Pharmacy Complete

Pharmacy consultancy

Media

NICE touch – but will NHS England listen?

Will the recent NICE guidance, which focuses on how community pharmacies can help maintain and improve people’s physical and mental health, also focus the minds of NHS England and Public Health England? Mike Holden from Pharmacy Complete hopes so. Read more in the Pharmacy Magazine article he recently wrote.

Sexual health when travelling aborad

This article on XPOSE includes a contribution from Pharmacy Complete’s Deborah Evans and explores how to take charge of your sexual health in a foreign country.

“Packing for travel health is an important part of planning for your holiday and, just as we think about taking painkillers, antiseptics, plasters, mosquito repellent and antihistamines with us, it’s also important to think about your sexual health.”

Whether you’ve missed your pill or had unprotected sex, remember that each country has its own rules on morning after pill accessibility; in some places you can simply buy it from a pharmacy, and in others you’ll need to speak to a doctor first.  

“Ahead of travel, it might be a good time to think about other, more regular forms of contraception, such as taking the pill, having an implant, using the patch or having a coil fitted. If you already have a preferred method of contraception, then make sure you’re up-to-date with supplies before you go away.”

Remember that if you do have unprotected sex, you won’t be protected against getting a sexually transmitted infection, so always pack condoms.

“A pharmacist or other healthcare professional will advise on the best options, and you can always chat to someone before you go away about your concerns.”

Back to the Future

What next for community pharmacy?

This article I wrote for Pharmacy Magazine a couple of years ago explored what pharmacy might look like in the future. I speculated on two potential models which I called Nirvana and Amazonia. At the time I challenged the profession to create its own future and not be led by government and others to a place where we, and most patients, don’t want to go whilst being realistic when we operate in a healthcare ecosystem is changing at an increasingly rapid rate.

More recently, I played this back in one of our Viewpoint articles, Here and Now. With Amazon entering the pharmacy space in the United States with its recent acquisition of PillPack and some wholesalers, and rumours that it is in conversations with Pharmacy2U in the UK, it is very much here and now!

Doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome is not going to happen…