Northern Ireland Health Minister has hailed the community pharmacy volunteer-led medicine delivery service in Northern Ireland a success.
Main Content
CPD Challenges
💊 CPD Challenge: Definition and diagnosis of asthma 💊
This CPD challenge explores your knowledge of asthma and can be used as a way to help you reflect on, and identify areas for CPD.
💊 CPD challenge: How well do you know your inhalers? 💊
This CPD challenge explores your knowledge of inhalers. For further reading please refer to individual SPCs.
Interviews
Interview: Yousaf Ahmad on coping with COVID-19
In our first video podcast, we sat down with Pharmacist Yousaf Ahmad. Yousaf is the Chief Pharmacist at Care UK and is also a GPhC Council member.
UK pharmacy news
MHRA call a halt to sales of fingerprick COVID-19 antibody tests
The MHRA is asking that COVID-19 antibody testing services using capillary blood collected by a fingerprick services be temporarily stopped.
New community pharmacy care home service launched
A community pharmacy out-of-hours palliative care service has also been introduced in NI, which will provide greater access to palliative medicines.
Boots seek to reassure customers as new normal approaches
Boots has moved to reassure customers of its plans to continue providing a safe shopping experience and safe working environment in stores across the UK.
Contractors in England to get £50 million advance payment
Contractors in England are facing due to COVID-19, a total uplift of £50 million will be made to contractors’ ‘advance payments’ on 1st June.
COVID-19 as it happens – Live pharmacy blog
Scottish pharmacy news
Test and protect to be rolled out across Scotland
Test and Protect – NHS Scotland’s approach to controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the community – will be rolled out across all health boards this week.
Community pharmacy praised for staying open during COVID-19
Community pharmacy teams, teams involved in the medicines supply chain and the senior Scottish pharmacy leadership team were today praised.
£8 million to combat isolation in Scotland during COVID-19
Funding of more than £8 million is helping projects to deliver mental health support and wellbeing services for people who are feeling isolated during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The funding was allocated to 344 projects, who are providing support in communities across Scotland, including to those who are self-isolating or shielding. It […]
Sturgeon plots a four phase path out of lockdown
A route map setting out a phased approach to easing lockdown restrictions while still suppressing coronavirus (COVID-19) has been published.
The daily and weekly PIP email doses
Interviews
Interview with the founder of the newly formed PNPA
Jasraj S Matharu is the founder of the Pre-registration and Newly Qualified Pharmacist Association (PNPA).
Dr Emily Kennedy on why Scottish pharmacy remains world leading
Dr Emily Kennedy has worked as a prescribing support pharmacist in primary care in NHS Dumfries and Galloway for 16 years.
What does the pandemic teach us about the future of antibiotics?
Stephen Hughes MBA is a consultant antimicrobial pharmacist at Chelsea & Westminster NHS Foundation Trust. We were lucky enough to catch up with him.
🎧💊 Coping in pharmacy during the pandemic
In our latest podcast, we sat down with Yousaf Ahmad. Amongst other roles, Yousaf is Chief Pharmacist at Care UK.
The COVID-19 community pharmacy job matching platform
Featured articles
Patient stories are not yours to share
I’ll level with you. I get really nervous when healthcare professionals, start describing encounters online they have had with patients in practice.
GPhC reveal criteria for pharmacist provisional registration
The Council of the GPhC has today agreed on a policy for registering pharmacists on a provisional basis as part of the regulator’s response to the pandemic.
Well double online pharmacy capacity during COVID-19
In response to patient demand during the COVID-19 pandemic, Well have now doubled the capacity at their online pharmacy.
Additional interim Deputy CMO for Scotland appointed
Professor Marion Bain has been appointed as an additional interim Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Scotland.
Blogs
COVID-19 takes pharmacy boss back to the front line
Six months ago, if anyone had suggested to Anna Ruthven that she’d be working in a local pharmacy in Spring 2020 dressed in a visor and advising patients not to get too close, she’d have laughed, but following an urgent call for pharmacists to work on the frontline, that’s exactly what she’s doing. […]
Outrage that pharmacy is excluded from death in service benefit
I’m appalled by the fact that community pharmacy teams don’t appear to have been included in the announcement of a £60,000 death in service benefit.
Before the pandemic our pharmacy was already short staffed
Our pharmacy is extremely busy normally. It’s a very fast-paced and stressful environment. We never have ‘quiet times’ & often have to cover other branches.
Community pharmacy volunteer delivery service ‘doomed to fail’
The pandemic community pharmacy delivery service is not worth the paper it’s written on.
Pharmacy in Practice CPD challenges
Professional dilemmas
Dilemma results: Has this pharmacist behaved inappropriately on social media?
This dilemma will take you through the adventures of a pharmacist on social media. We hope you enjoy the dilemma and find it useful.
PIP Dilemma results: Is this pharmacist an alcoholic?
This is a dilemma involves a story about a pharmacist who struggles to control their relationship with alcohol and the inevitable consequences.
Opinion
Some pharmacists should receive penalty points
I’m not for more regulation but I am in favour of effective regulation. Registrants deserve a regulator that is working well and engaged with the profession.
Volunteers, medicine deliveries and what if it all goes wrong?
I’ll level with you. I think the widespread use of volunteers to deliver medicines to shielded patients poses significant risks on a number of fronts.
The toughest week I’ve ever had in community pharmacy
This last fortnight has without a doubt been some of the hardest I’ve ever experienced in pharmacy.
‘Pharmacy First’ a first for pharmacy
Once again, these green shoots and genuine leadership are emerging from Scotland.
