Dawn Connelly

The Pharmaceutical Journal from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

The Pharmaceutical Journal from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

The Pharmaceutical Journal from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

The Pharmaceutical Journal from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

The Pharmaceutical Journal from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

The road to becoming an independent pharmacist prescriber can be a long one – there are a lot of things to consider, including your scope of practice, finding the right DPP and making sure you find a course that suits your style and existing time commitments.  To help you understand the journey, we’ve mapped out […]

Three years after highlighting a hidden pandemic of work-related stress within pharmacy, the profession’s wellbeing crisis carries on unabated. One in four pharmacists continue to report feeling ‘very stressed’ at work in 2024 — the same proportion as 18 months into the COVID-19 pandemic in September 2021 and approximately double that in the previous three […]

In May 2024, the launch of England’s Pharmacy First service was hailed as a “big win” by the then pharmacy minister Andrea Leadsom in an interview with The Pharmaceutical Journal. “It is a win for patients, a win for GP access and a win for the sustainability of pharmacies,” she said. However, the first five […]

The number of GP referrals to the Pharmacy First clinical pathway service in England has varied widely between integrated care boards (ICBs), NHS England data have shown. The data, obtained by The Pharmaceutical Journal following a freedom of information request to NHS England, revealed that GPs made a total of 167,497 referrals to community pharmacy for […]

A bumpy road for pharmacy in 2024

Melatonin prescribing in children rises by 245% in nine years, data show

Fewer than 20,000 people in England have been prescribed anticholesterol drug inclisiran (Leqvio; Novartis) in primary care since 2021, despite expectations set by the NHS that 300,000 people would be taking the drug by 2024. A freedom of information request sent by The Pharmaceutical Journal to the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA), revealed that 19,416 […]

Allergic rhinitis (AR) is a common inflammatory nasal condition that affects 10–15% of children and 26% of adults in the UK​1​. It impacts school attendance and performance in examinations and at work, as well affecting quality of life by disrupting sleep. It is also a risk factor for the development of asthma. Some people are […]

The narrowing of the ethnicity awarding gap for UK pharmacy graduates seen during the COVID-19 pandemic has not been sustained, according to an analysis by The Pharmaceutical Journal.  Analysis of the latest data submitted by pharmacy schools to the Higher Education Statistics Agency suggests that the ethnicity awarding gap for graduates from MPharm degrees in […]

In 2021/2022, the ethnicity awarding gap for all UK graduates widened for the first time in seven years — and by “a substantial amount”, according to the charity Advance HE. Up until that point, the gap — the percentage point difference between the proportion of white students and minority ethnic students awarded a first or […]

This year, The Pharmaceutical Journal’s Salary and Job Satisfaction Survey contains questions about salary and professional development, as well as a range of issues, including workforce shortages, independent prescribing, designated prescribing practitioners, stress and discrimination. As we do every year, we will use your responses to inform and inspire editorial content that reflects the reality of […]

The ‘Independent prescribing in community pharmacy pathfinder programme’ has recorded more than 17,000 consultations as of 6 May 2025, according to NHS England data shared at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress (CPC) 2025. Speaking at the CPC, held in London on 9 and 10 May 2025, Ghulam Haydar, senior policy lead — community pharmacy transformation and commissioning […]

It will have come as no surprise to those working within the community pharmacy sector in England that delivering services at the current funding level is not economically sustainable. However, an independent analysis of the costs of delivering NHS pharmaceutical services, commissioned by NHS England and published on 28 March 2025, has put numbers to […]

20 GP practices across England are now participating in the PROGRESS trial, a research study designed to establish the feasibility of providing an NHS-wide pharmacogenomics service that identifies genetic changes associated with commonly prescribed drugs. Providing an update on the trial at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress (CPC), held in London on 9 May 2025, Vicky […]

There has been a “massive change” in the prescribing of antibiotics for children in primary care since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Kieran Hand, antimicrobial resistance national clinical lead for pharmacy and prescribing at NHS England. Speaking at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress, held in London on 9 and 10 May 2025, Hand told delegates: “[Before […]