Latest opinion
Can hub-and-spoke transform medicines supply in the UK? The jury is still outSubscription
Community pharmacy’s flat funding settlement in England is linked to ‘efficiencies’ to be made through the hub-and-spoke model. With a consultation on the model on the cards for 2020, it is time to reconsider whether its benefits stack up.
Governments must make tackling AMR worth pharmacy's whileSubscription
Pharmaceutical companies won’t develop fast, cheap and effective diagnostic tools on their own — incentives are the missing piece to tackling antimicrobial resistance.
It's not just medicines that improve health — pharmacists need a better understanding of nutritionSubscription
Research shows that dietary changes can help to manage conditions such as diabetes and asthma, so undergraduate pharmacy courses must better prepare pharmacists to advise patients on healthy eating behaviours.
Cold and flu: we need a sector-wide standard for helping patients to self care
Setting a high quality standard for helping patients to self manage their cold and flu symptoms benefits everyone working in the healthcare sector.
Toby Anderson: 'There will be fewer pharmacies in fewer locations'Subscription
Toby Anderson, chief executive of McKesson UK, on managing LloydsPharmacy’s parent company during a crucial period for healthcare provision and pharmacy.
Regan McCahill: 'The mental health of students is of the utmost importance'Subscription
Regan McCahill, president of the British Pharmaceutical Students’ Association, explains how her organisation will support newly qualified pharmacists in 2020.
Simon Dukes: 'The government won't say how many pharmacies it wants to close'Subscription
The chief negotiator for community pharmacy in England on the new contract he agreed with ministers, and what it means for the future of community pharmacy.
Duncan Craig: 'I'm concerned students' scientific acumen is completely ignored'Subscription
The chair of the Pharmacy Schools Council on five-year MPharm degrees, apprenticeships and the impact of Brexit on research.
Community pharmacy referral scheme is not a new conceptSubscription
The community pharmacist consultation service has been lauded since it was announced in July 2019, but it is similar to schemes that have been tried in recent years.
A year of change for pharmacySubscription
The profession is likely to undergo significant changes over the forthcoming year.
'Paperless NHS' drive ignores community pharmacySubscription
A lack of funding and the effects of the electronic prescribing system have meant that pharmacies are using more paper than ever.
Getting to grips with the polypharmacy challengeSubscription
Over the next two months, The Pharmaceutical Journal will publish the results of its call for papers on medicines optimisation.
We should not write off vitamin D supplementation — especially in pregnancySubscription
Testing all pregnant women for insufficient vitamin D levels is expensive, but two systematic reviews suggest that providing them all with vitamin D supplements could reduce risk of pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes and low birth weight.
We must follow these five rules to avert an antimicrobial resistance crisisSubscription
Simply reducing the use of antibiotics, while discovering new ones, is not enough to keep resistance at bay — healthcare professionals need to understand bacteria’s evolutionary biology if they are to subvert it.
Why the newly licensed antibiotic cefepime should be introduced to UK formulariesSubscription
Healthcare trusts should consider introducing the antibiotic cefepime to their outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy services to tackle infections that are becoming resistant to carbapenem antibiotics.
At last, a new treatment option for diabetes-related chronic kidney diseaseSubscription
Guideline-changing trial results released earlier in 2019 suggest that SGLT2 inhibitors could be a viable treatment solution for patients with diabetes and evidence of kidney damage.
How the pharmacy profession disregarded me and my disability, and why it must change
One pharmacist’s experience of discrimination, owing to their disabilities, shows that the profession still has a long way to go towards equality.
How I boosted my pharmacy CV with extracurricular activities
It takes more than academic achievement to succeed as a pharmacist, says fourth-year pharmacy student Alex McTaggart.
Why pharmacists should never settle for a general practice that doesn't support them
Rupa Lyall’s first experience of general practice was a sour one, but she didn’t give up and found a practice where she belongs.
Working as a pharmacist on the groundbreaking new CAR-T therapy
Clinical pharmacist Jackie Chappell shares her experiences of working with CAR-T therapy, a new cell-engineering treatment for cancer.
My fitness-to-practise treatment was nerve-wracking but fairSubscription
In her blog, ‘My horrific encounter with ‘fitness to practise’’, pharmacist Sarah Seddon shares the harrowing experience she had with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, and she was only a witness in the case.
Developing sustainable regional networks for pharmacy research: The Great North Pharmacy Research CollaborativeSubscription
To help grow and support pharmacy research activity, in 2016, a group of pharmacists from Durham University received institutional funding to develop a local postgraduate pharmacy research conference. The conference aimed to give postgraduate pharmacists an opportunity to showcase projects they had worked on since graduation, which included research conducted as part of doctoral or Master’s degree studies, audits, service evaluations, quality improvement projects and other work conducted ...
Pharmacists can help patients get the most out of their vitamin D supplementsSubscription
I was delighted to read Lisa Jamieson’s opinion piece ‘‘It’s not just medicines that ...
It's nothing new that diet and nutrition influence healthSubscription
I wholeheartedly support the view expressed by Lisa Jamieson in her article: ‘It’s not just medicines that improve health — pharmacists need a better understanding of nutrition’. If sound and intelligent advice was routinely ...
Original Victorian pharmacy recreated in full at the Science MuseumSubscription
One of London’s flagship museums invites visitors to Gibson and Son’s, a Victorian chemist’s shop preserved in time.
Useful look at the wider societal effects of the contraceptive pillSubscription
How the Pill Changes Everything: Your Brain on Birth Control by Sarah Hill
Gripping account of the human cost of the United States' opioid crisisSubscription
BBC Three. Addicted: America’s Opioid Crisis
A heated look at vaccine oppositionSubscription
BBC. Conspiracy Files: Vaccine Wars. Current Affairs Television: London; 2019
Peter Hylands (1946–2019) Subscription
As the first pharmaceutical scientist member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Peter Hylands’ respected and varied career specialised in natural products research.
Stewart Adams (1923–2019)Subscription
Having fallen into the pharmacy profession “purely by chance”, Stewart Adams OBE went on to discover ibuprofen, one of the world’s best selling anti-inflammatory painkillers.
‘Pioneer of pharmacy’: Graham Calder (1933–2018) Subscription
Described as a ‘pioneer of pharmacy’, former chief pharmacist of Scotland Graham Calder has been an inspiration for many pharmacy professionals during, and since, his varied career.
William Charles Evans (1924–2018) Subscription
Author of Trease and Evans’ Pharmacognosy, a seminal text on the chemistry and uses of medicinal plants, William Charles Evans was a prolific researcher and educator throughout his 60-year career.
