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1 week ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
The take-up of Pharmacy First is “not what we would like it to be”, pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock has said. Speaking at a on 17 June 2025, Kinnock said that in response to low usage of Pharmacy First, the government is “looking at options” to boost awareness of the service and reduce pressure on pharmacists by enabling them “to operate at the top of their licence”. These options include streamlining dispensing, with forthcoming hub-and-spoke legislation playing a key role, he added.
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1 week ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has launched its strategic plan for 2025–2030, outlining priorities to strengthen public trust, regulatory performance and support for the pharmacy profession.
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2 weeks ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
Speaking at the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the Glasgow safe drug consumption facility (SDCF), the UK government has confirmed that it does not support safe drug consumption rooms. Minister for policing and crime prevention, Dame Diana Johnson, told the inquiry, on 4 June 2025: “I really want to be clear with you: we do not support drug consumption facilities.
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2 weeks ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
The UK’s first national clinical guideline on the use of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxyPEP) has been published by the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV (BASHH). The guidance, published on 9 June 2025, makes the UK one of the first countries in the world to “offer formal clinical direction on this STI prevention strategy”, BASHH said.
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3 weeks ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
Immunotherapy treatment pembrolizumab (Keytruda; Merck Sharp & Dohme) helps patients with head and neck cancers to live extra years disease free when compared with standard treatment, according to the results of a study.
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3 weeks ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
Only one-third of pharmacies will be able to meet new Pharmacy First ‘bundling’ threshold requirements that are coming into force this year, according to report by the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA). In its report, published on 2 June 2025, the CCA said that “latest data from February 2025 suggest only 3,429 of pharmacies provide each of the three services bundled for payment”.
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1 month ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
The proportion of flu vaccines administered to patients aged over 65 years in community pharmacies in England has increased by almost 20 percentage points over the past five years, according to data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). Data shared withThe Pharmaceutical Journal on 27 May 2025 revealed that in 2024/2025, 28.1% of flu vaccines were administered to patients aged over 65 years via pharmacies compared with 8.3% in 2019/2020.
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1 month ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
Pharmacy minister Stephen Kinnock has said that the government will publish the response to its consultation on pharmacy supervision and introduce legislation later in 2025.
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2 months ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has discontinued a project in which it anonymised ethnicity data for registrants involved in fitness-to-practise (FtP) cases. In council papers, published on 22 April 2025, ahead of its council meeting on 24 April 2025, the regulator said the project team had recommended the project be discontinued for reasons including the amount of time taken to redact information and additional staff resource needed.
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2 months ago | 
pharmaceutical-journal.com | Sophie Willis
Community pharmacies exceeded targets for the pharmacy contraception and hypertension case-finding services in 2024/2025, according to data published by NHS England. Board papers, published on 27 March 2025, revealed that from April 2024 to February 2025, community pharmacies exceeded targets for blood pressure checks and oral contraception consultations by 181% and 57%, respectively.
