Thursday 5th June 2025   

Welcome to your weekly injection of local and national pharmacy news. As always, if you have any feedback or comments, please contact us by email at admin@cpdevon.org.uk.

Date: Tuesday 15th July 2025

Time: 19:00-21:00 hrs

Location: 1st Floor Barnstaple Health Centre Vicarage Street Barnstaple EX32 7BH

Emergency Hormonal Contraception (EHC), Chlamydia Screening, Progesterone only pill (POP), Combined pill (COC) & Talking With Young People Training Session for pharmacists.

You can book a place here. 

If you are unable to attend a session in person a recording of the presentation will be available in due course and uploaded to the Community Pharmacy Devon Website

Please contact rduh.cso@nhs.net if you need any further information or have any issues booking a place.

Ahead of negotiations on the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) for 2026/27 and beyond, Community Pharmacy England is keen to discuss pressing issues and the future of the sector with pharmacy owners and LPCs.

All pharmacy owners and their representatives are therefore invited to attend our regional ‘Future of Pharmacy’ workshops to discuss what next for community pharmacy with us. The workshops will be held through July, with one in each NHS region, and pharmacy owners can attend any of these events.

Please come along – your contributions are welcomed. Book your place here.

A recent article in the Pharmaceutical Journal highlights the dangers of propranolol used for anxiety, in particular the overdose risk in young people aged under 25 years. Although propranolol is licensed for the treatment of anxiety symptoms, such as palpitations, sweating and tremor, it is not recommended by NICE for generalised anxiety disorder or panic disorder in adults, and the British Association for Psychopharmacology warns that propranolol is neither safe nor effective for anxiety disorders due to its significant side effects and danger in overdose.

The medicines optimisation team recommend that prescribers should avoid initiating new prescriptions and consider the following measures for repeat prescriptions:

·         Check patient’s history for evidence of suicidal ideation and self-harm (particularly overdosing)

·         Review regularly

·         Prescribe the lowest effective dose

·         Limit the quantity of tablets prescribed

The team also advised prescribers to review people who have been prescribed propranolol and who have increased risk factors (for example, anyone co-prescribed antidepressants).

Prescribers should be aware of the high prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities associated with a diagnosis of migraine, which is another common indication for prescription of propranolol. It is thought that people with depression and migraine could be at an increased risk of using propranolol for self-harm, and co-prescribing of an antidepressant may increase the risk of toxicity in cases of overdose and cardiac side effects.

Following the recent training event for pharmacy teams held by SHiP, please click here to view posters for Plymouth-based pharmacies to display.

Also, please note that if any pharmacies are considering holding a stock of STI kits for females under the age of 25, they should contact us at the following email account Plh-tr.GUMClinic@nhs.net where supply of the kits and the appropriate poster advertising that they hold a stock of STI kits can be provided.  

The contracts for public health commissioned services by Torbay and Devon County Councils are due to expire on 30 September 2025.

Please note the following points:

More details will be provided closer to the commencement date but we are happy to respond to any immediate questions in the meantime. 

If you have a positive news story to share with us please send it to admin@cpdevon.org.uk and it will be featured in an upcoming edition of the review. If featured, you will also win a surprise gift for you and your team up to the value of £25!

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