Have you ever wondered what those four letters mean and the importance surrounding them? ‘Discussing Stupid Questions and Suggestions’? No, for once this doesn’t relate to PCSE! I have to admit to not remembering whether these letters were even uttered at my practice manager interview but then I have been a PM for a while,…

By Sally Greensmith, CPPE Head of national pathways for primary care education. With the advent of primary care networks and the new Network contract directed enhanced service (DES) there are more and more pharmacists being recruited to increase the patient-facing workforce in primary care and be trained to help with the delivery of the DES.…

Nearly every week we hear about the stresses and strains on the NHS and often the “c” word is the issue. In this case “c” stands for cost. The NHS has been with us for decades now, and at its inception there were much fewer medicines available to prescribe than today, and it is the…

A specialist clinical pharmacist working in a general practice saves an average of five hours of direct doctor time weekly, according to an analysis from Scotland. Researchers said pharmacists also improved patient safety and staff morale. The findings come from an assessment of Scotland’s project aimed at recruiting pharmacists with advanced training into practices as…

Dozens of practices are to get clinical pharmacists as the programme is extended to cover most of England, it has been announced. NHS England approved funding some 160 extra pharmacists, bringing the planned total to more than 1,100. These will be deployed in more than 3,200 practices caring for nearly 34 million people. They represent…

Practices have saved more than £100 million a year through the introduction of electronic prescribing, according to a new analysis. Practices, dispensers, patients and the NHS have all made big savings from the system, according to the NHS Digital analysis. The analysis of three years of the system found the NHS saved £130 million over…

Much has been said about the role of practice based clinical pharmacists and the benefits they bring to practices. Indeed, only last month in its ‘Next steps on the NHS Five Year Forward View’ publication, NHS England said its aim is to increase the number of pharmacists in general practice to over 900 by March…