Women across England will be able to get the morning-after pill for free from pharmacies from later this year, the government has said. Emergency contraception is already free of charge from most GPs and sexual health clinics. But ministers say getting it in pharmacies is a “postcode lottery” – with some councils funding free prescriptions, … Read more
Getty Images About 6,000 community pharmacies in England are, for the first time, being advised to start “working to rule”, in two weeks, unless an agreement can be reached with the government on a new NHS contract. The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) is urging its members to limit opening hours to 40 a week, as … Read more
Annabel Rackham and Elena Bailey Health reporters, BBC News Getty Images Weight-loss jabs will now require stricter prescribing criteria for online pharmacies Online pharmacies will now have to employ stricter checks to stop people who are already a healthy weight or have a history of eating disorders buying weight-loss jabs. They will no longer be … Read more
MARK MARLOW/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock This is the first time pharmacists have voted to take action in their history Pharmacy owners in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have voted in favour of cutting opening hours and stopping home deliveries for the first time, in a protest over government funding. The National Pharmacy Association (NPA), which ran the ballot, … Read more
Most GP practices in England have been disrupted by the global IT outage, the NHS has said. GPs have been struggling to access their records systems, which include online bookings. Pharmacy services, such as access to prescriptions, have also been affected. The outage has led to long queues at UK airports and has knocked some … Read more
Dr Chris Castle, a GP in Portchester, close to the city, agrees, saying increasing access will actually come at a cost: “Patients are being told the problem is access, but the problem is that driving up access comes at a cost and that cost is that you affect quality of care.” Source link
Data shows there are now fewer local chemists than at any time since 2015, despite rising demand. Source link
The new protocol comes amid temporary supply issues of penicillin to treat strep A, as cases rise. Source link
“Pharmacist prescribers can help massively when you think about the shortages and the HRT issues, for example, that we are currently facing – having a pharmacist prescriber being able to prescribe alternative medicines without the patient having to wait to see the GP,” she said. Source link
Dr Bruce Warner, Deputy Chief Pharmaceutical Officer at NHS England, said: “Obesity is a significant threat to the nation’s health – it increases your chance of dying from Covid and puts you at greater risk of stroke, cancer and other deadly disease. Source link