While thanking the provisionally registered pharmacists and their employers for supporting NHS services during the pandemic, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has asked the 63 eligible candidates to join the main register by January 31 to continue practicing.
A total number of 4,799 provisionally-registered pharmacists have been on the provisional register since it was introduced in July 2020 in response to the Covid-19
pandemic, which had affected the registration assessment schedule.
As of Tuesday (January 18), 237 were still on the provisional register, of which 84 have begun the process to join the main register, 90 did not sat an assessment, while 63 eligible candidates are yet to start their application.
The register enabled trainees who had completed their training to support NHS services and provide patient care effectively as provisionally-registered pharmacists,
while they waited to sit the registration assessment.
After providing three potential opportunities to trainees to sit the registration assessment - in March, July and November 2021, the provisional register will close
on January 31, 2022.
As the deadline for the frontline healthcare workers to get fully vaccinated approaches, tens of thousands of NHS staff who have not yet taken the Covid-19
vaccine face termination in just a fortnight.
Although it is estimated that the majority of NHS staff have been fully jabbed, health and social care providers in England will soon be needed to ensure that all those working in areas regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 before the April 1, 2022.
Those who are exempted from taking the vaccination do not fall under this purview.
According to the NHS England guidance around Vaccination as a Condition of Deployment (VCOD) for healthcare workers, all frontline staff must have had both the doses by April 1, meaning that by February 3 the first must have been administered and the second by March 31.
All unvaccinated frontline workers will be called into formal meetings from February 4 and given a warning of dismissal. Notices will then be issued from that day, with March 31 marking the end of the notice period
As part of its inclusion and diversity strategy, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has launched a campaign to challenge barriers to working in pharmacy for those with disabilities.
A profession-wide survey on the subject conducted by the RPS, identified disability as the biggest barrier to working in pharmacy, highlighting the area of work to support pharmacists.
The campaign will focus on reducing barriers to enter the profession, developing more accessible working environments and encouraging employers to collect data on disability in the workplace.
The campaign, based on inputs from the RPS Ability Group volunteers with visible and non-visible disabilities, will run until the end of March.
Following recommendation of the RPS Ability Group, RPS has written to the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) the Higher Education Occupational Practitioners (HEOPS) to update the guidance on standards of medical fitness for pharmacy students.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has rejected the use of olaparib on the NHS for treatment of adults with hormone-relapsed prostate cancer with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations which has spread to other parts of the body.
In a draft guidance issued today (January 5) NICE said evidence around the drug made by AstraZeneca was uncertain and approving it would not be a good use of NHS funds.
Current treatment for metastatic prostate cancer that no longer responds to hormone therapy is chemotherapy with docetaxel, cabazitaxel, or radium 223 dichloride - a
treatment option for people with symptomatic bone metastases who have already had docetaxel or cannot have it.
NICE said: "Clinical trial evidence showed that people taking olaparib have more time before their disease gets worse, and live longer overall, than people having retreatment with abiraterone or enzalutamide. However, retreatment with abiraterone or enzalutamide is not considered effective and is not standard care in the NHS.
Bas Vorsteveld, who was made vice president and general manager for Great Britain & Ireland (GBI) in November last year, is joined by Monica Michalopoulou as GBI marketing director and Onyeka Anugwom as GBI commercial excellence director GSK Consumer Healthcare.
He took over from Jonathan Workman, who held the position from 2018, and has now moved into the role of Business Unit general manager for Northern Europe.
Vorsteveld, who has 15 years' industry experience, played at major part in the merger of Novartis and GSK consumer healthcare businesses. Most recently, he held
the role of VP & head of commercial excellence EMEA LATAM at GSK Consumer Healthcare, where he spearheaded international sustainability initiatives.
Commenting on his new role, Vorsteveld said: "I am incredibly honoured to have been a part of GSK Consumer Healthcare's journey to date and it is our collective ambition to deliver better everyday health with humanity for our customers, with a laser focus on 'self-care'.
"The recent pandemic has shown us that healthcare matters more now than ever before for our consumers. We want to redefine the role that self-care plays in people's lives, because it can bring long-term benefits for individuals and society, and is a key component of a sustainable healthcare system.
Consumer goods giant Unilever signalled on Monday (January 17) it would pursue a deal for GlaxoSmithKline's consumer healthcare business, calling it a "strong strategic fit" after its £50 billion offer was refused.
GSK confirmed on Saturday that it had rejected three approaches from the Dove-soap maker, adding it intended to stick to its own plan to spin off the business as a separate company later this year.
