overall to deliver on the Government's commitments was rated as 'requires improvement'.

AAH Pharmaceuticals Ltd (AAH) has exceeded the milestone of delivering over 70 million COVID-19 vaccination doses across England, since it was awarded a contract in December 2020. In addition, AAH has delivered over 100 million ancillary items to more than 3,000 healthcare providers. David Bound, chief executive officer of AAH, said: "This is a huge milestone for AAH as we work tirelessly to support our communities. It's also a ringing endorsement of our delivery drivers, warehouse operatives, and specialist logistics teams and the determination, dedication, and passion they continue to show throughout this extraordinary period." The vaccination programme was also recognized by the Supply Chain Excellence Awards. Chris Emmott, senior project lead - Supply Chain, commented: "I'm incredibly proud that AAH was chosen for this job, particularly as we had the skills, the experience, and a great team to help facilitate the needs of the country. To get ready for a project like this, everybody's worked very long hours, they've worked weekends to get everything ready.

As we transition in England through yet another NHS organisational change, I ask myself what does this mean for community pharmacy? I would like to think that this change will bring about opportunity and a chance for community pharmacy to showcase and continue the excellent work that was carried out during the height of the pandemic and is still ongoing today. I hope that it allows community pharmacy to be regarded as part of the NHS rather than sitting on the side lines. This change has to lead to better funding for community pharmacy, without sufficient funding we will see more pharmacies close. We are hearing a lot about winter pressures but this year it feels like all year round pressure. What I have seen, whilst the NHS is under such pressure, is North East London (NEL) CCG transitioning to an integrated care board (ICB) almost seamlessly. I have seen people transitioning into new roles, whilst working hard to ensure that all plates are still spinning, which at the moment is no mean feat. I spent a day out recently visiting pharmacies with the chief medical officer of NHS NEL, Dr Paul Gilluley. The visits were positive, we felt listened to and understood. The feedback was great, it was recognised that community pharmacy is often the informal front door to the NHS and that we have so much to offer in terms of ill health prevention. Community pharmacy can offer a total solution as long as we have the tools to do so, which can save so much time and money. An example is the GP CPCS service, which has launched well across NEL.

Johnson & Johnson said on Wednesday (January 18) that it was pulling the plug on a late-stage global trial of an HIV vaccine after the shot was found ineffective at preventing infections. The failure of the trial marks yet another setback in the search for a vaccine against a virus known to mutate rapidly and find unique ways to evade the immune system, and comes more than a year after another of J&J's HIV vaccine failed a study. "It's not the outcome we had hoped for, unfortunately," said a spokesperson for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a J&J partner in the trial. "The development of a safe and effective HIV vaccine has been a considerable scientific challenge, but we will learn from this study and continue forward." The trial involved administering two different types of a shot, which uses a cold-causing virus to deliver the genetic code of HIV, spread over four vaccination visits in a year. J&J used similar technology for its COVID-19 vaccine. The study, which began in 2019, was conducted at over 50 sites and included about 3,900 gay men and transgender people - groups that are considered vulnerable to the infection.