The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) presented the best practice award to a pharmacist from NHS Tayside at an event on May 29 which celebrated pharmacy
practice across Scotland.
The Glasgow event, organised by RPS, brought together pharmacists from across the country to present their own best-practice examples.
These included all sectors of pharmacy, including hospital, GP practices, community and specialist settings.
Delegates at the event were asked to vote for what they considered to be the winning example of best practice. Alex Matos, specialist clinical pharmacist, won the
award for his presentation on 'Implementing Pharmacogenomics in the Stroke Service'.
Alex won a £500 bursary for travel and accommodation to the RPS's annual conference in London, where he has been invited to present on his best practice example.
We have been specialising in community pharmacy sector for over 30 years and have helped many pharmacists acquire their first pharmacy. We have seen several
of those first-time buyers transition into multiple pharmacy owners under our specialist guidance and support through the years.
Acquiring the first pharmacy can be a challenge to most pharmacists especially when they do not have the necessary skill in reading the numbers presented in terms
of the target pharmacy's performance and how to interpret these in order to arrive at a valuation for the purpose of submitting an offer.
Without the guidance of a specialist accountant in community pharmacy, one of the major risks is that one could end up paying more than what the pharmacy is worth.
Once the offer is accepted, there are other challenges to overcome to get the deal over the line.
1) Assessing the risk
2) Valuation of the business
3) The negotiation process
4) Asset or company purchase
5) Financial due diligence
6) Asset/share purchase agreement
7) Finance the purchase
An oral drug combination by Novartis showed promise in treating a subgroup of patients suffering from a common childhood brain cancer in a trial.
In the mid-stage trial, 47 per cent of the patients that were given the two drugs Tafinlar and Mekinist saw their tumours shrink, far above a rate of 11 per cent
in a comparative group of participants on standard chemotherapy, the drugmaker said on Monday, June 6.
The participants, aged one to 17 years, were suffering from low-grade gliomas (LGG), the most common childhood brain cancer.
The trial only included those who were found to have a mutation known as BRAF V600, a genetic contributor in about 15 per cent to 20 per cent of paediatric LGG cases.
Among further results of the trial with 110 participants, the median time without disease progression was 20.1 months for those given the Novartis drug combo,
compared to 7.4 months on chemotherapy.
The new oral treatment candidate also caused less severe side effects than burdensome chemotherapy.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has called for comments and views on the recently launched consultation on selecting the appropriate mode of consultation when assessing a person's needs by pharmacy professionals including pharmacist prescribers.
The guidance note sets out what the pharmacy professional or prescriber, in
agreement with the patient, needs to consider when selecting the mode of consultation - such as face-to-face; video-link, video-chat, or other online platforms;
telephone and online questionnaires - best suited to gaining the information needed to deliver safe and effective pharmacy care.
The principles outlined in the guidance apply to consultations undertaken in all pharmacy settings, including those undertaken by online pharmacy services providers.
"Our plan is to include the contents of this guidance note in the document: 'In practice: Guidance for pharmacist prescribers' when we undertake our next review," said the regulator.
The NHS on Thursday (May 5) said it has rolled out the arthritis drug baricitinib for seriously ill Covid patients.
The Recovery trial, conducted by the NHS and University of Oxford, found that 13 per cent fewer severely ill patients died of Covid when treated with the drug compared to existing treatment options.
Typically used to treat arthritis to reduce pain and inflammation, baricitinib can now be given to hospitalised Covid patients in addition to current treatments, and clinical studies show that this can provide benefits on top of existing treatment.
The NHS has led the rollout of Covid medicines, from the discovery of dexamethasone as the world's first effective treatment, to the first vaccination outside of a clinical trial in December 2020.
The NHS said baricitinib works by reducing inflammation caused by Covid-19 by blocking signals to the immune system that are causing it to attack the body.
The pharmacy regulator can hold hearings and meetings either remotely or in-person in future as the Council of the GPhC has agreed to a change in its rules.
The rules are expected to come into force on 1 October 2022. Until the rules and new policy and guidance come into force, the GPhC will continue to only hold
remote hearings with the consent of the person concerned and/or their legal representative.
Following positive feedback from those taking part in remote hearings, the GPhC consulted on a proposed permanent change to its rules so it could continue to hold
hearings remotely in the future, when it is fair and appropriate to do so.