"GSK Consumer Healthcare would be a strong strategic fit," Unilever said in a statement as it unveiled a strategy update in the wake of the weekend's takeover news.
Unilever said it was "committed to accelerating the company's growth and repositioning the portfolio into higher growth categories.
"As a result of the reporting of Unilever's interest in GSK Consumer Healthcare, we are today bringing forward a planned update, setting out the strategic direction that the company is pursuing," Unilever said.
Dr Nik Kotecha OBE, chairman of Morningside Pharmaceuticals and the Randal Charitable Foundation, has won the Distinguished Alumni Award at Imperial College
London's Alumni Awards 2022.
The annual awards honour outstanding alumni who have demonstrated sustained excellence in their personal and professional achievements and have made a substantial impact on society.
Dr Kotecha, who founded Morningside in 1991, which manufactures and supplies generic and branded medicines to the UK and globally, said: "I'm thrilled to be honoured by the university in this way.
"As a child growing up in Leicester my family had very little, but I was fortunate to be given opportunities to gain a good education. After finishing my degree in Newcastle; Professor Steve Ley FRS at Imperial College took a chance in accepting me into his eminent group and this really was the opportunity I needed to forge a career.
A married couple who are investing in a pharmacy for the first time have bought Paydens branch in Peterborough for an undisclosed price.
A standard hour community pharmacy with a substantial home delivery service, West Town Pharmacy is located on the outskirts of the city centre and sits on a predominantly residential street, within half a mile of three GP surgeries.
The pharmacy has been operating from a sizeable premises with a large, open plan sales area and has excellent potential to improve its over-the-counter sales, in addition to its strong travel vaccine customer base.
West Town Pharmacy was purchased by Paydens in 2016 as part of a group acquisition and was brought to market because the company realised that geographically it "did not fit" with the group's, mainly Kent-based, portfolio.
Workforce issues, staff retention and capacity continues to be a big concern for the Local Pharmaceutical Committee as it discussed the topics at a recent meeting with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC).
The meeting, attended by delegates from 66 LPCs, focused on the current challenges faced by community pharmacies as well as the planning for the next year.
Around 64 per cent of delegates said workforce was the top challenge faced by pharmacy contractors, and suggested reducing the migration of pharmacists to Primary Care Networks (PCNs).
Other suggestions included - "improving the development opportunities available for pharmacists and their teams, and rebranding the profession to make community pharmacy a more attractive route for young graduates."
On the development of Integrated Care Systems (ICS), the majority of respondents were positive about their LPC's engagement in the new setting.
GSK Consumer Healthcare has recently unveiled a three-year programme to support the pharmacy profession with additional practical resources, mental health provisions and proposed policy changes as part of its new report Standing with Pharmacists in the Age of Self-Care.
The new report summarises findings from a roundtable hosted by GSK Consumer Healthcare in collaboration with the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) earlier this year, which convened the pharmacy community, policy experts, and industry leaders to discuss the critical role of pharmacy in the age of self-care following the Covid-19 pandemic.
"We've seen Covid-19 have a significant impact on consumers' understanding of self-care, leading to an increased focus on wellbeing and everyday healthcare. During this time, pharmacies played a vital role in providing care and advice to their patients - particularly with many other health facilities closed. Our research shows that more than half of Europeans are planning to consult their pharmacist more often than before the pandemic. Yet in general, pharmacists remain under-utilised, despite being the most widely distributed health resource in Europe," said Tess Player, global head of expert at GSK Consumer Healthcare.
The British scientist who led the research underpinning AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine said at the weekend that a new jab could be developed against the emerging Omicron variant "very rapidly" if needed.
Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, also said existing vaccines should work against the new strain, but that would only become apparent
after more research in the coming weeks.
"It's extremely unlikely that a reboot of a pandemic in a vaccinated population like we saw last year (with the Delta variant) is going to happen," he told BBC radio.
But if required, "The processes of how one goes about developing a new vaccine are increasingly well-oiled, so if it's needed that is something that could be moved very rapidly."
In a statement, AstraZeneca said it had "developed, in close collaboration with Oxford University, a vaccine platform that enables us to respond quickly to new variants that may emerge".
Ahead of World AIDS Day this Wednesday, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has urged the government to widen access to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) by making it available through community pharmacies. It argues that such a move could drive down rates of HIV infection across Great Britain.
Currently, the medicine - which offers almost total protection from HIV when taken as recommended prior to sex or injecting drugs - is available free of charge only through sexual health clinics.
