Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

'UK could change mandatory Covid jabs for health staff'

Britain is looking at the possibility of changing rules on mandatory covid jabs or vaccination for healthcare staff, chief secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke said on Monday (January 31).

"We do recognize those realities and that does open a space where we can look at this again," Clarke said.


Sky News reported Clarke as saying that the policy of mandatory covid jabs was something that ministers had "always kept under review".

"We've been trying to strike, throughout this pandemic, the right balance between having the maximum impact in terms of measures that support public safety in the face of the virus, but also have the minimum impact in terms of our wider freedoms as a society."

More For You

Infant formula: Food, diet and obesity committee welcomes CMA proposals, demands action on processed foods
CMA study shows that parents could save around £300 a year by switching to a lower priced infant formula brand (gettyimages)

Infant formula: CMA calls for stronger labelling and advertising rules

All infant formula brands should be displayed together and separately from other formula milks in stores to enable quick and easy price comparisons – suggests CMA 

The Competition and Marketing Authority (CMA) has recommended the governments of the four UK nations to strengthen advertising and labelling rules of infant formula to help parents make informed decisions and save money.

This follows a CMA study on infant formula and follow-on milks, which found that a combination of factors was leading to poor outcomes for parents.

Keep ReadingShow less
David Thomas Steps In as NPA’s New Wales Representative
Five NPA members are contesting for the remaining position in England (gettyimages)

NPA board update: David Thomas succeeds Raj Aggarwal OBE

Five NPA members are contesting for the remaining position in England

David Thomas, owner of LT Chemists in Newport, will replace Raj Aggarwal OBE as the next National Pharmacy Association (NPA) board member for Wales, following an uncontested election this month.

Following the conclusion of a nomination process last week, Baldev Bange, Aisling O’Brien, Sehar Shahid, and Sanjay Ganvir have been re-elected to the Board, representing areas of England and Scotland, according to a statement from NPA.

Keep ReadingShow less
Public Policy Projects calls for better use of community pharmacy skill mix to improve medicines adherence
Non-adherence to medicines remains a critical issue, with an estimated 30 to 50 per cent of medicines for long-term conditions not taken as prescribed. (gettyimages)

Leverage pharmacy skill mix to improve medicines adherence - report suggests

The report also suggested expanding the community pharmacy contractual framework to enable community pharmacy to deliver medicines reviews

Pharmacy technicians and assistants should be enabled to talk to patients about their medications to improve medicines adherence, a new report has recommended.

The report, How medicines optimisation contributes to population health, published recently by policy institute Public Policy Projects, highlighted that non-adherence to medicines remains a critical issue, with an estimated 30 to 50 per cent of medicines for long-term conditions not taken as prescribed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pharmacy contract consultation to review medicine margin and reimbursement, says Kinnock

Pharmacy contract consultation to review medicine margin and reimbursement, says Kinnock

Kinnock confirms that an announcement on the 2025/26 GP contract would be made before April 2025

The 2025/26 pharmacy contract consultation will include a review of the medicine margin and reimbursement arrangements, health and care minister Stephen Kinnock has confirmed.

Kinnock made this statement in response to a written question from Nick Timothy, Conservative MP for West Suffolk, who asked the secretary of state for health and social care, if he will review the reimbursement system for pharmacies and GP practices dispensing medicines.

Keep ReadingShow less
NPA urges immediate release of pharmacy funding crises review
Underfunding has forced record numbers of pharmacy closures (gettyimages)

Suppressing pharmacy funding crisis analysis would be ‘outrageous’, warns NPA

The NPA fears the report won’t be published until pharmacy funding consultations conclude, while CPE states there is no set timeline for finalising negotiations.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has called on the NHS and the Department of Health to immediately publish the government-commissioned analysis of pharmacy underfunding and reveal the true scale of the crisis.

Commissioned by NHS England, the long-awaited independent review is expected to “lay bare the perilous financial state” of community pharmacies, which is a vital part of the nation’s health infrastructure.

Keep ReadingShow less