Drugs and pharmaceutical electronic market information tool (eMIT)

This tool gives background information on the pharmaceuticals that hospitals might buy.

The data provided includes an estimate of NHS hospital-sector annual usage from English trusts for the product selected, the average price paid for that product over the last 4 months of the period, and a measure of how much that average changed.

Handbook - Hospital Pharmacy Standards

The standards handbook from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is a supporting resource which has been updated and published online alongside the RPS professional standards for hospital pharmacy services.

New RPS briefing on hospital pharmacy in England

There are approximately 7,000 pharmacists in hospitals and 16,000 pharmacy staff whose practice is being transformed by the outcomes of the Carter Review on hospital efficiencies and other NHS initiatives.

RPS England’s new Hospital Pharmacy Briefing provides a summary of the major activities affecting pharmacists with key points to help clarify what’s going on and what it means.

GPhC Council gives green light to implementation of revalidation in a ‘step-change’ for pharmacy professionals

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) will introduce revalidation for pharmacy professionals from 30 March 2018, after its Council approved the framework for revalidation and agreed the timetable for its implementation.

Negative Emotions Can Impact Opioid Use When Pain Is Low

An unexpected finding from a small study suggests a link between negative emotions, such as sadness and anxiety, and higher opioid use. Johns Hopkins researchers found that among people with sickle cell disease, opioid use hinged on negative emotions when pain levels were self-reported as relatively low.  Click here for article.

Biomarkers May Aid in the Development of New Schizophrenia Drugs

A new study has identified biomarkers that may help in the development of better treatments for schizophrenia. The findings are published online in JAMA Psychiatry. Click here for article, (this link will not direct you to the research itself).

Launch of advanced clinical practice framework

The new national multi-professional framework for advanced clinical practice in England has been launched by Health Education England.

Broad support for revalidation proposals highlighted in consultation report

The General Pharmaceutical Council has published a report which highlights that there was overall support for the proposals for revalidation for pharmacy professionals among respondents to a consultation we held earlier this year.

The pharmacy contribution to antimicrobial stewardship

This report from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society focuses on the pharmacist’s role as part of a multidisciplinary approach in tackling the challenges of inappropriate use of antibiotics.

The recommendations in this policy have been produced in order to contribute to wider efforts in meeting the challenge set by the UK Government in 2016 of reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescribing by 50 per cent by 2020.

Achieving excellence in pharmaceutical care: a strategy for Scotland

The strategy sets out a vision of how pharmaceutical care will evolve in Scotland and the contribution of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, working together with other health and social care practitioners, to improve the health of the population and impact on health outcomes, especially for those with multiple long term and complex conditions.

Issues to consider when implementing pharmacy access to local electronic health records (EHRs)

This briefing, from the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC), outlines a list of issues to be considered by Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs) and community pharmacy contractors when pharmacy access to local electronic health record systems is being planned.

Conflicts of interest joint statement

Today, the Chief Executives of the statutory regulators of health care professionals have issued a joint statement on ‘conflicts of interest’. It sets out expectations of nurses and midwives as well as other health and care professionals in relation to avoiding, declaring and managing conflicts of interest across healthcare settings.

Professional standards for pharmacy services: an updated draft for consultation

Feedback and comments are being sought on these updated hospital pharmacy standards from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. The standards outline what a high-quality hospital pharmacy service should look like and aim to support the development of a transparent and open culture. This consultation closes on 11 September 2017.

NHS England launches action plan to drive out wasteful and ineffective drug prescriptions, saving NHS over £190 million a year

NHS England has published detailed plans – drawn up with family doctors and pharmacists – to cut out prescriptions for ineffective, over-priced and low value treatments. Helping to trim hundreds of millions from the nation’s rapidly growing drugs bill will create headroom to reinvest all savings in newer and more effective NHS medicines and treatments.

A formal public consultation is being launched on new national guidelines which state that 18 treatments – including homeopathy and herbal treatments – which together cost taxpayers £141 million a year should generally not be prescribed.

Consultation on guidance to ensure a safe and effective pharmacy team

The General Pharmaceutical Council has launched a consultation on new guidance for pharmacy owners which outlines what they are expected to do to ensure everyone in the pharmacy team can provide safe and effective services to patients and the public.

The proposed guidance for pharmacy owners covers both registered and unregistered staff, including managers who are not registered pharmacy professionals. This is the first time the GPhC has set out in guidance what pharmacy owners should do to make sure that non-registrant managers, who can play a critical role in the pharmacy, understand their responsibilities and the responsibilities of the rest of the pharmacy team, including pharmacy professionals.

New improved BNF and BNFC app launched

Following the recent launch by the publishers of the British National Formulary (BNF) and British National Formulary for children (BNFC) of a new, faster, easier to use and access app, NICE has confirmed that its BNF app will be withdrawn later this year.

The new app has been purpose built for iOS and Android platforms. This has enabled an intuitive design and enhanced features around search and interactions checking and updating mechanisms.

For the first time adult and child BNF content is available through a single app, providing ease of use and saving space on users’ devices.

Report on pilot scheme to refer from pharmacy for chest x-ray

Cancer Research UK has published a summary of a pilot scheme in Doncaster to improve diagnosis of lung cancer.

The pilot involved a direct referral to chest x-ray by a pharmacist. The report suggests that similar pathways could be implemented more widely.

A lung health service: Doncaster pharmacy direct referral for chest x-ray

The Accelerate, Coordinate, Evaluate (ACE) Programme is an early diagnosis programme that supports the NHS outcome of preventing people from dying prematurely. This report presents a summary from the Doncaster site which piloted a pharmacist direct referral to chest x-ray pathway which aimed to improve the diagnosis of lung cancer. It outlines early findings from the pilot project and suggestions for rolling out a similar pathway.

NHS Urgent Medicine Supply Advanced Service Pilot: Toolkit for Pharmacy Staff

A practical guide from NHS England on how to deliver the NHS Urgent Medicine Supply Advanced Service.

New standards for pharmacy professionals come into effect

All pharmacy professionals in Great Britain will have to meet new standards for pharmacy professionals. These came into effect on 12th May.  The nine standards describe how safe and effective care is delivered through person-centred professionalism, and replace the standards of conduct, ethics and performance.