The PJ Pod

In this episode of The PJ Pod, senior features editor Siobhan Chan examines how the issue of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is being communicated outside of traditional clinical and policy settings.  The episode talks about Lifeline, a musical that brings together the history of antibiotics and the modern realities of drug-resistant infections. We speak to two practising pharmacists who perform in...

Over the past two years, around 200 community pharmacies in England have been involved in NHS England’s ‘Community pharmacy independent prescribing pathfinder programme’, trialling different clinical models to discover what a community pharmacy prescribing service could look like. In this episode of The PJ Pod, senior clinical reporter Joanna Robertson shares on-the-ground reporting from two pharm...

On 15 April 2026, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society became the Royal College of Pharmacy and — as Karen Baxter, the organisation's interim chief executive, says — that date “isn't the end of this story: it's just the foundation stone”. In this episode of The PJ Pod, Baxter and outgoing chief executive Paul Bennett reflect on the journey up until this moment, the path that now lies ahead and the sen...

In this episode of Pharmacy Inside Jobs, Alex Clabburn, senior editor — research and learning, talks to Shane Kailla, a principal pharmacist and advanced clinical practitioner working in acute and emergency medicine. Shane has worked as an emergency department pharmacist since 2021, with his current role focused on establishing the first dedicated pharmacy provision within a large NHS trust in the...

In this episode of Pharmacy Inside Jobs, senior features editor Siobhan Chan talks to Li Shean Toh. Toh is an astropharmacist, who is currently based at Monash University in Australia and also holds roles at the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency. She carries out clinical consultations, research and teaching into medicines management and the way our bodies process medication in microgravity...

This episode of The PJ Pod looks at the importance of speaking up whenever you have a safety or wellbeing concern, and how exactly to go about that. We speak to Beth Carter, interim director of operations and strategy at the National Guardians Office; and Mark Pitt, pharmacist and director of defence services at the Pharmacists’ Defence Association, who set out what anyone working in pharmacy shou...

The PJ Pod’s final episode of the year looks ahead to our editorial team’s predictions for pharmacy in 2026. What big changes are coming for the world of pharmacy — and what impact will this have on pharmacists’ day-to-day work? We also look at the biggest stories of 2025, including a new contract that was deemed the best deal in the past decade, the ten-year health plan and the greater role that...

Article Supported By Pfizer Financial support was provided from Pfizer Ltd. Pfizer have provided only financial support and have had no input into the development or content of the project and associated materials. In this episode of The PJ Pod, senior editor Alex Clabburn shares insights from a recent expert round table meeting hosted and organised by The Pharmaceutical Journal exploring how phar...

In this episode of The PJ Pod, we explore the main changes and implications for practice of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)’s chronic heart failure guidance update. On 3 September 2025, NICE released its updated guidance on ‘Chronic heart failure in adults: diagnosis and management’. The guidance mentions the role of pharmacy for the first time and has implications for...

In this episode of Pharmacy Inside Jobs, senior features editor Dawn Connelly talks to Sanjay Gudimetla. Gudimetla has worked within the pharmaceutical industry for around nine years and is currently senior medical affairs manager at Jazz Pharmaceuticals. He is also a qualified final medical signatory. Before moving to his role within the pharmaceutical industry, Gudimetla gained his independent p...

From rising stress to expanding clinical roles, pharmacists are facing mounting pressures. Chronic understaffing combined with increased demand and limited resources are compromising patient safety and leaving many pharmacists working alone or rushed. Emotional strain is also growing, with reports of increased abuse and burnout. Despite these challenges, pharmacists remain deeply committed to pati...

In this episode of The PJ Pod, we look at the benefits of effective patient engagement and speak to the OPERA 2025 shortlist and joint winners, to explore some of the ways that they are working patients and the public to improve the relevance, accessibility and quality of their work. For links to further resources and sources of support when getting started in research visit the PJ website. Many t...