The proposal to continue remote hearings, including fitness to practise hearings, received wide support with 78 per cent of respondents agreeing.
"During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and restrictions we had to hold many meetings and hearings remotely by videolink. As such we were granted - along with other regulators - a temporary provision to enable us to do this and carry out our statutory role," Duncan Rudkin, chief executive of the GPHC, said.
The voter turnout in England for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's English Pharmacy Board election dropped to 7.9 per cent this year.
Out of a total of 19,512 eligible individuals, only 1,534 decided to vote.
The RPS English Board received ten nominations for five vacancies this year; therefore an election was conducted. One nomination was received for the three
vacancies on the Welsh Pharmacy Board. Three nominations were received for the three vacancies on the Scottish Pharmacy Board. Therefore, no election was
conducted in pharmacy boards in Wales or Scotland.
RPS president Claire Anderson said: "It's disappointing that the voter turnout in England has dropped to 7.9 from 11.8 per cent in 2021. We have now appointed
an independent review of how RPS members, elected members and stakeholders can feel more engaged and empowered to influence RPS decisions, and eagerly await
its recommendations."
The Society appointed communications agency Luther Pendragon to lead a review into how it can develop and strengthen member participation.
The One Show on BBC One has put community pharmacy in the limelight, showcasing the sector's vital work during the pandemic to a primetime TV audience.
The five minute segment, aired on May 10, featured Sutton pharmacist Reena Barai and a reception at St. James's Palace for around 200 pharmacists, including Barai,
hosted by the Prince of Wales on May 4.
"It was great to be part of such a positive story," Barai, who is a board member of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), said.
"It's heartening that the national media are taking notice of the sector, because it's too often overlooked. Coverage like this both reflects public opinion and shapes it, that's why the NPA works so hard on keeping us in the public eye."
The segment told the story of community pharmacy's role during the pandemic and contained footage of a speech by the Prince of Wales, praising the sector for its
contribution to the nation's healthcare.
"Pharmacists are about people and places, not just pills, a place where science, as it were, meets society. I just want to thank you all, more than I can possibly say, for everything you do so brilliantly to keep people well, and above all, save lives. Thank you, everybody," Prince Charles is seen saying at the reception.
The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence has recommended that surgeons working in hospitals with limited or no access to a radiopharmacy
department could now use Magtrace and Sentimag as an option to locate sentinel lymph nodes in people with breast cancer.
The recommendation in draft NICE medical technology guidance could see a change in NHS standard care for the first time in years. The technology could also mitigate
the reliance on radioactive isotope tracers shipped in from outside Great Britain.
The magnetic liquid tracer - Magtrace - is a non-radioactive dark brown liquid. It is both a magnetic marker and a visual dye. The Magtrace is injected into the
tissue around a tumour. The particles are then absorbed into the lymphatic system, following the route that cancer cells are most likely to take when they spread
from the primary tumour and become trapped in sentinel lymph nodes.
The Sentimag probe moves over the skin emitting sounds of different pitches as it passes over the Magtrace tracer, in a similar way to a metal detector locating
metal in the ground. The nodes often appear dark brown or black in colour, which also helps with identification.
The NHS has signed the first-of-its-kind subscription deal for two antimicrobial drugs - cefiderocol and ceftazidime-avibactam, manufactured by Shionogi and Pfizer respectively - that will help around 1700 patients per year with severe bacterial infections.
Under this deal, pharmaceutical firms will receive a fixed yearly fee - capped at a level that represents value to taxpayers - in order to incentivise funding for innovation that can generate a pipeline of new antibiotics for NHS patients.
NHS said the deal will help patients with serious infections that have evolved so much that antibiotics and other current treatments are no longer effective can be
given a potentially life-saving alternative. The drugs will provide a lifeline to patients with life-threatening infections like sepsis, hospital or ventilator pneumonia and blood stream infection.
Announcing the deal at NHS ConfedExpo, NHS Chief Executive Amanda Pritchard called the revolutionary subscription deal a game-changer and the latest NHS success in using its commercial power to benefit NHS patients in line with the NHS Long Term Plan.
"Superbug-busting drugs on the NHS will save lives and strike a blow in the global battle against antimicrobial resistance," Pritchard said.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended abemaciclib also called Verzenios, made by Eli Lilly, for people with hormone
receptor-positive, HER2-negative, node-positive early breast cancer at high risk of recurrence who have had surgery to remove their tumour.
