| Weekly News Digest - 11th December 2025 |
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| Community pharmacies in North East Hampshire, Farnham, Surrey Heath and East Berkshire are invited to sign up for NHS Frimley’s Winter Minor Ailments Service (Dec 2025–Mar 2026). The service provides free OTC medicines for patients eligible for free NHS prescriptions who may struggle to afford self-care treatments. It aims to support individuals and families facing financial hardship, ease primary-care pressures and improve timely access to care. See here for more information on how to sign up. |
| Attached is the latest communication prepared under the guidance of the Frimley ICS Medicines Safety Group regarding the safe dosage of Apixaban. Please share with all relevant staff, including temporary staff such as locums, and consider printing and displaying them in communal areas. Click here |
Endorsing of devices It has recently been brought to the attention of the Medicine Optimisation Team (MOT) at BOB ICB that a prescription was issued by a practice for Mometasone 50micrograms/dose nasal spray with a quantity of 140, which is the number of doses in the nasal spray. Unfortunately, it appears that the script was not endorsed by the pharmacy and this error led to the NHS Business Services Authority (NHS BSA) reimbursing for 140 nasal sprays at a cost of £625.98 instead of 1 nasal spray which should have cost £5.59. It is highly unlikely that 140 nasal sprays were issued and this was purely a processing error but errors like this are very costly to the NHS. This specific incident is currently under review and if it is established that an overpayment has been made this will be recovered from the pharmacy. The MOT have highlighted this issue to their general practice teams and asked them to check the quantities prescribed where doses and devices can be confused, commonly nasal sprays and inhalers. The MOT would appreciate the support of their community pharmacy colleagues to endorse prescriptions with the actual quantity supplied, where the quantity requested is clearly an error or could be misinterpreted for payment purposes. |
Antimicrobial Resistance SurveyThe BOB ICB One-Health Antimicrobial Stewardship Group have developed a survey on antimicrobial knowledge which is open to everyone: service users, healthcare workers and the public. Take part in a quick 5-minute antimicrobial knowledge survey here. |
| The 2025 Pharmacy Pressures Survey revealed that more than half of pharmacy staff see abuse from patients as a serious concern. Community Pharmacy England has provided advice and produced posters reminding patients to treat pharmacy teams with kindness and respect. Find out more and access resources here. |
| Please remember it is part of the Terms of Service to update your pharmacy information on NHS Profile Manager by 31st December 2025. |
Monthly Deadline TrackerStay on top of your schedule with ease using our Monthly Deadline Tracker. This December edition is designed to keep you organized and help you meet your deadline effortlessly. |
| Stay informed with the Pharmacy Academy podcast channel, a great source for weekly updates on essential pharmacy topics, powered by insights from NHS, CPE, and PGD guidance and AI generated for clarity. Stay connected, enhance your expertise, and dive into key pharmacy discussions—all in one place. |
Tune in to this week's podcast |
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| We are delighted to invite Slough contractors to an upcoming Slough Community Pharmacy Neighbourhood Workshop bringing together local partners and pharmacy colleagues to shape the future of neighbourhood healthcare for Slough. This event will provide a valuable opportunity to connect with stakeholders from the Slough area, including representatives from substance misuse, public health, sexual health, and clinical directors. 📅 Wednesday, 25th February 2026, 7-9pm 📍 Copthorne Hotel Slough-Windsor, Cippenham Lane, Slough, SL1 2YE 📋 Register Here |
| Training on giving media interviews and handling the press is being offered to pharmacy owners, team members and LPCs to help build confidence when engaging with journalists and giving interviews. Upcoming sessions: Mon 26 Jan 2026, 7.30–9pm (online) Tue 10 Feb 2026, 7.30–9pm (online) See here for full details. |
CPPE has launched a new Digital healthcare learning gateway to help boost your digital skills and help pharmacy teams build confidence in areas like health data, electronic records, cyber security and digital tools.
Explore the gateway. |
| If you weren’t able to attend our recent NMS Webinar – Depression & Antidepressants, the recording and presentation slides are now available on our website. This session explored the inclusion of depression and antidepressants into the NMS service, guiding contractors through the updated specification and highlighting practical opportunities for pharmacy teams. |
| CPPE would like to share with you, the annual survey from Paula Higginson, Head of Learning Development, to ask for ideas and thoughts on learning programmes for pharmacy professionals that you would like to see added to the CPPE core portfolio. This survey will take no more than 10 minutes to complete Please see here a link and a QR code, either of which can be used to access the survey which will close on 6 January 2026. |
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