Calling on the government to engage with community pharmacies to improve public health, RPS president Claire Anderson said: "There is a clear opportunity to drive down rates of HIV infection by expanding provision of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to community pharmacies and GP practices as part of the government's HIV Action Plan.
Hypovase (prazosin) 500 microgram tablets, manufactured by drug major Pfizer, will remain out of stock until mid-January 2022 due to a manufacturing issue.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England and Improvement (NHSE&I) have issued a supply disruption alert for the medicine that is used to treat heart-related troubles.
Pfizer, the sole supplier of prazosin 500mg tablets in the UK, is out of stock from late November 2021, and had discontinued the Hypovase® (prazosin) 1mg tablets in May 2021.
Advice for healthcare professionals
In the given situation, prescribers need to review all affected patients to discuss management plans.
Meanwhile, alternative medicine alpha blockers remain available to support an uplift in demand.
There is no sign of a surge of the Omicron coronavirus variant in Britain so far, the chief of the UK Health Security Agency said on Tuesday, adding that there was no rise in the proportion of tests with a quirk that distinguishes it from Delta.
Jenny Harries said there were five confirmed Omicron cases in England and 10 "highly likely" cases, but that was not a sign of an increase in "S-gene target failure" in PCR tests in Britain, which is a feature of Omicron.
"Right across the country we watch for… S-gene target failure, which is a sort of proxy measure," Harries told BBC radio. Cases with S-gene target failure can then be prioritised for full genomic sequencing.
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.
Existing Covid-19 inoculations will struggle against the fast-spreading Omicron variant, the head of vaccine manufacturer Moderna warned on Tuesday (November 30), as countries ramp up vaccination programmes and impose further restrictions in an effort to curb growing concern.
First reported to the World Health Organization in South Africa less than a week ago, the new strain has rapidly spread from Africa to the Pacific, and from Europe
to North America as dozens of countries have announced travel restrictions.
While no deaths have yet been reported from Omicron, and it could take weeks to know how infectious and how resistant the strain may prove to vaccines, its emergence underscores how besieged the world remains by Covid-19, nearly two years after the first cases were recorded.
Stephane Bancel, the head of US vaccine manufacturer Moderna, told the Financial Times in an interview published today that data would be available on the effectiveness of vaccines in the two weeks' time, but that scientists were pessimistic.
Prime minister Boris Johnson received his Covid-19 booster shot on Thursday (December 2) and urged others to follow suit to help the country fend off the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
Wearing a mask, Johnson briefly chatted to staff and others queuing for their shots at the vaccination centre in central London, asking them if they were there to receive a booster dose and thanking them for attending.
Johnson, who said it could "have gone either way" when he was treated in hospital for Covid last year, was later filmed rolling up his shirt sleeve and receiving his shot.
"Fantastic. Thank you so much," he said to the nurse, before receiving a badge that said "I've boosted my immunity".
Following concerns raised by the competition watchdog, UK PCR testing provider Randox has improved its terms on cancellations, refunds and liability.
The development is part of the Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) ongoing engagement in the PCR tests sector.
The CMA has also sent letters to 25 PCR providers, warning them to review their terms and conditions or risk facing enforcement action. It currently has formal investigations open into two PCR providers, Expert Medicals and Dante Labs.
Randox, one of the largest providers in the sector, has reviewed its its terms and conditions and changed them to:
Give clearer information to customers, in particular on when it will provide PCR tests and resultsImprove notification of customers' legal rights on cancellations and refunds
Remove terms that could suggest customers aren't entitled to compensation if things go wrong
After a series of internal pay negotiations and conciliation meetings, Boots has made a revised pay offer to its pharmacists.
With the new development, the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has urged its members at Boots to "urgently respond to the Boots pay negotiations update survey on the current pay offer."
It encouraged the members to complete the short survey sent to them via email.
Last week, the PDA Reps Network in Boots hosted a series of virtual meetings for members that work at the company.
As the element of the negotiations with Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) are ongoing, PDA could not provide more details about these meetings.
The parent company of Boots, Britain's largest pharmacy-led health and beauty chain, is reportedly considering putting its UK pharmacies up for sale next
year for an estimated £10 billion.
Walgreen Boots Alliance (WBA), the US health group that owns a stake in Boots UK since 2012, is lining up Goldman Sachs to explore a potential sale next year, as reported by Sky News.
When contacted by Pharmacy Business, WBA said that it would not comment on "market speculation", noting that "Boots is an important part of the Group."
The company, however, acknowledged that "it is accurate that WBA announced a renewed set of priorities and strategic direction for the Group in October, which includes a more pointed focus on North America and on healthcare."
