Please read our correspondence and community guidelines
Individualised approach to care reduces overtreatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus in frail older people Subscription
Intensive treatment with insulin and sulfonylureas in older people with low HbA1c (<53mmol/mol) can increase the risk of hypoglycaemia, morbidity and mortality. Older people are less likely to benefit from the long-term protective effects of good glycaemic control and are at risk of inappropriate polypharmacy owing to co-morbidities.
Community pharmacies will not lose out in the new contractSubscription
I write regarding Hemant Patel’s article ‘For community pharmacists, the new contract does not add up’, published in The Pharmaceutical Journal on 27 September 2019. I need to correct some inaccuracies in Patel’s narrative on the new community pharmacy contractual framework.
Wales' principles to support people to take their medicines in their homesSubscription
The All Wales Heads of Adults’ Services (AWASH) Group and NHS Wales, in collaboration with their partner organisations, have launched a set of high-level principles to encourage better medicines support for people who are receiving care at home.
Trust-wide microbiology electronic referral system supports antimicrobial stewardship Subscription
Antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) can be defined as the approach to promoting and monitoring judicious use of antimicrobials to preserve their future effectiveness. With demands on microbiological clinical services at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals increasing over recent years, requests for clinical advice could no longer be facilitated by a direct telephone call from clinical teams to the pathology team. Paper referral forms used by pharmacists for AMS review were no longer ...
Highlighting shoulder injury related to vaccine administrationSubscription
I would like to highlight an important, though rarely discussed or reported, issue: shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA). I implore any pharmacists who offer travel or flu vaccinations to take note.
Marking the first World Patient Safety DaySubscription
Patient safety is a global challenge and, in May 2019, the 72nd World Health Assembly — through which World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its member states — agreed that a World Patient Safety Day would be commemorated annually each year on 17 September, commencing in 2019.
Reviewing the safe and appropriate prescribing of antipsychotic depotsSubscription
Antipsychotic medicine is prescribed to treat many mental health conditions, alleviate suffering and improve daily functioning[1].
The new NHS Patient Safety Strategy has a big hole in itSubscription
In August 2018, I expressed my concern in Clinical Pharmacist that the NHS, described as ‘an organisation with a memory’, was losing its patient safety memory and not addressing many important risks effectively[1]. Other reports from the Care Quality Commission
Evaluating the first NHS-funded sore throat test and treat service in the UKSubscription
In Wales, people with a sore throat may be offered advice and symptomatic treatment free of charge in community pharmacies through the common ailment service (CAS). However, antibiotics cannot be supplied and this can limit patients’ perceived value of the service. As a result, some patients continue to seek a GP appointment when they have a sore throat.
Low rates for locum pharmacists are unfairSubscription
I happened to be in Barnet, North London, recently, and I popped into the local pharmacy for a couple things. To my delight, the locum pharmacist on duty there had been a student of mine a few years ago at the UCL School of Pharmacy.
