Property round-up: Sales, openings, planning permissions, and very efficient robots...

 
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What happened in the community pharmacy market last month?

Pharmacists must not rely on ‘sale of cosmetics’, says Lord

 
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Pharmacists should be used to their “full potential” to make a “bigger” contribution to public health rather than being asked “to rely on the sale of cosmetics”, a member of the House of Lords has argued.

AAH: Pharmacies ‘incorrectly charged’ £2k for £45 drug

 
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CPE has urged pharmacies to “check your invoices” after some were wrongly charged almost £2,000 per pack against NHS prescriptions for cholesterol-lowering medication Inclisiran.


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MHRA crack-down seized £40m in illegally traded drugs last year

 
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The medicines watchdog has revealed that it seized more than 17 million doses of illegally traded medicines amounting to a “potential street value” of more than £40 million in 2024.

Trainee pharmacist fined after ‘antisemitic’ social media post

 
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A trainee pharmacist has been fined more than £1,000 after pleading guilty to posting a “grossly offensive” and “hateful antisemitic” message on social media.

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IN FULL: Long delayed funding contract negotiations finally open

 
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The government has announced that it has finally “entered into consultation with Community Pharmacy England (CPE)” on funding and contract arrangements for both this year and next year.


Pharmacy closed by GP landlord ‘without notice’ after rent row

 
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An Exeter pharmacy was left locked out of its premises by its GP landlord following months of negotiations over “extortionate” rental costs, C+D has learned.

Draft GPhC rules ‘leave door open’ for unsafe weight loss scripts

 
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Independent pharmacy leaders have warned that draft GPhC guidance allows patients to “inappropriately access weight loss injections”, while representatives for the largest pharmacies have said that no additional regulations are needed.

Pharmacy ‘ghost sign’ uncovered by new ‘escape room’ tenants

 
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A ‘ghost sign’ for a pharmacy that traded over a hundred years ago has been uncovered on an escape room’s shopfront during a refurbishment.


NHSBSA may ‘withhold’ payments amid Pharmacy First claims probe

 
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The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) has warned that it will investigate Pharmacy First claims, with payments only made to pharmacy owners whose claims are found to be “lawful”.

MPs: Pharmacists must not be ‘criminalised’ over vapes as quit aid

 
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MPs have called for clarifications of advertising restrictions for nicotine vapes to ensure pharmacists don’t find themselves “on the wrong side of the law” for promoting vaping as a “stop smoking device”.

‘Danger to life’: Storm Éowyn shuts down NI pharmacies

 
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Storm Éowyn has temporarily shut down some Northern Irish pharmacies after the Met Office issued a red weather warning that “represents a likely danger to life and severe disruption”.


Government-funded pharmacy to rent out consultation rooms

 
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A pharmacist has received a six-figure loan from the Welsh government to open a new pharmacy with rentable consultation rooms for other “independent contractors”.

Boots and Well worker found guilty of two consultation sex offences

 
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Tauqeer Azam has been found guilty of sexually assaulting one woman and directing “remarks of a sexual nature” to another while conducting medical examinations at two pharmacies.

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Staff struggle to feed their kids after Jhoots missed January wages

 
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Jhoots pharmacy staff have handed in their notice after a missed January pay-day left them facing eviction and unable to “afford school lunches”, C+D has learned.


Supermarket cough medicines recalled over ‘foreign material’

 

A manufacturer is recalling several batches of cough medicine, including some it produces for Tesco and Asda, after “foreign material” was found in some bottles.

‘Open every day since 1952’: Wicker Pharmacy celebrates 73 years

 

Award-winning Wicker Pharmacy in Sheffield has celebrated 73 years of late opening “every single day”.

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ICB investigating plunge in Pharmacy First GP referrals

 
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A London integrated care board (ICB) is “working to understand” a national dip in Pharmacy First referrals from GPs in the summer, C+D has learned.


Weight loss jabs linked to ‘reduced risk’ of Alzheimer’s and dementia

 
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The use of weight loss drugs has been associated with a “reduced risk of substance use” and “neurocognitive disorders” including Alzheimer’s and dementia – along with a handful of other illnesses – a new study has revealed.

US pharmacy groups made billions from ‘critical drug’ price hikes

 
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A US government report has found that three of the country’s largest pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) “hiked costs” of “lifesaving drugs” including cancer and HIV treatments by “thousands of percent” between 2017 and 2022.