Sofia Lind

1 month ago | pulsetoday.co.uk | Emma Wilkinson |Sofia Lind

NHS data has shown a further fall in prescribing costs for dependency-forming medicines. A quarterly update from the NHS Business Services Authority showed that while there had been little change in the numbers of items prescribed, costs of the drugs, which include opioid pain medicine, benzodiazepines and gabapentinoids, fell by £2m in October to December 2024. The cost of dependency-forming medicines prescribed was £91.1m –  a 2.6% decrease from the £93.5m reported for July to September 2024.

1 month ago | pulsetoday.co.uk | Emma Wilkinson |Sofia Lind

More than 2,200 GP practices had patients who had not been invited for screening due to an IT error related to incomplete registrations, a letter seen by Pulse has confirmed. A review by NHS England had found 5,261 people across the country had not been contacted to participate in one or more NHS screening programmes. The issue came to light after NHS England were contacted by a small number of people in the summer of 2024 due for screening who had not received an invite.

1 month ago | pulsetoday.co.uk | Emma Wilkinson |Sofia Lind

Europe saw the highest number of measles cases in 25 years in 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned. Across the region which includes 53 countries in Europe and Central Asia, there were 127,350 cases of measles reported last year, double that seen in 2023. The rise is linked to a drop in immunisation coverage in many countries during Covid-19, which has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, officials said.

1 month ago | pulsetoday.co.uk | Sofia Lind

Primary care minister Stephen Kinnock will address GPs at Pulse LIVE London next Wednesday (19 March). Mr Kinnock, who as the minister of state for care has general practice within his brief, will give a speech at the conference and also accept questions from the audience. The session will include questions on the impact of the new GP contract, which saw Mr Kinnock closely involved in negotiations with the BMA, and will be led by Pulse editor Sofia Lind.

1 month ago | hospitalpharmacyeurope.com | Sofia Lind |Helena Beer

The Government has announced it will abolish NHS England in a bid to ‘strip out duplication’ with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). The move is to set to reduce bureaucracy, make savings and empower NHS staff to deliver better care for patients, according to the DHSC.