The clinical trial result showed that people having abemaciclib with hormone therapy had a more than 30 per cent better chance of their cancer not coming back
following surgery compared with people having hormone therapy alone.
Helen Knight, interim director of medicines evaluation at NICE, said: "Today's positive draft recommendation, which comes less than a month after abemaciclib
received its licence, is fantastic news. The fact that we have been able to produce draft recommendations so quickly is testament to the success of our ambition
to support patient access to clinically and cost effective treatments as early as possible.
"Until now there have been no targeted treatments for people with this type of breast cancer. Abemaciclib with hormone therapy represents a significant improvement
in how it is treated because being able to have a targeted treatment earlier after surgery will increase the chance of curing the disease and reduce the likelihood
of developing incurable advanced disease."
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has raised its concerns over rising cost of rent for its members.
The association highlighted that pharmacy spending is shrinking, and therefore, the NHS Property Services must ensure viability of health centre pharmacies.
In May, the NPA wrote to NHS Property Services to voice its concerns over the rising cost of rent after some of its members reported demands for a three-fold increase in rent.
Many pharmacies operate in premises of which NHS Property Services is the landlord.
In a letter last month to chief executive Martin Steele, NPA said: "The past years have seen far fewer patients in health centres and therefore using the on-site pharmacy - whilst the situation will change somewhat as we move out of the pandemic we expect a permanent impact on workload as practices handle more of their interactions virtually.
"The NPA encourages NHS Property Services to review lease agreements involving community pharmacies and consider favourable changes to terms that are in line with
current financial realities affecting the sector. This could avoid the loss of a pharmacy service to communities and the resulting loss of rental income to NHS Property Services."
Are you worried about your immunity and want to strengthen your immune system? Taking care of your health and the health of your family, children, and parents
is never exaggerated and unfounded. The organism must at all times have immunity that will allow it to cope with the greatest challenges.
There are things you can't influence. However, those things that you can influence to fight the virus more effectively, such as strengthening immunity, you must
take seriously and take full advantage of this opportunity. That is why we are here to give you some great tips on how to successfully strengthen your immunity
and improve your health.
HEALTHY DIET
A healthy diet is very important for a healthy life. If you have used certain healthy habits in your life for the sake of feeling better in the body while not
paying attention to what you eat, then you have probably seen that the lack of proper nutrition won't compensate for anything.
A strong immunity can be achieved with a varied and balanced diet. Avoiding bad eating habits can be one of the key factors in boosting your immunity.
If you want to boost your immunity, include garlic in your meals. Its antibacterial properties are well-known, and it can be included in natural antibiotics.
Citrus fruits are also great for boosting immunity. Lemon, grapefruit, mandarin, and orange contain plenty of vitamin C and flavonoids, which are considered natural
guardians of the immune system.
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has been in dialogue with the senior management of NHS Property Services to bring down the rent for community
pharmacies based in NHS health centres.
Association said: "Community pharmacies based in NHS health centres are struggling to make ends meet due to expensive rental rates."
It is calling for pharmacies to have the ability to renegotiate rental rates part way through a contract.
Gareth Jones, Director of Corporate Affairs at the NPA, said landlords need to take into account that pharmacy spending power is shrinking and the previous formula
used to set rental rates is no longer fit for purpose.
"It no longer makes sense to calculate based on historical assumptions about how many prescriptions the co-located GP will generate for the pharmacy," he said.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has introduced a new prescription pre-payment certificate (PPC) for Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) which
is said to benefit around 400,000 women who suffer from negative symptoms of the menopause in England.
PPC will be rolled-out from 1 April and it reduce the HRT costs to less than £20 a year. Women prescribed HRT - the main treatment for menopause symptoms - will
have access to a new scheme enabling access to a year's worth of menopause prescription items for the cost of two single prescription charges (currently £18.70).
As part of commitments to reduce the cost of HRT for menopausal women, the prescription PPC will be valid for 12 months. It can be used against a list of HRT
prescription items, and a patient can use this against an unlimited number of HRT items, such as patches, tablets and topical preparations. There will be no limit
to how many times the certificate can be used while it is valid.
"The introduction of the certificate delivers one of our year one priorities for the Women's Health Strategy for England. Published last summer, the strategy sets
out an ambitious new agenda for improving the health and wellbeing of women and girls and to improve how the health and care system listens to women. Menopause was
announced as a priority area within the strategy," said DHSC.
