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Diary
Future Events
About People
Announcements
Awards
Martindale Christmas quiz
Drug taffiff amendments
Corrections
Personal

Diary: Local meetings

Local meetings Unless otherwise indicated, events listed below are meetings of local branches of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Monday, January 22

Barnet
“Pharmacy and internet developments”
by Mr I. Shepherd (head of information technology policy, Royal Pharmaceutical Society).
Postgraduate Medical Centre, Barnet General Hospital.
7.30 for 8pm.

Epsom
“Premenstrual syndrome and postnatal depression: can over-the-counter products help?”
by Dr Gard.
Bradbury Postgraduate Medical Centre, Epsom General Hospital.
Buffet 7.30pm, meeting 8pm.

Harrow and Hillingdon
“Dispensing with errors”
by Ms J. Edgington (inspector, Royal Pharmaceutical Society).
Clinical Lecture Theatre, Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow.
Buffet 7.30pm, meeting 8.10pm.

Macclesfield
“The role of the pharmacist within primary care groups: a local view”
by Ms H. Bianchi (PCG pharmacist).
Education and Training Centre, Macclesfield District General Hospital.
Buffet 7.15pm, meeting 8pm.

Plymouth
“Modern dressings in wound care management”
by Mrs M. Fear-Price (tissue viability nurse specialist, Cumberland centre, Devonport).
Postgraduate Medical Centre, Derriford Hospital.
Buffet 7.15pm, meeting 8pm.

Tuesday, January 23

Bury
“Diabetes”
by Mr A. Brown (principal pharmacist, Southport and Ormskirk NHS trust).
Macdonald Norton Grange Hotel, Manchester Road, Castleton, Rochdale.
7.30 for 8pm.

Croydon
“Arthritic conditions, part 1: rheumatoid arthritis”
By Dr Rearden (rheumatology consultant). Postgraduate Medical Centre, Mayday Hospital.
8pm.

Fife
“Best kept secrets of Fife”
by Mrs M. Reilly.
Dunniker House Hotel, Kirkcaldy.
7.45pm.

Hertford
“Stroke”
by Mr J. Gibbs.
Du Pont, Stevenage.
Buffet 7.30pm, meeting 8pm.

Mid Glamorgan
East Annual general meeting.
Otley Arms, Treforest.
8pm.

South Cheshire
“NHS Direct: developing the links and role of pharmacists”
by Ms T. Cookson (general manager, NHS Direct, Cheshire and Wirral).
Fourways Inn, Delamere.
7.30 for 8pm.

Wednesday, January 24

Cardiff National Association of Women Pharmacists
“Coeliac diseases and gluten-free products”
by Ms R. Jack (dietetics adviser, Nutricia).
Oak Room, Village Hotel, Coryton, Cardiff.
7.30 for 8pm.

West Hertfordshire
“Osteoarthritis and its treatment”
by Mr J. Cole.
Postgraduate Medical Centre, Hemel Hempstead Hospital.
Buffet 7.30pm, meeting 8pm.

Thursday, January 25

Birmingham
“Jungle warfare”
by Mr M. Adams (entomologist).
Birmingham Medical Institute, Edgbaston.
7.15 for 8pm.

Crawley, Horsham and Reigate
“Your Society’s finances”
by Mr A. D. Allen (Treasurer, Royal Pharmaceutical Society)
followed by annual general meeting.
Postgraduate Medical Centre, Crawley Hospital, West Green, Crawley.
7.30 for 8pm.

Eastbourne
Annual general meeting.
Sara Hampson Room, Eastbourne District General Hospital.
8pm.

Halifax
Address
by Mr K. Hellawell (United Kingdom antidrugs co- ordinator).
Postgraduate Medical Centre, Halifax General Hospital.
Buffet. 7pm, meeting 7.30pm.

North Staffordshire
“Pharmacy practice update, part 2: sports injuries”
by Ms P. Spruce (clinical nurse specialist) and a physiotherapist specialising in treatment of sports injuries.
Nadine Lecture Theatre, North Staffordshire Medical Institute, Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent.
8pm.

Slough
“Family planning”
by Mrs S. Mehigan (Garden clinic, Upton hospital).
John Lister Postgraduate Centre, Wexham Park Hospital, Slough.
Buffet 7.15pm, meeting 8pm.
Joint meeting with East Berkshire practice nurses group.

