By Richard Thomas, Pharmacy Magazine editor.

The NHS is teetering on the brink.

In the last month alone there have been lurid headlines about clinical commissioning groups suspending all but the most urgent treatments for patients, restrictions on the use of statins, increasing limits on surgery for cataracts and hip and knee operations, A&E departments under threat of closure… the list goes on.

By Alexander Humphries.*

Last year we appointed a new dispenser, partly on the recommendation of another member of staff, and partly because the individual deserved a chance, having become completely disillusioned with pharmacy as a result of working for a large multiple for a couple of years.

Nearly a year later, things just hadn’t worked out. After talking to the boss and to the rest of the team, I had to decide: do I take the easy option and ignore the issue, hoping it will get better on its own, or do I tackle it and risk making the situation worse? In a small team the easy option isn’t really an option at all. Something had to be done.

By Richard Thomas, Pharmacy Magazine editor.

There is an argument that the shock result in the EU referendum was not caused by immigration fears but by a deep sense of grievance on the part of large tracts of the population. These people feel socially and economically marginalised, ignored by politicians of all persuasions.

In other words, it was a protest vote on a gigantic scale and a stark reflection of the inequalities and divisions that are so rife in modern UK society.

By Richard Thomas, Pharmacy Magazine editor.

The Government’s unexpected U-turn over hub and spoke – at least for the moment – has been hailed as a long overdue shift in position in response to convincing evidence, rational argument and massive public support. However, any hint of “I told you so” on the pharmacy side would be gravely misplaced.

By NPA chairman Ian Strachan.

With over one-and-a-half million signatures, our petition has shown the Government that the public cares about pharmacy.

On the closing day of the Department of Health (DH) consultation on ‘Community pharmacy in 2016/17 and beyond’, we will be presenting a petition to 10 Downing Street with over 1.5 million signatures. Our petition is the largest currently circulating in the UK and the largest healthcare petition of all time in this country.

Think about that for a moment. It is worth a “wow,” isn’t it?