The Pharmacy Supervision Practice Group held its second meeting to discuss the future modelling of pharmacy practice.
Some of the leading bodies from the community pharmacy sector have joined the group. The members explored themes centred around accountability, delegation and
responsibility.
The session included a wide-reaching discussion, including what future guidance might look like and the continued patient access to the pharmacist through a
comprehensive, accessible and equitable community pharmacy offer.
Chair of the group, Dr Michael Twigg, Associate Professor of Primary Care Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, said: "The primary objective of the group is to
develop a co-designed and co-produced solution that will not only enhance the patient experience within community pharmacy practice, but that will enable the
community pharmacy workforce to maximise role and professional skills.
"At its second meeting, the group was unanimous that any changes in the delegation, responsibility and accountability space should be in the patient interest,
distil confidence for patients and ensure that community pharmacy remains accessible and equitable."
The Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA) has expressed its interest to support pharmacists impacted with the latest announcement of the closure of Tesco
pharmacies.
"Tesco have followed ASDA and LloydsPharmacy (at Sainsbury's) to announce cost cutting changes to their stores, impacting hundreds of jobs," the association said.
The PDA's interests in the announcement relate to the planned closure of eight in-store Tesco pharmacies and the impact of those closures upon pharmacists, however
the union is of course concerned for all those impacted.
The PDA Union will support individual PDA members impacted by the decision so that they are aware of, and can exercise, their rights at work in relation to this
situation.
Paul Day, PDA Union Director said, "In addition to the immediate impact on pharmacists employed at the stores marked for closure, this is the third instance in just
twelve days of reductions in the overall access to a pharmacy for NHS patients. We expect those who represent communities to be concerned about the loss of a key
part of their local NHS service."
The Company Chemists Association (CCA)'s 'Prospectus for community pharmacy' has revealed that community pharmacies can release over 42 million appointments
from general practice every year.
In its prospect, the association calculated that community pharmacies could reduce hospital readmissions by 65,000 and administer an additional 10m routine vaccines
annually.
The prospectus sets out bold ideas and proposals regarding the future of community pharmacy. The association said: "Community pharmacies already work collaboratively
with the NHS to ensure that patients can access care easily and safely. Whilst the sector has evolved considerably in recent years, the CCA proposes that pharmacies
could do even more to directly tackle key problems for patients."
CCA is concerned that without immediate action pharmacy closures will become increasingly common. "Fewer pharmacies will considerably diminish access to vital
medicines and services, with the greatest impact on those in deprived communities."
Department of Health of Social Care (DHSC) has confirmed that the Dexcom One Transmitter will be added to Part IXA of the March 2023 Drug Tariff.
"Previously, patients were advised to obtain the free-of-charge Dexcom One transmitters directly from the pharmacies, without a prescription, as the original
Drug Tariff application for the transmitter was unsuccessful," said the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC)
It has raised concerns with DHSC and Dexcom that these distribution arrangements for transmitters are unacceptable because they result in extra unfunded activity
for community pharmacies.
Both, DHSC and Dexcom acted upon these concerns by agreeing to add the Dexcom One transmitter to the Drug Tariff from March 2023. At the same time, Dexcom One CGM
System (containing 1 sensor, 1 sensor applicator, 1 transmitter) will also be added to the March Drug Tariff.
The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has raised concerns over the NHS ad campaign highlighting how community pharmacies can support patients
with non-health advice amidst the growing pressure on pharmacies.
It believes the campaign will only 'worsen' the pressure on pharmacies.
"It is always deeply concerning to see campaigns directing people to pharmacies without any regard for the pressures they are under: it is irresponsible and extremely
unhelpful," said PSNC Chief Executive Janet Morrison.
She called the campaign 'particularly irritating' just weeks after the committee rejected a series of proposals from NHS England and DHSC on relief measures to ease
pressure on pharmacies as being totally inadequate.
"NHS England Board Members have noted the pressure on pharmacies - so why are their teams so often acting to make these pressures worse? We need to see a radical
change in how NHS England treats pharmacies and we're continuing to press for that via our influencing and campaigning work," she added.
The NHS launched the new campaign on Monday (27 February) to highlight how high-street pharmacies can support patients with non-urgent health advice for minor
conditions including coughs, aches and colds.