Monday, January 29

Stockport
“Hypnotherapy and irritable bowel syndrome”
by Dr P. Whorwell (consultant gastroenterologist, Withington hospital).
Postgraduate Medical Centre, Stepping Hill Hospital.
7.15 for 8pm.

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Future events

NICE
University of Hertfordshire evening lecture on “National Institute for Clinical Excellence appraisals: a health economist’s perspective” by Professor Martin Buxton (director, health economics research group, Brunel university, and appraisal committee member, NICE), University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, February 8, 7 for 7.30pm. Details from Julie Huckle, External Relations, University of Hertfordshire, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB (tel 01707 284004, e-mail j.a.huckle@herts.ac.uk).

Welsh ball
Welsh Pharmaceutical Students Association annual ball, Coal Exchange, Cardiff Bay, February 24. Cost £31 for members, £33.50 for non-members. Details from Clare Karia on 029 2090 2493 (e-mail wpsa@cardiff.ac.uk).

Medicines information
Promoting Excellence in Consumer Medicines Information symposium on “Over to the consumer: providing information with medicines”, Royal Society of Medicine, Wimpole Street, London W1, February 28. Cost £117.50 for businesses, £58.75 for public sector organisations. Details from Stacy Waller, Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, 12 Whitehall, London SW1A 2DY (tel 020 7747 1430, e-mail swaller@abpi.org.uk).

Defining disease
Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin symposium on “Defining disease: determining practice”, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1, March 8. Cost £105.75. Details from Marilyn Cohda, Symposium Administrator, Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin, 2 Marylebone Road, London NW1 4DF (tel 020 7770 7571).

Clinical governance
UK Clinical Pharmacy Association quality assurance interest group study day on “Clinical governance”, Novotel, Birmingham, March 14. Cost £70 for members, £90 for non-members. Details from Mrs Pat Kennedy on 0116 277 6999 (e-mail pkennedy @ukcpa.u-net.com).

CPD
UK Clinical Pharmacy Association education and training interest group study day on “Continuing professional development”, Royal Armouries, Leeds, March 20. Cost £70 for members, £90 for non-members. Details from Mrs Pat Kennedy on 0116 277 6999 (e-mail pkennedy@ukcpa.u-net.com).

Pharmaceutical care
UK Clinical Pharmacy Association spring symposium, Hilton Leeds City Hotel, Leeds, May 18-20. The meeting will feature parallel sessions on pharmaceutical care from the UKCPA’s education and training, quality assurance, care of the elderly, surgery and theatres, primary care development, and critical care practice interest groups. Cost £235 for members, £275 for non-members. Details from Mrs Pat Kennedy on 0116 277 6999 (e-mail pkennedy@ukcpa.u-net.com).

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About People

Dr Michael Robertson, MRPharmS, has established Pharmaceutical Quality Matters, a consultancy business where he is director of European regulatory affairs. He was formerly a senior licensing assessor at the Medicines Control Agency.

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Announcements

GHP The Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists is seeking individuals or groups who are interested in identifying, appraising and abstracting research into the importance of hospital pharmacy, with a view to presenting it in a form suitable for dissemination. The project is expected to take about 300 to 350 hours to complete and substantial funding is available. Individuals or groups who are interested should contact Raj Gokani on 01865 221807. The closing date for submissions is January 26.

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Awards

Practice research The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has two practice research awards available to members. The Galen award, worth up to £10,000, is available to support projects or investigations into any aspect of pharmacy practice. The Sir Hugh Linstead fellowship, worth up to £15,000, is available to support projects for the development of some aspect of community pharmacy services. Although there are no restrictions on the topics for proposed investigation for either award, the Council of the Society has indicated that applications which reflect developments within the national pharmacy plan would be particularly welcomed. These topics include supporting self-care, the role of pharmacy in one-stop primary care centres, access to medicines outside normal working hours, repeat dispensing, e-pharmacy, and patient partnerships in medicine taking. Applicants are encouraged to complete parallel applications for both awards, in line with the regulations covering the awards. The closing date for applications is June 29 and interviews are to be held on August 15. Further details, including application forms and notes for guidance, are available from Zoe Whittington, practice research manager, at the Society’s headquarters on 020 7735 9141 ext 406 (e-mail zwhittington@rpsgb.org.uk).

