David Broome, director at Stancliffe Pharmacy in Leeds, talks to Saša Janković about helping patients understand their medicines after discharge. Service type: Discharge Medicines Service. Name and location of pharmacy: Stancliffe Pharmacy, Leeds. Name of pharmacist(s): David and Jackie Broome. Why did you start offering this service? We have had the Connect With Pharmacy (CWP) service in Leeds…
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Pharmacist, Ashley Cohen, looks back at the five-year pharmacy contract and how far along clinical services have really come. Almost two years ago, a five-year deal for community pharmacies was agreed between DHSC, NHSE&I and PSNC. The deal, agreed in July 2019, secured pharmacy funding and set out a clear vision for the expansion of…
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Andrew Weinronk speaks to Saša Janković about how his pharmacy is helping to improve the care of patients who have recently been discharged from hospital. Service type: Community pharmacy access to the local hospital trust patient record – the Health Information Exchange (HIE). Name and location of pharmacy: M & A Weinronk, Pensby, Wirral. Name of pharmacist: Andrew…
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Pharmacists must now ensure that patients wishing to access pharmacy services remotely are supported to do so, under new NHS regulations that came into force on Tuesday (20 October). This could include providing necessary advice over the phone or by video consultation to patients who have always had their prescription delivered by the pharmacy, PSNC…
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Robin Mitchell, superintendent pharmacist at Victoria Park Pharmacy in Dorchester, talks to Saša Janković about running community-based smoking cessation services. Service type: Community-based smoking cessation services. Name of pharmacy: Victoria Park Pharmacy, Dorchester. Name of pharmacist: Robin Mitchell. Why did you start offering this service? We’ve been offering this service since at least 2013. There have been various…
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Community pharmacists will be expected to support patients with medication when they are discharged from hospital, as part of a new digital referral service announced under the new pharmacy contract. This essential service, called the discharge medicines service (DMS), will come into force in July. It was announced yesterday (23 February) as part of a…
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Hospital patients who receive post-discharge support from a community pharmacist are less likely to be readmitted into hospitals than those who don’t, a study has shown.  Researchers from the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust and the South West Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) kept track of 1,130 patients who were discharged from District General hospital…
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An advanced pharmacy service supplying emergency prescriptions saved almost 40,000 GP appointments in one year, the pharmacy minister has said. Answering a question on the contribution of community pharmacies to the NHS on 7 March, Steve Brine said that NHS Urgent Medicines Supply Advanced Service (NUMSAS) saved 38,900 GP appointments between December 2016 and December…
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Two new advanced services and tighter governance requirements have been announced as part of changes to the pharmacy contract due to come into effect on October 1.

Statistics recently released from the NHS Information Centre show a 70 per cent increase in prescription items dispensed in England since 2000. While this rise is in large part due to well known factors including the ageing population, greater access to new and more effective medicines and the move towards more prescribing of medicines preventatively, it has also brought into sharp focus how medicines are used (or not) by patients. Prescribed medicines represent the largest non-staff element of the NHS budget – expected to total £12.5 billion in 2010/11 when the final accounting is done – so it is vital to get value for money from this investment. The NHS may not be facing the cuts in the same way as some other government departments, but negligible real terms growth against health demand inflation of 5 per cent a year means things have to be done very differently if the sums are going to add up.