Opinion

From our Martian correspondent: medicines own Earthlings

 
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This ethnographic study explores the dominion of medicines and the curious behaviours of their devoted acolytes, as well as the sick and healthy Earthlings enthralled by them.

xrayser

Xrayser: Santa baby, here is what I would really love...

 
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It’s that time of year again, it always seems to come around so quickly. Everything feels sparkly, glittery and christmassy, but in the world of community pharmacy it all feels a bit dark and gloomy. But...

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‘I’ve still got a fat man’s brain’: PharmaDoctor’s CEO speaks about his Mounjaro journey

 
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Mounjaro has been an “overwhelmingly positive experience” for PharmaDoctor’s chief executive Graham Thoms, but he stresses it’s neither a “magic bullet” nor a “short-term fix” and that uniform regulation must be implemented.


Truly, your opinion counts. Let us know your thoughts...

 

We want to hear the important things you have to say about life in pharmacy today...

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Paul Rees: Why have I chosen to leave the NPA?

 
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It was in the autumn of last year I became the NPA chief executive – and now, after an amazing period in post, I am set to move on, in mid-January, to lead the Nursing and Midwifery Council. Why have I chosen to leave the NPA? I will come back to that at the end of the article...

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Political Pills: The fate of pharmacy is inseparable from the government’s Ten Year Plan...

 
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I’ve been behind Stephen Kinnock’s desk, and I know the advice he will have received on Hub & Spoke. It goes something like this… “Minister, Number 10 doesn’t want us to proceed with this until..."


opinion

Editorial: Pharmacy is a perpetual victim of someone else’s confusion

 

Labour – remarkably – still has some way to go before it plumbs the depths reached by the Conservatives. But it is trying.

From a banker: What the budget means for community pharmacy

 
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This broad investment in the NHS will be most impactful, but only if matched with effective community care services on the frontline...

We can’t Wegovy our way out of the diabesity crisis...

 
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"The GLP1s are relatively new and are being rolled-out as scale. We have no idea what damage 20 years of drug-induced hyper-incretin-aemia may cause, but the history of abandoned slimming drugs tells me it won’t end well."


England’s pharmacy market analysed: “A few drugs can make the difference in making a profit.”

 
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With the NHS under significant pressure, there’s a real opportunity here for pharmacies to support overstretched GP and hospital services - if they’re given the proper support.

Xrayser: Our community is divided... it’s toxic and depressing

 
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What is happening within our sector? The division we we’re seeing between the representative bodies at a time when we need to be more united than ever. I am horrified, but not surprised, at what we are seeing and hearing on the ground.

From a lawyer: Ironing out the legal wrinkles

 
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In 2024, influencer Nadine Poole was fined for unlawfully posting online advertisements for prescription only medicines and possessing unlicensed prescription medicines. Do you know the law?


NPA to IPA: 'Name a time and a place for a joint meeting, and we will be right there'

 
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At a reception held by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, one distinguished guest, who is a leader in primary care, said to me: ‘Remind me who you work for? There are so many pharmacy bodies I lose track.’

Patient death: ‘As a direct result of this dossette box case, I‘ve updated my SOP’

 
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One community pharmacist tells C+D how easily this fatal confusion could happen, but says it wouldn‘t be the only reason death occurred. However, they’ve also changed the way they do things since...

We must address the racial undertones in the language of pharmacy and healthcare

 
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Community pharmacist and the PDA’s southeast regional committee chair, Nav Bhogal, says there are negative racial undertones in some of the language used in pharmacy. What are some examples, and what are some possible alternatives?


Ian Strachan: If the IPA had been consulted, we'd have advised the NPA to call off its ballot

 
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If I had been given the chance to respond to the direct remarks by Mr Rees on the Pharmacy Show panel about unity and his unfulfilled wish to meet with the IPA, I would have asked why he resorts to media, panels and WhatsApp groups to ask...

Political Pills: Fourteen years of neglect and incompetence? Let’s see how you get on...

 
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Many ambitions in the winning party’s manifesto are so top-line they could mean almost anything. Perhaps that was the point...

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Steve Race MP: 'Without community pharmacy, people would be unhealthier and poorer'

 
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Pharmacy has an historic opportunity to meet the potential they represent by working with government to deliver more - and should rightly want to be reimbursed sustainably for that work.


The pursuit of harmony - can CPE find it?

 
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CPE’s committee represents the many voices of the sector, but does the shifting ownership picture across the UK mean it no longer represents community pharmacy accurately?

RPS Society or College, as health professionals let's continue with the (collegiate!) cooperation

 
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In early 2025, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) will ask members and fellows whether they wish it to be renamed the Royal College of Pharmacy. Two-thirds must agree. My vote, presently, is for college status but I might change my mind.