The past few weeks have seen a raft of major developments in pharmacy.

Perhaps of most significance was the news that, finally, community pharmacists in England are to have access to the NHS summary care record. This move is long overdue.
It will be a key enabler that will underpin pharmacists’ growing clinical role and improve the quality, efficiency and safety of patient care. As the pharmacy minister says, “it makes complete sense”.

Meanwhile, plans to place clinical pharmacists in GP practices are advancing apace, with NHS England officially unveiling the £15 million scheme earlier this month. The news was broadly welcomed as recognition of the importance of pharmacists within the primary care team.

However there are also nagging doubts about the implications for the community sector in terms of service development, even funding. Will community pharmacists be sidelined in all the hullabaloo as the attention and energy shifts elsewhere? This one will need careful watching.

Finally, hairbrained idea of the month has to be Jeremy Hunt’s plan to print prices on prescription medicines in a bid to raise awareness of the cost of treatment and so reduce medicines waste (see front page story). This is a hoary old chestnut with no supporting evidence whatsoever.

The need to improve adherence and make a dent in the £300 million of medicines wasted every year is indisputable. Shaming patients by telling them and the world how much they are costing the taxpayer is not the way to do it.

Richard Thomas, Editor