NHS Long Term Plan

Transformative change is the order of the day

After months of testing with NPA members, we are getting close to finalising an ambitious new vision for community pharmacy, says the association’s new vice chair Jay Badenhorst

NHS invests £20m in faster cancer diagnosis

'Skin snaps' and rapid tests are among the measures being rolled out by NHS England as part of a major drive to speed up cancer detection.  

Nearly 75 per cent of people with learning disabilities get health check

Seventy-four per cent of people aged 14 and over with a learning disability have had an annual health check ahead of schedule.

Hospitals receive £16m to introduce digital prescribing

NHS Long Term Plan is to introduce digital prescribing across the entire NHS by 2024.

£200 million to go towards mental health services

New or expanded crisis services will be opened in every region in England to expand mental health crisis services.

Hancock: ‘We will unleash the potential of our pharmacies’

Matt Hancock: "We will unleash the potential of our pharmacies because there really is so much more they are capable of doing."

Let's seize the opportunity to change the dynamic

Pharmacy needs to push the case for a change in the point of patient interaction and so help manage access pressures, say James Roach and Johnny Skillicorn-Aston of Conclusio.

Practice pharmacists up 40 per cent in one year

There were 1,833 pharmacists in GP practices in England in September 2019 versus 1,304 in September 2018.

Let's get digital, digital

With over half of Brits using health apps and wearables on a daily basis, the PAGB is calling for more digital solutions.

App to help patients book community pharmacy services

A patient health app is to extend its appointment booking feature to include community pharmacy services.

Boots rolls out cystitis test to nearly 300 UK stores

Boots will roll out a cystitis test and treat service to nearly 300 UK stores.

Where next for the NHS Long-Term Plan?

By Royal Pharmaceutical Society England board chair Sandra Gidley

As the dust settles from the publication of the long-awaited NHS Long-Term Plan, many across the profession will be looking to what it means in practice. There are certainly opportunities for pharmacy, but it would be fair to say some in the community sector will be wondering what happens next.

Pharmacists certainly featured more than ever before and it was great to see NHS England recognise how central their skills will be to meeting its ambitions around patient safety and delivering better value from the billions of pounds spent on medicines each year.