Carolyn Wickware

A third of pharmacies could be providing the NHS Pharmacy First Plus independent prescribing service by the end of 2024, Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS) has said. Speaking at a lecture at the Royal Society in London on 15 June 2023, Harry McQuillan, chief executive officer of CPS, said independent prescribing presents “an opportunity” for the […]

Portia Thorman knows her son would not be alive without having had access to nusinersen (Spinraza; Biogen) to treat his type 1 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Type 1 is the most severe form of SMA, a genetic condition that develops in infants under the age of six months affecting muscle strength and movement, causing difficulties […]

Addressing burnout in the pharmacy profession requires “systemic change”, in addition to support for individual pharmacists, according to a report from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and charity Pharmacist Support. The ‘Workforce wellbeing roundtable report’, published on 4 October 2023, was produced following a meeting at the RPS’s London headquarters on the impact of pharmacy […]

The Pharmaceutical Journal from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

The number of times manufacturers alerted the government to potential medicine supply problems increased by 67% between 2021 and 2023, official data have shown. In response to a freedom of information (FOI) request from The Pharmaceutical Journal, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said it logged an average of 137 notifications of potential […]

The Pharmaceutical Journal from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

The fifth health secretary to head the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) in two years has been quick to set out his mission for the NHS. On 5 July 2024, just hours after his appointment, Labour MP Wes Streeting gave a speech declaring that “the NHS is broken”. “This government has received a […]

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has launched an investment programme worth £400m over five years to expand clinical trials in the UK, it has announced. In a statement published on 28 August 2024, the DHSC said the funding — which will come from pharmaceutical companies — will create more opportunities for patients […]

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is currently reviewing 40 active fitness-to-practise (FtP) cases linked to online pharmacy activities, the regulator’s chief pharmacy officer has confirmed. Speaking at The Pharmacy Show in Birmingham on 13 October 2024, Roz Gittins said the GPhC has had “over 400 FtP cases linked in some way to online activities” to […]

Sophie Willis, investigations editor at The Pharmaceutical Journal, has been recognised as ‘Newcomer of the Year’ at the 2025 Avicenna Media Awards, held at Barber-Surgeon’s Hall in London on 31 January 2025. The judges were impressed with Willis’s “ability to grasp the complexities of the pharmacy sector” at such an early stage in her career […]