The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) will launch a new influencing campaign to build wider political support for community pharmacies
this week.
The campaign aims to ensure that MPs and Peers across Parliament understand the risks to pharmacy services that the current pressures on the sector are causing.
In a Parliamentary event held today (Tuesday 15 November) MPs and Peers heard from PSNC, LPC and other pharmacy bodies about the current situation.
PSNC briefed them on the urgent need for action to address the pressures on the sector.
The committee will be working with LPCs and contractors to organise a series of pharmacy visits for key Parliamentarians including Minsters, Committee and APPG
Members.
This is happening alongside work to develop a new vision and strategy for the community pharmacy sector, all of which is part of PSNC's strategy to lay the
ground for future CPCF negotiations.
Ceuta Group, a global brand building business providing end-to-end outsourcing services in the health and wellness industry has appointed David Wright as a
non-executive board director.
With extensive experience of leading global consumer healthcare companies, David joins Ceuta Group following five years as CEO/President of global pharmaceutical
company, HRA Pharma and six years as Global Head of Boehringer Ingelheim's consumer business.
During his time at HRA Pharma and Boehringer Ingelheim GmBH, David led both companies through substantial organisational and strategy re-design which led to
sustainable growth and profitability.
The company said: "David has a strong belief that combining the right structure, operational priorities and processes, with a strong focus on company culture, are
critical factors in building successful businesses. This approach saw him lead a period of transformation at HRA Pharma resulting in the company's successful
acquisition by Perrigo Company plc."
David will take an active role on the Ceuta Group Board supporting and building the company's strategic vision and priorities. He will also help shape the company's
growth plans on an operational level to ensure Ceuta Group continues to meet client's needs today and into the future.
Pharmacy bodies are "bitterly disappointed" that the latest deal on the national contract makes no commitment to "fresh funding", with one organisation calling
it "the biggest dis-service ever done" to community pharmacy.
The only commitment made in monetary terms was one in which NHS England agreed to write off a sum of £100m in excess margin earned by contractors in previous years.
This allowance, which can't be seen as new cash injection, was said to have been made in recognition of the pressures facing the sector.
The figure - reached after what the the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee called "a tense period of negotiations" with the Department of Health and Social
Care and NHS England - will cover the final two years of the current five-year Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework.
The deal was announced by PSNC chief executive Janet Morrison at an annual LPC Conference in Manchester on Thursday (22 September). Welcoming the attendees, she
assured everyone that the committee was well aware of the pressures the sector was facing.
"I heard how contractors are feeling and their frustrations over growing pressure and lack of financial support from the government. They confirmed that many now
are unable to deliver the full range of services, and others are struggling to maintain core levels of services. And the ongoing impact of capacity and workforce
crisis is critical, leading to temporary closures.
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.
The Chief Pharmacist for England and Co-Chairs of professional leadership commission has responded to the questions raised by the Pharmacists Defence Association
(PDA)'s member on the professional leadership survey.
In early September, the PDA wrote to the UK's Chief Pharmaceutical Officers to increase transparency and confidence in the process by asking for clarification of
some of the commission's thinking, assumptions, and scope.
On behalf of all four CPhOs, Chief Pharmacist for England David Webb provided feedback: "The Commission has two independent co-chairs and members have agreed to
abide by the 7 principles for the conduct of public life as recommended by the Nolan Commission which form part of the Terms of Reference. Commission members have
been appointed on behalf of all pharmacy professionals to contribute their expertise in and knowledge of professional leadership and are not appointed to represent
their particular countries, organisations, sectors or roles."
Today I'm proud to share with you the statement we submitted to the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership in which we set out what professional
leadership means to RPS.
I recognise we haven't always been clear in communicating our ideas to members and our external stakeholders. Through the Commission, and our own Independent
Review of member participation and communications, we are determined to remedy this.
We're committed to lead pharmacy in the best interest of patients and the professions. This means that sometimes we will need to take difficult decisions. We will
do the right thing for the long term, ultimately driving what's best for patient care.
There are some key changes we believe are necessary to fulfil the profession's ambitions.
To achieve a more unified approach to pharmacy leadership, we believe both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians should be represented by RPS within professional
faculties that capitalise on the strengths of each discipline whilst retaining distinct professional voices.
Many of our members work with pharmacy technicians every day and know just how essential they are to their role and to patient care. We feel the same at RPS and it
makes perfect sense to evolve into an organisation where both professions can advance their scope of practice, working in alignment as part of the wider
multi-professional team.
We will develop and implement post-registration curricula and credentialing for all pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working with patients and the public. To
do this we will require formal delegation of authority by the GPhC.
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.
Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford joined Diwali celebration at the official Indian government in Cardiff on 26 October.
The 68-year-old Labour politician joined in with the traditional Indian dancing at Glamorgan Cricket club in Pontcanna, Cardiff, for the Hindu celebration of Diwali.
