Numark launches HLP resources for members

Numark has published a series of free online resources to support its members with gaining Healthy Living Pharmacy (HLP) Level 1 self-accreditation which is expected to be rolled-out by Public Health England in April 2016.

The Numark resources include tips on how to evidence each section of the quality criteria, ideas for health campaigns and templates for recording them, along with links to websites to access promotional material.

One of the key training requirements for becoming a HLP is to have at least one member of staff (ideally two to ensure full coverage) who has undertaken the Royal Society of Public Health - Level 2 Award in Understanding Health Improvement.

Numark has linked with Buttercups to offer this course to members at a discounted rate.

Pharmacies will be forced to close by cash cuts claims Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner

Angry shopkeepers have been backed by residents in a battle to stave off pharmacy closures, Cambridge News reports.

The Government wants to reform the medicine-dispensing system, including bringing in online prescription ordering from drug warehouses.

The move would also see funding cuts of about six per cent in the budget for pharmacies, which opponents claim could mean one in four pharmacies closing.

Worried pharmacy workers and residents met Cambridge's MP Daniel Zeichner yesterday to hand over a petition against the cuts.

Anti-cancer drug scientist Prof Chris McGuigan dies

One of the UK's leading scientists in the field of anti-cancer drug discovery has died following his own battle with the disease, the BBC reports.

Professor of medicinal chemistry at Cardiff University's School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chris McGuigan, had been a drug developer.

He was also chairman of the Welsh Government's Life Sciences Hub.

A university spokesman said the "exceptionally gifted inventor and chemist" died on Friday.

Contraceptive pill for men is close as experts learn to pause fertility

Scientists say they are close to developing birth control pills for men, The Times reports.

Experts have for years attempted and failed to create a male pill to rival the contraceptive options that have been available to women since the 1960s.

Now, however, scientists from the University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy claim to have taken a step forward by tweaking experimental compounds to develop a product that works for men and has no side-effects.

Testosterone, the male hormone, has been studied as a potential male contraceptive because it can provide temporary infertility but there are several drawbacks.

Sexual health clinic could open in Bradford's 'main retail' area

A sexual health clinic could open up on a prominent city centre street, if council planners give the green light, the Telegraph & Argus reports.

The clinic would be created on an upper floor of Howard House, the building which also houses the Yorkshire Building Society at the junction of Bank Street and Broadway.

It would be run by Batley-based social enterprise Locala, which was last year awarded a public health contract to deliver contraception and sexual health services across the Bradford district.

The facility would be built in vacant office space on the second floor of the five-storey concrete building.

There would be a pharmacy, a laboratory, a waiting area, two treatment rooms and nine consultation rooms. Some of the windows would be obscured to maintain the privacy of clients.

Safer tablet to stop hot flushes in menopause

A pill to treat menopausal hot flushes without increasing the risk of breast cancer is being developed by British scientists and could be introduced within five years, The Times reports.

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is currently used to reduce the episodes, which some women have to endure up to 30 times a day, but can increase the chances of cancer by up to a quarter.

Scientists at Imperial College London are developing a pill that blocks a brain signal that triggers the flushes and could drastically improve the quality of life for millions of women.