Multiples

The US DOJ has filed a lawsuit against CVS alleging its “actions helped to fuel the opioid crisis” as it “prioritized corporate profits over patient safety”.

The PDA has released a statement in response to Superdrug management’s communication with pharmacists, which the body said was “ill informed” and in need of “correction”.

Boots parent company Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) has remained taciturn amid fresh rumours that it is in talks to “sell itself” to a private equity firm in the new year.

Some pharmacies are “forcing employees to be designated prescribing practitioners (DPPs)” while DPPs at “one large multiple” are not “routinely prescribing themselves”, Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) members have warned.

The inquest of a 22-year-old patient who received his prescription twice due to a “prescribing error” has raised concerns over Pharmacy2U’s “swift dispatch of medication”.

The NHS has accepted Pharmacy2U’s application to take over the ownership of LloydsDirect, after previously refusing it earlier this year.

The PDA has confirmed that a “formal ballot” will take place to secure union recognition at Superdrug – with the vote forecasted to be concluded “by the spring” – after the chain said it is “not willing to recognise the PDA voluntarily”.

Day Lewis has announced the launch of a “joint venture scheme” allowing pharmacist managers to become co-owners of their pharmacy.

Boots has signed a letter to the Chancellor stating that the “sheer scale of new costs” introduced by the budget – including a rise in employer national insurance contributions (NICs) and the national living wage – will “make job losses inevitable”.

Boots has launched a private respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccination service in 75 stores across the UK for those who aren’t eligible for a free NHS vaccination.