Starting Fresh with the Glasgow stop smoking project
Written by Liz Grant   

In the Greater Glasgow NHS Board area, 33 per cent of the adult population smokes, rising to 37 per cent in Glasgow City alone. In some of the most disadvantaged communities, adult smoking rates are greater than 50 per cent.
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Implications of new CD regulations
Written by Janice Hancock   

In January 2000 Harold Shipman was convicted of the murder of 15 patients he was caring for as their GP. The subsequent public inquiry, chaired by Dame Janet Smith, looked at issues surrounding the police investigation, how the patients’ deaths were reported, the prescribing and handling of controlled drugs (CDs) and the regulation of health professionals. Of these issues, the one of most interest and perhaps concern to community pharmacists is CDs. 
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Progress in ETP and what patients think
Written by Imogen Savage   
When the concept of the electronic transfer of prescriptions (ETP) was first mooted back in the 1990s it seemed futuristic and the disadvantages were far clearer than the benefits.
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Managing lymphoedema
Written by Anne F Williams   

From March 2006, standard and made-to-measure specialist compression garments for arm and leg lymphoedema have been available on the UK Drug Tariff. These are based on German compression standards[1] and provide higher levels of compression than those garments commonly used in venous disease (Table 1)
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Coping with the Disability Discrimination Act
Written by Ruth Wakeman   
When the new pharmacy contract specifications for England and Wales were published in October 2004 they included a proposed Essential Service 7 (ES7), “support for people with disabilities”. This included a nationally agreed assessment form and different levels of funded support for disabled patients. However, this was never included as part of the final contract in England and Wales, causing widespread confusion. In this article I shall attempt to dispel some of the misconceptions surrounding the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) in relation to community pharmacy.
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The NHS in Scotland – Delivering for health
Written by Billy Templeton   
Pharmacy in Scotland has developed a reputation for being innovative and ahead of the game, leading the way in the use of IT, pharmaceutical care, supplementary prescribing and funding for community pharmacy premises and training.
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What’s happening in Wales
Written by Steve Simmonds   
The past year has been yet another challenging one for the NHS in Wales and for community pharmacy contractors as they come to terms with the new contract. In this article I will look at some of the highlights, starting with higher-level issues affecting the NHS in Wales and then looking at issues that will have affected members in Wales more directly.
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The impact of Our Health, Our Care, Our Say
Written by Neal Patel   
The community services White Paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say: A New Direction for Community Services, was a significant publication for the Department of Health – significant in that it represented a refocusing of policy away from the acute sector to primary care.
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PBC: the case for pharmacy engagement
Written by Neal Patel   
At first glance the term “practice-based commissioning” (PBC) seems to have little to do with community pharmacy. Commissioning, a task previously associated with primary care trusts (PCTs), is not a function to which many community pharmacists will have been exposed, and the fact that this new type of commissioning is practice-based implies that those who are not based in ‘the (GP) practice’ are excluded. Indeed, there are some who are happy for this misconception to be propagated, but being excluded from this process will close down many opportunities to extend community pharmacy practice.
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Safety when taking blood samples
Written by Fiona Broster, Owen Mumford Ltd   
Single-use, needle-safe disposable lancets for blood sampling have clear benefits in a clinical setting, where protection of both patients and healthcare professionals is critical.
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The EPS explained
Written by NHS Connecting for Health   
With about 1.3 million prescriptions now being issued every working day in England – and this figure expected to rise by over 5 per cent each year – we need to change from a paper-based prescription system to an electronic one that is more efficient.
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Over-the-counter fertility testing
Written by Robert D Barlow, Med-Direct International Ltd   
The first new-style over-the-counter (OTC) home fertility testing products are entering the market and several factors suggest that this market should be lucrative.
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