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583 Three new faces
elected to Council as voting falls Voting in this year’s Royal Pharmaceutical Society Council election fell markedly, with only 16.22 per cent of ballot papers returned, compared with 21.25 per cent in 2006, 21.8 per cent in 2005 and 22.8 per cent in 2004
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583 Clarke adds urgency to call for
transitional committee to prepare new leadership body It is “absolutely vital” that the transitional committee to oversee the preparation of the new professional leadership body, as recommended by the Clarke Inquiry, is set up as soon as possible, according to inquiry chairman Nigel Clarke
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583 Deputy Registrar appointed as Society FTP
head leaves Pharmacist Wendy Harris, deputy director of healthcare quality and head of patient safety and investigations at the Department of Health, has been appointed as the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s new Deputy Registrar. She will take responsibility for the Society’s regulatory functions from 9 June 2008
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584 NPA responds to polyclinic
threat to community pharmacy network Moves to secure
the community pharmacy network in the face of plans to establish polyclinics
have been made by the National Pharmacy Association
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584 Darzi advises on tackling NHS changes Five pledges on how the NHS should handle changes to services are set out by Lord Darzi in his report “Leading local change”, published last week. This comes ahead of Lord Darzi’s final report on the NHS, expected June 2008
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584 Pharmacy should be consulted on plans to
expand GP services The pharmacy profession must be consulted as part of the Government’s plans to invest in GP services, including creating 12 new practices in under-doctored areas, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said this week
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584 NAO progress report on NPfIT All
elements of the National Programme for IT are advancing and some are complete
but the original timescales for the electronic Care Records Service were unachievable
from the beginning, raised unrealistic expectations and put confidence in the
programme at risk, says the National Audit Office in its second report on the
programme
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585 Cancer pharmacists recognised
in patient survey The high quality of medicines
management advice given by cancer pharmacists to their patients when they leave
hospital has been recognised in the annual patient survey carried out by the
Healthcare Commission
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585 Representative ordered to pay damages following
prescription fraud A medical representative who
supplied stolen prescriptions in a widespread fraud, which cost the NHS hundreds
of thousands of pounds, is facing financial ruin after a High Court ruling last
week
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585 Samuel Ashby allowed to proceed with High
Court appeal case despite facing deportation Samuel Ashby, who was struck off the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Register of Pharmacists for a second time in February 2008 following an attack on a member of the Society’s staff when his first ban was announced in October 2006, is allowed to proceed with his High Court challenge to the first striking off decision without paying into court in advance, a High Court judge has ruled
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586 Demos highlights importance
of talking to patients Concordance, rather than
compliance, should underpin conversations pharmacists have with patients about
their medicines, a report published this week by the think tank Demos recommends
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586 Design guide recommends simple changes to
injectable medicines Graphic designers from the
Royal College of Art have helped develop new National Patient Safety Agency guidelines
for the labelling and packaging of injectable medicines
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587 Direct distribution no
immediate threat to quality Service quality for
patients has not been affected by the decision of some pharmaceutical manufacturers
to bypass the conventional wholesale system and supply medicines direct to pharmacies,
the Government has decided. Ministers are confident that service quality will
remain undamaged in the foreseeable future and have no plans to introduce legislation
to protect standards, it says
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587 Review planned for warnings on medicines Warnings
used on medicines labels are likely to be overhauled, according to the latest
report from the Better Regulation of Medicines Initiative (BROMI)
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587 NPA brings group together to solve pharmacy
IT dilemmas An IT supply chain forum has been formed
by the National Pharmacy Association
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587 Manufacturers obliged to tell patients to
report ADRs Pharmaceutical companies are to be
obliged to tell patients to report adverse reactions to their drugs as part of
a revised voluntary code of practice for the industry that comes into effect
on 1 July 2008
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588 Avoid parallel-imported
Clexane Some packs of Clexane (enoxaparin sodium)
prefilled syringes supplied to overseas markets have higher levels of the contaminant
over-sulphated chondroitin sulphate (OSCS) than is considered acceptable by the
Commission on Human Medicines. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory
Agency does not want to see these batches supplied to the UK as parallel imports
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588 Benevolent Fund seeks ideas for services The
Benevolent Fund, the independent welfare charity for present and past members
of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and their dependants, is seeking ideas from
pharmacists across the UK to develop its services
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588 Numark launches bursary scheme to further
staff training A bursary scheme that will meet
up to 90 per cent of the cost of a training course to help boost the clinical
or business skills of pharmacy staff working for Numark is being launched
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588 Help with financing pharmacy degree offered
by Teva UK Students who are suffering financial
hardship but hope to gain a degree-level qualification in pharmacy could benefit
from a bursary scheme set up by generics manufacturer Teva UK
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588 Information to patients The UK Government strongly supports the maintenance of the current ban on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription-only medicines to the public, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has said in the Government’s response to a European Commission consultation
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588 Regulation of medical devices Plans
to modernise and simplify EU legislation on medical devices have been put forward
for public consultation
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588 Qualifications to transfer more easily The European Qualifications Framework — a voluntary scheme designed to improve transfer of people’s educational qualifications between member states — was formally adopted by the European Parliament last month
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589 Efavirenz more effective
than lopinavir/ritonavir A regimen of efavirenz
plus two nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) is more effective
than lopinavir/ritonavir plus two NRTIs for initial therapy of HIV-1 infection,
new data show
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589 Breastfeeding linked to lower arthritis
risk Women who breastfeed for more than a year
have a reduced risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study
published online
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589 Intravenous prodrug of oral aprepitant launched
in UK Fosaprepitant, an intravenous alternative
to the anti-emetic drug aprepitant, has been launched in the UK
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589 Biosimilar erythropoietin product now available Epoetin zeta (Retacrit) — a biosimilar erythropoietin product — has been launched in the UK by Hospira this week
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589 Naproxen and celecoxib not effective as
preventives for Alzheimer’s disease Naproxen and celecoxib do not appear to improve cognitive function in adults with a family history of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers say
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590 Reconsider advice on beta-blocker
use in surgery Peri-operative beta-blockers in
non-cardiac surgery reduce the risk of non-fatal heart attack but increase the
risk of death and stroke, according to research published online
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590 Folic acid and vitamin B fail to reduce
CV events in high-risk women Folic acid combined
with vitamin B supplementation does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular events
in women at high risk of cardiovascular disease, researchers confirm. This is
despite significant lowering of homocysteine levels
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590 Combination of NRT and nortriptyline unlikely
to be more effective than single therapies in smoking cessation A
combination of nortriptyline and nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) is unlikely
to be more effective at helping people stop smoking than offering the therapies
separately, according to the results of a study published online
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590 Further data required before varenicline
can be regarded as first-choice for quitters Varenicline
(Champix) should not be regarded as the first-line choice for smoking cessation
therapy until further data are available and reports of depression and suicidal
ideation have been further reviewed, according to the latest Drug and Therapeutics
Bulletin
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