He was joined by Health Minister Baroness Eluned Morgan and Indian Honorary Consul Raj Aggarwal, who organised the event which was attended by hundreds of guests and
included some exuberant celebrations.
Speaking at the event Raj Aggarwal spoke about the excitement in the British Asian community to have the UK's first ever Asian Prime Minister.
The NHS Confederation and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) has published a report that demonstrated the importance of the
collaboration between industry and the NHS to improve patient outcomes across the UK.
Analysis from the report has shown a significant variation in access to innovative medicines for patients across the UK and showed that uptake of new treatments
in these areas continues to be below the average of similar countries in Europe.
The report, 'Transforming Lives, Improving Health Outcomes', has highlighted four initiatives where effective partnerships between the NHS, patient organisations
and industry have helped to tackle unwarranted variation in the uptake of innovative medicines.
Transforming Lives, Improving Health Outcomes also called for a systemwide secondary prevention strategy covering all parts of the health system creating a barrier
to wider and consistent uptake of innovative medicine. It also noted that newly created Integrated Care Systems have the potential to improve preventative treatment.
The report data also showed a 51% variation of uptake of three types of medicines related to diabetes between NHS Trusts in England.
AmerisourceBergen, a leading pharmaceutical solutions organisation announced its intent to change its name to 'Cencora' to better reflect its bold vision and
purpose-driven approach to creating healthier futures.
Steven H. Collis, Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer of AmerisourceBergen said: "Over time, we have established ourselves as a trusted industry partner
that prioritizes innovation, advocates for patient access and advances strategic partnerships across the global pharmaceutical supply chain. To further bolster our
position, we must continue to adapt and evolve within our dynamic industry as we pursue the goal of enhancing health outcomes. Building a unified brand is fundamental
to our identity as a global healthcare company. We believe our new name better reflects who we are today and our impact across pharmaceutical care."
AmerisourceBergen intends to begin operating as Cencora in the second half of calendar year 2023. The change to Cencora is aligned with the organisation's growth
strategy and continued emphasis on innovation. AmerisourceBergen has focused on supporting pharmaceutical advancement and access for patients, manufacturers, and
providers across the global healthcare supply chain.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has launched Pharmacy Pressures Survey 2023 to make case against the 'unprecedented financial and
operational challenges' faced by the community pharmacies in England.
The Committee has urged those working in or owns a community pharmacy to 'take part' in the survey.
"The survey results will be critical to help us to show Government and the NHS how difficult things now are for pharmacies, and to persuade them to take action. We
will be using the results in our negotiations, in our conversations with MPs, Ministers and in national media work as part of the joint #saveourpharmacies campaign,"
said PSNC.
The Pharmacy Pressures Survey is once again comprised of two surveys to give insight into both financial and operational pressures.
Together with the other national pharmacy organisations PSNC are working both to show policy makers the severity of the problems and to lobby for Government and NHS
action to ease the pressures.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) have issued a joint enforcement notice about
the 'illegal' advertising of Kenalog injections on digital platforms.
The notice warns all organisations offering Kenalog as a 'hay fever treatment' to stop advertising it in any of their social media or website advertising.
"Kenalog is a prescription-only medicine (POM), which must not be directly or indirectly advertised to the public. Kenalog is not licensed for the treatment of hay
fever in the UK, although it is offered by some beauty and aesthetics clinics, under the personal responsibility of an individual prescriber, and advertised widely
on social media," said MHRA.
"Now, advertisers must ensure that all references to Kenalog in the text, images or emojis on social media are removed, as well as commonly-used descriptive phrases
for the jab such as 'hay fever injection' or hay fever jab' or any account names, testimonials or memes by 29 August 2022."
After this date, the CAP's compliance team will remove non-compliant ads using targeted software and those who continue to promote it may be referred to the MHRA for
further enforcement action.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has confirmed it will respond to UK Commission's 'call for evidence' on pharmacy professional leadership.
The commission wants to ensure the professions are well equipped, with a voice to help shape the future, and enabled to develop through sharing and learning from
best practice.
The UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership has been set up by the chief pharmaceutical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It will
produce recommendations for the future of pharmacy professional leadership in the UK.
The commission is co-chaired by Nigel Clarke, former chair of the General Pharmaceutical Council, and Professor Dame Jane Dacre, professor of medical education at
University College London's Medical School.
The commission will be hosting a webinar and has urged the associations and individuals to take part in 'call for evidence' which has been launched to inform and
develop its work.
A webinar in England will take place on Wednesday 7 September 6:30 - 8 pm. In Scotland it will be organised on Tuesday 6 September 7-8:30 pm and in Wales it will be
hosted on Thursday 8 September 7-8:30 pm.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has revealed it has received 25 whistleblowing disclosures between April 2021 and March 2022.
The pharmacy regulator said, in its annual report, that it has concluded enquiries on 22 disclosures so far with a further three still under review.
"We also concluded two qualifying disclosures that were raised during the previous reporting period," it said, adding: "The action GPhC took included a full
investigation through established fitness to practise processes and follow-up action through its inspection network.
"The former can result in any available outcome throughout the fitness to practise process. The latter can include guidance, a follow-up visit or an unexpected
inspection."
12 concerns were investigated and concluded with no further action. Three were signposted to another organisation. The remaining seven cases were concluded by
sharing information with inspection colleagues for follow up action.
Of the two concerns from the previous reporting period, one was concluded with no further action and the other remains under investigation.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has appointed Dekra to certify medical devices in the UK.
Dekra Certification UK has joined the three current UK approved bodies, increasing the UK's capacity to process conformity assessments for medical devices to ensure
safe and effective devices reach the UK public.
An approved body is an organisation that has been designated by the MHRA to assess whether manufacturers and their medical devices meet the requirements set out in
the UK Medical Devices Regulations 2002.
Following an appropriate assessment, the new approved body will issue relevant certification allowing manufacturers to place a UKCA marking on their products before
putting them on the market.
Dr Laura Squire, chief healthcare quality and access officer at the MHRA, said: "This is a major milestone in our mission to ensure patients across the UK have access
to the high-quality medical devices they need to protect their health.
Aspire Pharma has completed the acquisition of Morningside Pharmaceuticals (Loughborough), Morningside Healthcare (Leicester) and Morningside Healthcare (India);
speciality generic pharmaceutical organisations.
Morningside delivers Aspire added talent, increased in-market range, and an industry leading pipeline, complementary to Aspire's.
"We are excited to welcome the Morningside team to the Aspire family. This is a transformative opportunity for both companies to expand and enhance our market
position as a result of both companies highly complementary product portfolios. The combination will create one of the largest and fastest growing UK pharma companies
and see further accelerated growth potential in our current and future product portfolio, in the UK and internationally," said Richard Condon, Chief Executive
Officer of Aspire Pharma.
New legislative orders approved by the Privy Council will give the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland (PSNI)
powers to set professional standards for Responsible Pharmacists, Superintendent Pharmacists and Chief Pharmacists.
The Pharmacy (Preparation and Dispensing Errors - Hospital (and Other Pharmacy Services) Order 2022 and the Pharmacy (Responsible Pharmacists, Superintendent
Pharmacists etc.) Order 2022 have been published and are expected to come into force in December 2022.
Trevor Patterson, Chief Executive of the Pharmaceutical Society NI said: "We have been working with our colleagues in the GPhC and Government for some time on these
two pieces of important legislation and we are delighted they have now reached the statute books.
"Both Orders enable and enhance the powers we, and the GPhC, have to define the roles and responsibilities of Responsible, Superintendent and Chief Pharmacists,
respectively. They also create protections against criminal prosecution for hospital pharmacists where an inadvertent error is made either in dispensing or assembly,
in certain defined circumstances, similar to the protections available to colleagues working in community/registered pharmacy settings. Provisions that allow the
appointment of a Deputy Registrar for our organisation will also be introduced.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Director for Scotland Clare Morrison participated in the panel discussion alongside representatives from other health
professional organisations on tackling the workforce crisis at the SNP conference in Aberdeen on 8 October.
At the conference, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care committed to achieving protected learning time for health professionals. Morrison welcomed the
Cabinet Secretary's statement as fantastic news for pharmacists across Scotland.
"RPS Scotland will follow up the discussion by writing to the Cabinet Secretary to request a meeting to discuss achieving protected learning time, the forthcoming
results of our workforce wellbeing survey, and positive examples of how pharmacy teams have improved the well-being of their teams," said the society.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and the charity Marie Curie have developed a consultation on 'professional standards for palliative and end of life care
for community pharmacy'.
The consultation will be open for four weeks for community pharmacists, organisations with a role in community pharmacy or palliative/end of life care, or patients
or carers with first-hand experience of palliative and end of life care to share their views until 1st December 2022.
Through this consultation, Society aims to that ensure the standards are clear, relevant, current, and fit for purpose from the perspective of the community pharmacy
team, the wider health team and patients/carers.
"The final standards will be published in 2023 and will help community pharmacies across the UK to self-assess and continuously improve their palliative, end of
life and bereavement care," said RPS.
Community Pharmacy England has published new guidance to help members to complete the 2022/23 Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPTK).
The Toolkit is used to make a pharmacy's information governance (IG) declaration and the deadline is Friday (30 June).
Community Pharmacy England collaborated with the NHS DSPTK team to keep the workload associated with Toolkit completion manageable whilst maintaining the
appropriate data security protections.
Key differences in this year's Toolkit include- improvements to the Toolkit's layout; improvements to the question wording and pharmacy-specific tips; and the
Toolkit displays the answers submitted by the pharmacy in the previous submission for various questions, allowing pharmacy owners to simply confirm that the
information remains accurate and adjust this if necessary.
The NHS Parent Organisation Code (POC) headquarters (HQ) batch submission feature also continues to enable to allow pharmacy owners (that own three or more
pharmacies) to complete a single submission for all their premises.
