There are a plethora of companies who want your money. Here are some questions that you should ask before handing over your money.
Opinion
Pharmacist prescribing will continue to be risky if we don’t get the basics right
Like so many others recently I took the leap to the promised land of general practice. I have not really written about my experience of working in general practice largely because until now (2 years in) I had my head down finding my feet in this devilishly complex yet interesting role.
The Grouchy Pharmacist: Take me to your leader
Leadership, self-nominated awards and a healthy dose of self-promotion, here we go again… If you had the misfortunate to catch a bit of the Twitter over the past week you’ll be forgiven for thinking that pharmacy is comprised of a pile of leaders and a bunch of wanna be leaders hanging on every […]
What can Scotland learn from British Columbia’s approach to overdose deaths?
Part of the answer to mounting drugs-related deaths in Scotland lies in grassroots charities, community groups and experts with lived experience taking a lead role, a Canadian substance use researcher says. Professor Bernie Pauly of the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research was in Scotland last week to speak at a Dundee harm reduction […]
Gregory Lawton on the benefits of whistleblowing
In this follow up to his first article on the subject Greg Lawton discusses the benefits of whistleblowing. If I were an employer, I’d actively recruit whistleblowers; I’d want people who’d care enough to do the same for my organisation. Whistleblowers won’t always get it right, but some have helped put a […]
Apprenticeships in pharmacy: be careful what you wish for
The proposed apprenticeship for a pharmacist has come out of the blue for many of us and there have been lots of views on social media. Some of these views have been measured, factual and correct whilst others are scaremongering and ill-informed. I have been asked to provide some thoughts in this short article. […]
Should over-the-counter opioid sales be banned in the UK?
As pharmacy professionals, it is our duty of care to ensure that patients receive treatment suited to their needs, in order to provide optimal benefit. An issue that is well known in pharmacy practice is that of over-the-counter pain relief. These consultations can be difficult as it is often hard to determine whether the […]
To say that ‘pharmacists are not required to diagnose and manage medical care’ is just plain wrong
For a profession notoriously resistant to change, pharmacy has had a lot to adapt to recently. Judging by the reactions of horror on Twitter, the latest suggestion, of apprenticeships leading eventually to working as a pharmacist, is a bridge too far. I am sceptical, but I also have the benefit of actually […]
Apprenticeships in pharmacy are being driven for commercial reasons
I believe that potentially that this proposal could be very damaging for a number of reasons. Allow me to briefly explain why. We need to develop pharmacists as independent thinkers. I mean pharmacists and not company ‘x’ pharmacists. There is already evidence that pharmacists struggle with this, partly because we tend to […]
“We need a population level approach to managing heart failure” says Paul Forsyth
Heart failure is the most malignant form of heart disease with outcomes comparable with most of the common cancers. The main way of improving a patient’s prognosis and symptoms is through medication. Getting the medicines right for every patient every time is possible in heart failure. However, this needs a population-level approach […]