Our new PJ Pod series — Pharmacy Inside Jobs — has been developed to inspire you to take the next step in your career. Whether you are a pharmacy student or a seasoned pharmacy professional, our goal is to provide insights into the increasingly diverse roles that exist within the profession. In each episode, we will be joined by a guest to explore their career journey so far, with a focus on their...

Our new PJ Pod series — Pharmacy Inside Jobs — is aimed to inspire you to take the next step in your career. Whether you are a pharmacy student or a seasoned pharmacy professional, our goal is to provide insights into the increasingly diverse roles that exist within the profession. In each episode, we will be joined by a guest to explore their career journey so far, with a focus on their current r...

On the 27th of November 2024, the British Thoracic Society (BTS), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) released joint guidance on ‘Asthma: diagnosis, monitoring and chronic asthma management’. The guidance is the first collaboration of its kind between the organisations.   The guideline makes a number of recommendations, in...

The Pharmaceutical Journal’s third analysis of MPharm awarding gap data has revealed that the percentage point difference between the proportion of white students and minority ethnic students awarded a first or 2:1 degree increased to 11 percentage points in 2021/2022 and 2022/2023. This comes after previous analyses of the data from before and during the pandemic indicated a narrowing of the gap...

Disagreement and conflict are unavoidable realities common to all working environments, but for pharmacists and pharmacy teams faced with potentially long hours, stretched resources, increasing complexity and high expectations, it does not take much for problems to escalate. This can put patient safety at risk and contributes to stress and burnout. In this learning episode of The PJ Pod, we explor...

Despite national incentives and locally commissioned services designed to improve availability of palliative care medicines from community pharmacies, access is not evenly distributed across the country. This problem is only set to get worse with demand for these services expected to increase in the coming decades. Marie Curie has estimated that, if the proportion of people requiring palliative ca...

As has become tradition, The PJ Pod’s final episode of the year looks back over some of the most significant stories in pharmacy in the past 12 months, before members of The PJ editorial team make their predictions for 2025. Big stories of 2024 have included the launch of Pharmacy First in England, a persistent ethnicity pay gap in the profession, the emerging threat of nitazines, slumping vaccina...

In September 2024, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) put forward proposals to take on royal college status, pending a vote of the membership in early 2025. The RPS said the proposals were in response to strategic ambitions amid rapid changes in the pharmacy profession, and followed an independent, 18-month-long review of its constitution and governance, led by consultancy firm Firetail. To sh...

High levels of patient safety incidents related to time-critical medicines (TCMs) — medicines that need to be given or taken at a specific time — have persisted for decades. In 2022/2023 alone, there were 17 deaths recorded as a result of medicine dose delivery being delayed or omitted entirely. Solutions, such as using e-prescribing systems, has been successful on a local level but scaling them u...

Green social prescribing, which can include activities such as community gardening, mindful walks and conservation volunteering — as well as 'blue' activities like kayaking and wild swimming — is gaining traction. Results from a government-backed green social prescribing programme were published in September 2024, showing that it had a positive impact on measures of wellbeing and was able to reach...

Over the last decade, the development of targeted therapies has significantly changed the way that chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) is treated. Survival and life expectancy has improved, and this patient cohort is living and receiving treatment for longer than ever before. These changes have meant that the involvement of pharmacists across all sectors in the treatment of CLL patients has also e...

In this learning episode, we look at the latest developments in migraine treatment where new classes of drugs are starting to provide additional options for patients and prescribers. For links to relevant articles and further resources on migraine treatment visit the PJ website. Many thanks to Kerri Spalding, a migraine patient, advocate and fundraiser, and Mathew Garrod, lead pharmacist for neuro...

Drones are already being used to transport medicines in several countries around the world, including the United States, Australia, Switzerland and Rwanda, but what’s the story in the UK, where the road infrastructure is good and the airspace is small and busy? Is there a need for medical drone deliveries? Are they safe and would they be a viable option for the NHS? These are questions that senior...