• Make their voices heard in the development of the NHS 10-year plan
• Contribute to the development of competent, credible national pharmacy leadership via the UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board
• Share the Talent Management Resource Tool to give everyone the same opportunities

The ten-year plan for NHS England will be founded on three strategic shifts:

• secondary care to primary care,
• analogue to digital
• treatment to prevention,

At present a public engagement exercise is underway and Mr Cattell urged pharmacists to share their ideas and views and “make your voices heard” via the NHS online platform.

Medicines’ optimisation

For the first time , 16 national medicines’ optimisation opportunities have been set out.  One area where positive steps have been made is in antimicrobial stewardship.  A 7.4% reduction in population exposure has already been achieved, towards a target of 15%, he noted. Another important opportunity is the standardisation of aseptically-compounded and special medicines.  “The  consequences of us not ordering 500 different versions of the same medicine, on the people who provide those medicines to us, on the patients who receive them, and importantly, the staff who prescribe them cannot be overstated”, he said.

Pharmacy First

Pharmacy First has been incredibly well-received by patients.  Many people now have direct experience of using the service and “they couldn’t believe how good it was”, he said. Looking ahead, 185 independent prescribing Pathfinder sites are now exploring how community pharmacists can play a much greater clinical role as part of the primary care team. The project is expected to “establish a framework for how this may look and how NHS community pharmacy clinical services could incorporate independent prescribing”, he explained.  The CLEO SOLO system, an electronic prescription service – an addition to the dispensing version of EPS, which everybody already has – is currently being deployed into Pathfinder sites. “Very early data from sites which have been prescribing show that out of 1200 consultations, 29% resulted in a prescription being issued, and while 350 medicines were prescribed, 68 were stopped”, he said.

Medication safety improvement, genomics and enhancing digital capability were also areas where progress is being made.

Independent prescribing

“Independent prescribing is our fundamental future for pharmacists and it makes us a global leader in pharmacy professional practice”, said Mr Cattell. The roles of prescribing pharmacists are expected to grow, particularly as newly-qualified pharmacists will be ready to prescribe when they complete their training. “This means that when they make decisions about medicines, they’ll no longer have to ask someone else to enact those decisions”, he said. In 2023 there was a 37% increase in the number of independent prescribers in community pharmacy. By 2026 approximately half of all pharmacists will be independent prescribers and, this will rise to about 80% in the longer term. Pathfinder sites are working out how best to utilise the skills of independent prescribers in community pharmacy, he added.

A key step in the long-term workforce plan is the announcement of 530 new, funded pharmacy technician apprenticeships for community pharmacies. It is the first time that NHS England has taken such a step, he said.

Lastly, Mr Cattell drew attention to the Pharmacy Workforce Race Equality Standard (PRES) that was published in 2023 and the Talent Management Resource Tool that has been compiled to improve diversity and support aspiring leaders.

The Clinical Pharmacy Congress North 2024 was held in  Manchester 1^st-2^nd November.

The post Three critical tasks for pharmacists – Clinical Pharmacy Congress North highlights appeared first on Pharmacy Update Online.

The purpose of the notification is to ensure that supplies of GLP-1 RAs for people with T2DM are protected and used appropriately. Most importantly, “GLP-1 RAs should only be prescribed for their licensed indication”. This means that off-label prescribing of, for example, Ozempic for weight loss is to be avoided.

People who have already embarked on a weight loss programme involving the use of Ozempic may be alarmed to find that it is no longer available to them.   Ian Strachan, a community pharmacist in Bury, Lancashire, who has run a weight loss service for about three years, points out that Saxenda (liraglutide), a product that is licensed for weight loss, can still be used, “although there are intermittent supply challenges”, he acknowledges

The actions required of clinicians until supply issues have resolved are:

• GLP-1 RAs should only be prescribed for their licensed indication
• Avoid initiating people with type 2 diabetes on GLP-1 RAs for the duration of the GLP1-RA national shortage.
• Review the need for prescribing a GLP-1 RA agent and stop treatment if no longer required due to not achieving desired clinical effect as per NICE CG28.
• Avoid switching between brands of GLP-1 RAs, including between injectable and oral forms.
• Where a higher dose preparation of GLP-1 RA is not available, do not substitute by doubling up a lower dose preparation.
• Where GLP-1 RA therapy is not available, proactively identify patients established on the affected preparation and consider prioritising for review based on the criteria below.
• Where an alternative glucose lowering therapy needs to be considered, use the principles of shared decision making as per NICE guidelines in conjunction with the Supporting Information below.
• Where there is reduced access to GLP-1 RAs, support people with type 2 diabetes to access to structured education and weight management programmes where available.
• Order stocks sensibly in line with demand during this time, limiting prescribing to minimise risk to the supply chain whilst acknowledging the needs of the patient.

Guidance on clinical review is provided in the document and clinicians are referred to NICE Guideline 28 – Type 2 diabetes in adults: management.

The supply issues have been caused by an increase in demand for these products for licensed and off-label indications and supply is not expected to return to normal until at least mid-2024.

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