Blog
Do Pharmacists need more prescriptive regulation?
Pharmacy is a highly regulated profession and occasionally pharmacists may face prosecution. Prosecuting pharmacists for dispensing errors has always been a rare case. The 2009 Elizabeth Lee case with a suspended 3-month prison sentence shook the confidence of...
Good to be Grey? Not really
One of the biggest frustrations when working with any of the regulatory bodies are all of the ‘grey areas’. Seek guidance from them and the usual response is that the “law or regulation states this, we understand that your circumstance doesn’t fit into this...
Changing sector: from Community Pharmacy to Hospital Practice a tale of two worlds?
Hospital pharmacy is a very competitive sector, if you look back ten years or so, most hospitals had pharmacists on the ‘shop floor’ undertaking traditional dispensing tasks, making it relatively easy for a retail pharmacist to switch between community pharmacy and...
MHRA closes website in the battle against the illegal trade in medicines.
On the 8th January, 2015 the MHRA issued a press release relating to the closing down of websites that are offering falsified and unlicensed medicines. As Contract RPs, we work tirelessly to ensure that our clients do not, inadvertently, purchase or supply falsified...
Pharmacist??? We need a break?!?!
With many pharmacies extending their opening hours and the ongoing battle to increase the number of prescription items dispensed daily it is more important than ever to ensure your pharmacist and technicians take the breaks they need and are entitled to. Workplace...
Are your Wholesale Suppliers Compliant?
Since the issue of the current EU Guidelines on Good Distribution Practice (GDP) of medicines for human use, we have been asked by several distributors to review their quality system against the Guidelines. The most common gap, that we see, relates to qualification of...
Pharmacy Involvement in the Drug Driving Campaign
The Department of Transport is calling all pharmacies to support the new Drug Driving Campaign coming into force March 2015. The new offence has been introduced to combat the irresponsible few who continue to abuse drugs and risk the lives of themselves and others by...
New essential Orange and Green Guides 2015 – out now!
Are you involved in the manufacturing or the distribution of medicinal products? Have you bought your Orange or Green Guide yet? The 2015 edition has been released on general sale. The guides are produced by the MHRA to provide the rules and guidance for your pharma...
Buying Medicines – have you done your homework? Who are you buying from?
Last year the MHRA closed over 1600 websites that were illegally advertising and selling medicines. The medicines in question were deemed falsified, counterfeit or unlicensed in nature. As well as seizing falsified medicines with a value of over £3 million. The safety...
Diabeties early detection – Pharmacist must get involved
Pharmacists must back NHS England’s plans for a national diabetes prevention programme, this is an area where pharmacy can add value and have an opportunity engage with their customers and patients effect a change in behaviour and work with other healthcare providers...
Electronic Prescription Service “EPS” are you claiming for all the items your dispense?
Sainsbury’s in Tunbridge topped the list by not claiming for 1864 prescriptions they dispensed by way of EPS in 2014. Their pharmacy staff are to be retrained as a corrective action. But this is only half the story, there are many root causes but fundamentally the...
Crisis in A&E
A&E is in crisis with targets being missed, 111 is fielding many calls but will always err on the side of caution and send the patient to A&E if they are in any doubt. GPs appointments are hard to get and often GPs little or no time to properly read patients...