Features
Are we dispensing too many multicompartment compliance aids?Subscription
Millions of multicompartment compliance aids (MCAs) are handed out by pharmacists each year, but evidence for their benefits is hard to find. Few patients are assessed before being given an MCA and concerns are building over potential errors and harms.
The GP pharmacists leading a life-saving medicines safety projectSubscription
A major initiative by pharmacists to reduce risky medicines use in the community will be rolled out across the country after it was found to reduce serious adverse events.
Train not blame: how one hospital trust boosted error reporting by over 100%Subscription
Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust has dramatically improved medicines safety through pharmacy-led initiatives to address mistakes in prescribing and improve error reporting.
Medication errors: where do they happen?Subscription
Reducing medicines-related harm requires a clear understanding of where and when errors occur. This visual summary shows the latest estimates in England per year.
Editorial
Leading the way to self-care for acute pain
Pharmacists supporting patients to appropriately treat sudden, short bouts of pain through self-care will put patients at the centre of their treatment.
Falsified Medicines Directive is yet another casualty of BrexitSubscription
It is understandable that pharmacists are reluctant to buy expensive equipment and change their workflows to comply with the Falsified Medicines Directive when the legislation may no longer apply after Brexit.
Think outside the box: replacing multicompartment compliance aidsSubscription
In January 2019, Boots announced that it was changing the way it dispenses medicines to care homes — from multicompartment compliance aids to original packs.
Comment
Nigel Clarke: 'Pharmacy isn’t just handing over a bag of medicine'
The chair of the General Pharmaceutical Council’s plans to revamp pharmacy training, the regulation of online pharmacy and data which show white pharmacists are less likely to be struck off the register.
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.
We can do more to improve medicines safety for patients in the NHSSubscription
How pharmacists are at the forefront of a national scheme to make the NHS the safest health service in the world for medicines.
Challenging the acute pain status quo
Changes at NHS England mean that now is the time for pharmacists and their teams to reassess how they support patients with acute pain, says Ash Soni, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Learning article
The top ten prescribing errors in practice and how to avoid themSubscription
Prescribing errors affect patient safety, but pharmacists and other healthcare professionals can reduce the risk of them occurring.
How to investigate and manage a medication incidentSubscription
Of the nearly 237 million medication errors occurring in England each year, 28% have the potential to cause harm. This article outlines the immediate steps to be taken following identification of a medicines safety incident.
Correspondence
Share your views on the future of your journalsSubscription
Health Education England: clarifying the cuts to preregistration fundingSubscription
Pharmacists and technicians should reap benefits of NHS leadership programmeSubscription
NICE must provide patient decision aids if the tools are to become part of routine practiceSubscription
Obituary
Stewart Adams (1923–2019)Subscription
News
FMD system goes down on its first working weekday
The computer system for the Falsified Medicines Directive crashed on the first weekday morning since after its 9 February 2019 launch.
GPhC expects more than 2,000 pharmacists to leave the register by end of 2018/2019
More than 2,000 pharmacists are expected to leave the pharmacy register in 2019, according to forecasts from the General Pharmaceutical Council.
EMA recommends sartan manufacturers review processes to avoid contamination
The European Medicines Agency has recommended that manufacturers making sartan blood pressure medicines review their processes after impurities were found in a small number of products.
No-deal Brexit will be 'hair-raising' for pharmacists, says chief medical officer
The prospect of medicines shortages following a no-deal Brexit on 29 March 2019 is “hair-raising” and pharmacists will be on the front line, the chief medical officer for England has said.
APTUK appoints new president and vice president
The Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK has appointed a new president following the departure of Tess Fenn in 2018.
Pharmacists send nearly 800 patients to their GP during pilot of PHE's 'heart age' test
In the south west of England, pharmacists sent nearly 800 patients to their GP during a pilot of Public Health England’s ‘heart age tool’ in 2018.
Boots UK proposes new committee as alternative to PDA Union
Boots UK launches specialist pharmacist role to recognise those working at the 'cutting edge'
Electronic prescribing could have halted Gosport tragedy, RPS report says
E-cigarettes nearly twice as effective as nicotine-replacement therapy to stop smoking, study finds
Every primary care network to get £38,000 to fund new clinical pharmacist role in 2019
Boots to switch from monitored dosage systems to patient pack dispensing in care homes
Pharmacists able to update GP patient records with flu vaccine data from winter 2019
Vaccinations in community settings could improve uptake, public health report finds
Pharmacists given greater role in government five-year AMR plan
Post-discharge pharmacy follow-up helps reduce hospital readmission rates, study results suggest
GP receptionists referring patients to pharmacies in £100k pilot scheme
Brexit could have 'moderately positive impact' on medicine manufacturing in the UK, says Welsh report
Pharmacists' powers to switch medicines to be reviewed one year after implementation
'NHS Long-Term Plan' integration efforts hindered by funding systems, says NAO
