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711 Pharmacists
want to refer patients direct to GPs Pharmacists would be interested in launching a patient “choose and book” system, similar to that being rolled out in surgeries, so they could directly refer patients for a GP appointment, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society suggested this week
...more
711 Guild
calls for pay rise of up to 15 per cent Special pay increases of up to £4,179 have been called for by the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists to improve recruitment and retention of hospital pharmacists
...more
711 Pharmacists
charged with medicines counterfeiting Two pharmacists and a former pharmacist are among 11 people charged with medicines counterfeiting offences
...more
711 Resuscitation
guidelines Resuscitation guidelines now state that the ratio of chest compressions to ventilations for all adults and children (except newborn babies) is 30:2
...more
711 Oxygen guidance
for Wales Community Pharmacy Wales has issued guidance for
contractors about the new oxygen service which starts on 1 February 2006
...more
712 Patients
question pharmacists' skills for MURs Some patients would prefer a doctor or a nurse to carry out a medicines review rather than a pharmacist, according to a report published this week by the patient concordance group Medicines Partnership
...more
712 Survey reveals
poor compliance with asthma therapy in UK patients Less than a quarter of adults with asthma in the UK comply with their asthma therapy — a much lower figure than in other countries — according to a survey reported at this week’s British Thoracic Society winter meeting in London
...more
712 Action plans
may not be of benefit in all asthma patients Personal action plans for patients with moderate to severe asthma appear to improve lung function and school attendance, and reduce symptoms and use of health care services, the December issue of the Drug
and Therapeutics Bulletin concludes following a review of published studies. However, it notes that the evidence is less convincing for the use of these plans for patients with milder asthma, particularly in primary care
...more
712 Winter campaign Seeking a pharmacist's advice is a key message in this year's winter advertising campaign launched by the Scottish Executive last week
...more
712 Haj pilgrims
and meningitis People undertaking the annual haj Muslim pilgrimage should ensure that they are vaccinated against meningococcal infection, the chief medical officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, warned this week
...more
713 Society and
PSNC oppose DoH patient pack plan Plans from the Department
of Health to allow community pharmacists in England to dispense patient
packs that contain a different number of doses to that prescribed have
been opposed by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Pharmaceutical
Services Negotiating Committee ...more
713 Financial
details of new essential small pharmacy scheme confirmed Details of the financial support available under the new essential small pharmacy local pharmaceutical services scheme (ESPLPS), due to be introduced next April, have been confirmed by the Department of Health
...more
713 EU cross-border
service provision plan now excludes health services Controversial EU plans to allow services to be provided across borders, subject only to the laws of the country of origin, have been revised. Health services are now excluded
...more
713 MPs shown
potential of IT links between pharmacies and GPs Howard Stoate, Labour MP for Dartford and chairman of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, and Doug Naysmith, Labour and Co-operative MP for Bristol North West and a member of the APPG, were this week shown the possibilities opened up by direct IT links between pharmacies and GP surgeries
...more
714 COX-2 inhibitors
do not offer GI benefit over other NSAIDs Cyclo-oxygenase-2 inhibitors do not offer enhanced protection against gastrointestinal (GI) events, compared with non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), a case-control study suggests
...more
714 Adherence
to medication, even placebo, improves outcomes Patients with
chronic heart failure who adhere to their medication, even if it is a
placebo, have a lower risk of death than patients with poor adherence,
an analysis of the CHARM trial has revealed ...more
714 Scope for
prescribing by pharmacists is huge The scope for further development of pharmacist and nurse prescribing is huge, Nigel Crisp, chief executive of the NHS, writes in his six-monthly report this week
...more
714 Safety of
paroxetine in pregnancy addressed Following concerns raised recently in the scientific and lay media over the safety of paroxetine in pregnancy, the Commission on Human Medicines has written to health care professionals with advice
...more
714 SHA/PCT reconfiguration Strategic health authorities and primary care trusts have been given the go-ahead by the Department of Health to start consulting on proposed boundary changes
...more
714 NHS Scotland
is improving, but financial problems remain Scotland's health service is improving but still faces financial challenges, according to a report published this week by Audit Scotland
...more
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715 IPF thrashes
out member criteria Defining independent pharmacy is proving
difficult for the fledgling Independent Pharmacy Federation ...more
715 Europe is
losing its R&D edge Europe is losing its competitive
edge in pharmaceutical research and development, health minister Jane
Kennedy said last week ...more
715 OTC regulation
to be simplified Red tape surrounding over-the-counter medicines
regulation is to be reduced in order to meet the demands of patients
keen to take responsibility for their own health care ...more
715 Pharmacists
enhance safety in emergency resuscitations Employing a specialist
clinical pharmacist to work in the accident and emergency department
of a hospital improves patient care and reduces medicines-related errors
during emergency resuscitations. This is the finding of a team of pharmacists
from the US who presented their work at the American Society of Health-System
Pharmacists meeting ...more
715 Green Book
updated New and replacement chapters for ‘Immunisation
against infectious disease', known as “The Green Book”, have
been published on the Department of Health website ...more
715 PPIs of some
use for cough Proton pump inhibitors probably have some beneficial
effects for some adults with cough associated with gastro-oesophageal
reflux disease, say researchers ...more
R&D news
716 Smoking abstinence
improved with new therapies Nicotine vaccines and a drug that
blocks nicotine's action improve smoking abstinence rates for up to a
year, the results of recent studies have shown ...more
716 Beneficial
effects of rimonabant on cardiovascular risk confirmed The
beneficial effects of anti-obesity drug rimonabant on metabolic risk
factors for cardiovascular disease have been confirmed in a trial published
last month ...more
716 Breast cancer
treatment beneficial in 40 per cent of patients with advanced disease An
oral once-daily first-line treatment for advanced breast cancer provides
a clinical benefit in 40 per cent of patients, data presented at the
recent European Cancer Conference (ECCO) in Paris suggest ...more
716 Tocilizumab
more effective than conventional DMARDs in RA Joint erosion
and joint space narrowing in rheumatoid arthritis is more effectively
prevented by tocilizumab (Actemra; Chugai/ Roche) than by conventional
disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), results presented at
an American College of Rheumatology meeting held in San Diego, California,
last month suggest ...more
716 Febuxostat
effective in gout Febuxostat, a selective non-purine inhibitor
of xanthine oxidase, is more effective than allopurinol at lowering serum
urate, a study involving 762 gout patients has shown ...more
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal