Blog
KEEP UP TO DATE – KEEP COMPLIANT!
We are living in a fast moving regulatory environment which has to address advances in products & technology, changing practices, safety issues, global markets and much more. Not keeping up with these changes can present a threat to the compliancy of your...
MHRA website move
The MHRA, along with hundreds of government websites will be moving to GOV.UK over the next few months. The new website will look very different from the current website. To help users find their way around the site, the MHRA will let us see the information on GOV.UK...
Wholesale Distribution Authorisation Applications
From the 22nd April the MHRA only accept new applications for wholesale distribution authorisations via the MHRA Process Licensing Portal – https://pclportal.mhra.gov.uk. The MHRA have issued two useful guidance documents on how to use the portal: a) Using the portal...
Bona-Fides – your new employees
This is only a quick blog item for now but we do spend a lot of time consulting to medicines wholesalers about the bona-fides they need to check and collect when qualifying new customer and new suppliers. We stress the need for such qualifying processes and of course...
Partnership Agreements – keep them relevant and up-to-date
If you're a business owner and part of a partnership it is imperative that you have an up-to-date and relevant partnership agreement. And no I'm not talking about the template your lawyer pulled out all those years ago or the copy gathering dust in the archives. Not...
CQC and care by surveillance?
In the office here, we followed a lively LinkedIn discussion talking about the use of cameras in a care home setting and whether such technology could be useful, is invasive or is wanted by the patient and their family. Many good points were raised including: 1. Well...
Buying a Pharmacy
What's on the market now? What can you afford? And what's a good investment? I often talk to pharmacists wanting to buy their own pharmacy and enter the market as a business owner. I want be my own boss, I'm sick of being employed and I'm ready to do this are common...
NHS Litigation Authority
The NHS Litigation Authority have recently published statistics on their website relating to appeals for pharmacy contracts. The number of appeals since the new market entry regulations has decreased however this may be a market anomaly as applicants get their heads...
Technology in Health and the emergence of Apple
It was announced earlier this month that Apple were launching their own healthcare and fitness app called HealthKit. The app is part of iOS8 and has the potential to communicate patient health data to hospitals and clinicians. The idea behind all of this is Apple's...
Online Pharmacy – are patients better with a ‘face to face’?
Recent coverage in the Australian community pharmacy press has centred around the benefit and/or potential harm of prescribing and dispensing medicines without a face-to-face consultation. The discussion raised asked the question whether an online questionnaire is...
Recent MHRA Alerts
So much for all the wonders and claims of slimming tablets ... After investigation, the MHRA has recently issued alerts about a number of products found to have prescription only drug ingredients in them. All the alerts were raised by the Hong Kong Department of...
Export of medicines in short supply………
The PSNC is no longer maintaining a list as shortages have become part of every day life in pharmacy now. This posed a question by one of my clients: “Does this mean we can now export anything?” No I said you must not export drugs in short supply and I refereed him to...