Brexit and Pharmacovigilance
One of the areas that the UK has led on in the EU, and worldwide, is the science of pharmacovigilance and regulatory science. The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is a world class organisation in drug regulation, and has been a leader on drug safety since the…
What sort of anti-vaccine books do homeopathic pharmacies sell?
Vaccination is a key component of the strategic to deal with anti-microbial resistance, as the recent Review on Antimicrobial resistance set out.(1) The GPhC, the UK regulator of Pharmacies, are concerned enough about the professional role pharmacists have in tackling anti-microbial resistance to carry an interview about this important subject with…
Leaving the English National Board
For the past three years I have been serving as an elected member of the English National Board of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, and for the past year the Society's Assembly. The nominations for the 2016 elections closed on the First of April at 12:00, and I made the difficult…
Pharmacies can sell anti-vaccine books.
Last August I submitted a complaint to the GPhC (the pharmacy professional regulator) about two homeopathic pharmacies. Both pharmacies were selling anti-vaccination books. The GPhC's tagline on their website is "Upholding standards and public trust in pharmacy", so I felt given the misleading nature of such information I ought to…
When equality, secularism and transparency collide
As a member of the National Secular Society, an atheist, a Chair of Governors at a non-religious school, someone who sets examinations, and someone who teaches equality and diversity the recent responses to news stories about the GCSE and A levels being moved for Ramadan were fascinating. Religion has been, and continues…
Be better than the average: The Yellow Card App
For the past 50 years the Yellow Card scheme has been an essential patient safety resource. Like the UK's blood donation scheme it depends on altruism. Reports are made by by patients, carers, and healthcare professionals of suspected adverse drug reactions (side effects) to medicines. It saves lives. It reduces morbidity. It…