Issue : Clinical Pharmacist, 2013

Commissioning support units —what pharmacists do there Subscription

Meet the dark horse of the NHS: the commissioning support unit (CSU). Little tends to be said about these organisations, borne out of the NHS reforms in England that went live in April 2013. Initially there were 23 CSUs, but their number has been falling and now sits at 17. In future, there is an expectation that there will be fewer of them, as smaller CSUs merge with larger ones to give them more financial security.

Confident, coherent and complete Subscription

And send. That’s it: my application to join the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Faculty was submitted. Electronic portfolio completed, peer testimonials received, curriculum vitae updated and fee paid. I began the wait for my submission to be assessed.

Introduction of a pharmacist prescriber to a heart failure service Subscription

Heart failure (HF) is a complex condition, with a poor prognosis and a considerable impact on quality of life. The condition affects around 900,000 people in the UK, and almost the same number of people have damaged hearts but no symptoms. HF accounts for around one million inpatient bed days, 2% of all NHS inpatient bed days and 5% of all emergency admissions.1

Hospital pharmacy services given valuable health check Subscription

Support for new prescribing professions Subscription

Prescribing decisions are highly complex. Once you have worked out that you need to prescribe a drug, you then need to consider a multitude of other things, including medicines that could potentially interact, contraindications (such as poor renal function), dose, therapeutic effects, side effects and so on, and that’s before you’ve even thought about the legal and ethical aspects of prescribing.

Clinical Pharmacist's monthly news round-up: the top 10 Subscription

What has been happening in the world of pharmacy? The team at Clinical Pharmacist summarises the month's top 10 clinical pharmacy and NHS stories.

A standard fit for gran

freThe friends and family test. You’ve heard people talk about it — the one where you ask: “Would I be happy for granny to be treated this way?”

Get to know the needs of your community Subscription

In the 21st century one of the biggest hurdles to overcome for healthcare professionals is an acceleration in the prevalence of certain chronic conditions leading to challenges in prevention and treatment. Much emphasis in healthcare delivery is placed on modern medicine, which has undoubtedly contributed to an increase in life expectancy in the UK population.

Qualified but still not prescribing Subscription

I have been registered as a non-medical prescriber (NMP) for several years now. Although the training has helped me gain confidence in what I do as a pharmacist, I confess that I have never used the qualification to prescribe.

Plan your way to portfolio confidence in five easy steps Subscription

You have taken the first step towards joining the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Faculty and applied for eligibility. You can now access a suite of additional RPS resources and a link to your portfolio appears when you log in to your member dashboard.