Psychiatic pharmacy The UK Psychiatric Pharmacy Group’s Astra Zeneca travel award is available to members of the group in recognition of clinical or practice research in psychiatric pharmacy. The award takes the form of an expenses-paid trip to either the American Psychiatric Association’s conference or the mid-year meeting of the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Submissions must be made by April 30 and cover work completed in 2000. Further details, including guidance on submission, are available from Graham Parton at g.parton@virginnet.co.uk.

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Martindale Christmas quiz

The winner of the Martindale Christmas quiz, published on December 23/30, 2000, (p935) was Jan Golding of the Royal Liverpool university hospital who receives a £100 voucher to buy books from the Pharmaceutical Press. Vouchers of £50 go to Carolyn Nelson of Wharfedale general hospital, Otley, and Kevin Moseley of Lloyds Pharmacy, Keynsham, Bristol. The answers to the quiz were as follows:

(1) Factor IX; (2) Bismuth; (3) Clonidine and lofexidine; (4) Gold and it is used in dental work; (5) Cocaine; (6) Clenbuterol and phencyclidine; (7) Amanita bisporigera; (8) It is myrrh; (9) 57.1 per cent v/v or 49.2 per cent w/w; (10) Caramel; (11) Mistletoe; (12) The picture was of the Norweigan flag. The strange adverse effect linking the flag with tacrolimus was speech dysfunction in the form of an apparent Norwegian accent; (13) The capital of Italy is Rome. When added to what sounds like a nice cuppa (T) we get Romet, a Japanese proprietary preparation of repirinast which was used for asthma relief; (14) Myositis attributed to hypokalaemia; (15) Cranberry; (16) An orange rubbery mass in the faeces; (17) Granulated sugar; (18) Dakar is the capital of Senegal. Removing the letter L (the Roman symbol for 50) produces Senega, used as the root in expectorant preparations; (19) Malaria; (20) Miracle fruit contains miraculin, a substance with no apparent taste of its own but able to make sour substances taste sweet.

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Drug tariff amendments

The Department of Health and the National Assembly of Wales have agreed to allow “No cheaper stock obtainable” (NCSO) endorsements for the following preparations for January prescriptions

Clomiphene 50mg tablets (packs of 30); co-triamterzide 50/25 tablets; quinine bisulphate 300mg tablets.

In addition, they have said that, owing to declining availability of CFC-containing salbutamol inhalers, prescriptions for salbutamol inhaler (100mg, 200 doses) will be reimbursed at the Tariff price for the CFC-free version with effect from December, 2000, prescriptions. The CFC-free version is now in category A, currently 194p, also with effect from December, 2000, prescriptions. This change in payment does not affect what can be dispensed: prescriptions for salbutamol inhaler may still be filled with CFC-containing inhalers where patients have not already transferred to CFC-free inhalers.

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Corrections

Christmas crossword An error appeared last week in the answer grid for our Christmas crossword competition (p64). The correct answer to 15 across was “evert”.

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Personal

This column is intended for announcements of births, marriages, deaths and engagements. The charge for an insertion under this heading is £18 for not more than 25 words, and £7 for every additional 10 or fewer words. Payment (in the form of personal cheques only, payable to “The Pharmaceutical Journal”) should be forwarded with the notice, which should be authenticated by the name and address of the sender, to the Editor, The Pharmaceutical Journal, 1 Lambeth High Street, London SE1 7JN.

Marriages

Baggaley–Lowey Eleanor (ex-Bradford 1996-2000) and Andy (ex-Bradford 1995-99) are delighted to announce their marriage on January 20 at All Hallows church, Harthill.

Deaths

Dewey John Richard, FRPharmS, died on November 29, 2000, aged 84 years. He qualified in 1939 and worked in hospital pharmacy all his life. He retired in 1981 having been district pharmaceutical officer for the Kent and Sussex area. He will be sorely missed by his wife, daughter and grandson.

Ledward Rodney Spencer, MRPharmS. Died of pancreatic cancer in October, 2000. “No one wanted to know.”

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