Pulse PCN’s digital transformation roundtable

Pulse PCN’s latest roundtable, Digital transformation: PCN progress so far, brings clinical directors and digital transformation (DTL) leads together to discuss how networks are working with these roles.

In Pulse PCN’s latest roundtable, Digital transformation: PCN progress so far, three clinical directors join three DTLs from Cheshire, Southampton and London to discuss the success, potential and future of digital transformation in PCNs and practices.

Pulse PCN editor Victoria Vaughan says: ‘This roundtable shows the potential of having skilled coders and IT professionals in your PCN which can have a huge impact on how a practice is run.

‘It also covers how the role is being interpreted by PCNs and deployed in primary care and the potential working in this sphere has for practices and patients.’

Pulse PCN’s quarterly roundtables examine the core tasks PCNs must deliver as part of the PCN Network DES and the work of the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS) staff they have hired into primary acre.

Read 13 thought-provoking roundtables covering topics such as cardiovascular disease, structured medication reviews and early cancer diagnosis led by clinical directors from across England.

Pulse PCN’s roundtable series is part of our comprehensive offering for our community of primary care network (PCN) clinical directors and their teams. And they are now hosted the dedicated Pulse PCN site making it easier to access these great clinician-led debates.

For the opportunity to reach our audience of decision-makers across PCNs through a variety of digital advertising options, please contact us today.

Cogora: The Agency – February digest

Cogora: The Agency has had a busy February, pushing some projects closer to the finish line, and making a start on some new ones.

The team have kicked off the preparation of an interactive care pathway to support a drug launch on the gastroenterology field. Following on from the Advisory Board meetings in December and a great face-to-face meeting with the client, the Agency proposed a number of ways to support the client’s strategic goals and have now started work on the first of the assets.

Throughout February, the Agency has been pushing projects to completion. Three ongoing compendia that focus on integrated diagnostic solutions are approaching finalisation ahead of an important congress in March. The client has been delighted with the speed at which the compendia have been turned around, and the flexibility the Agency have shown in meeting their deadlines.

A new project supporting integrated solutions management has kicked off, with a series of LinkedIn posts and Google ads. The team researched keywords relevant to the two target audiences and crafted two bespoke campaigns. From the excellent work on these assets, the Agency were asked to support the development of a brochure to support the marketing goals of the client.

The team have spent much of February familiarising themselves with the role of certain medications in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus, with a handbook and quick guide both in development. Both assets have required different strategies, with one asset meeting a client brief and the other involving a hands-off sponsorship.

The writing team have prepared yet another manuscript for publication in an open-access, peer-reviewed journal, this time on optimising patient safety through the early identification of characteristics of avoidable complications arising from the use of peripheral intravenous catheters. Submission is scheduled for April ’24.

The Agency are preparing to jet off to Dubai to support their clients on-site at the 21st International Congress of Endocrinology. The educational symposia that are being supported are the result of many weeks of collaboration and careful crafting of the client’s message. The team look forward to continuing this relationship beyond Dubai as they will be supporting educational symposia for the same client at the European Congress of Endocrinology (ECE), taking place in Sweden in May. The planning for this next project has already begun.

Check out what the team were up to in January for more examples of how Cogora: The Agency delivers consistent value for its clients. For more information, please contact us.

HCM Academy case studies

Since concluding the 2023 HCM Academy programme, the on-demand case studies have been generating fantastic engagement and feedback.

Brought to you by PCM Scientific, our CME division, HCM Academy programme offers independent medical education, surrounding diagnosis and best practice care for patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

After running a primary and secondary care webinar series, with the support of our international faculty and steering committee members, a series of on-demand case studies are now avaialble, offering impactful education on diagnosis and best practice care and management of HCM.

Although common, HCM is often under-diagnosed and under-managed, significantly worsening the outcomes for patients and profoundly impacting their lives and their families. Obtaining a diagnosis and can be challenging and careful management, including shared decision-making, are needed for patients with HCM.

The level of engagement, learner feedback and education impact from these case studies has been outstanding.

All users reported that they would recommend this educational event to other healthcare providers. This feedback demonstrates that the education not only enhances knowledge but also impactful in management and practice with expressions of appreciation such as “Great educational activity!”, and “Excellent activity!”.

The on-demand case studies are designed to raise disease awareness and knowledge of HCM, as well as provide practical guidance for achieving a differential diagnosis for HCM via real patient cases.

The complimentary case studies were presented and discussed by our international leading experts from US and Europe in line with the corresponding online CME webinars. All six secondary care case studies are now available to watch on-demand for free.

IOTOD Winter webinar success

The IOTOD Winter webinar (Improving Outcomes in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence) took place in February 2024, and explored the topic of mental health conditions and opioid dependence. 

Delivered by our CME division, PCM Scientific, the IOTOD webinar series aims to provide high quality, accessible education for primary and secondary care healthcare professionals across the globe, to improve patient outcomes in the treatment of opioid dependence. 

PCM Scientific worked closely with expert faculty to develop the educational agenda for the 60-minute free live event: Integrative treatment for comorbid conditions: the importance of treating mental ill health when managing opioid dependence.’  

Professor Maurice Dematteis, University Hospital of Grenoble, France joined Mr Duncan Hill, NHS Lanarkshire, Scotland, to discuss the overlap between patients with mental health conditions and opioid dependence.  

During the live event, the experts discussed how failure to treat either aspect often results in suboptimal patient outcomes and exacerbation of both conditions. The agenda also explored how trauma, pain and poor sleep hygiene can influence both comorbid conditions, highlighting for learners the importance of working within a collaborative care model, thereby improving outcomes for patients. The event concluded with a Q&A session. 

The webinar was promoted via our primary and secondary care media brands, as well as the existing IOTOD community, across the UK and Europe. The target audience included addiction specialists, pain specialists, GPs, primary care nurses, community pharmacists, psychiatrists, and social workers, as well healthcare professionals with an interest in the field.    

The IOTOD winter webinar was then available to watch on-demand for HCPs to access at their convenience.  

Feedback has been extremely positive: 

  • ‘I always find the IOTD webinars very useful and relevant to my practice’
  • ‘Session very well structured. Knowledge gained will be enforced into practice’
  • ‘All information received will enhance my practice and my personal development’
  • ‘Found the webinar very informative and took a lot from it to help in my scope of practice’

The webinar follows on from the success of our IOTOD Summer webinar in September 2023, also available on-demand on the IOTOD website.

The educational programme is run at arm’s length from the financial supporters and all content is created by the faculty. No funder has had input into the content of the materials or presentations used in the educational programme. PCM Scientific is the medical education company acting as scientific secretariat and webinar organiser. 

Pulse LIVE partners with NASGP

We are delighted to announce a new Association Partner for Pulse LIVE Events: Please welcome the National Association of Sessional GPs (NASGP) who are supporting all our in-person events in 2024.

The NASGP are the independent membership body for general practice locums in the UK, founded by locums for locums. They have spent over 20 years supporting locums as they progress in their career, empowering them through a collective voice and effective support at every stage of their journey.

At Pulse LIVE London on 26 March, the closing plenary will welcome NASGP Founder and Chairman, Dr Richard Fieldhouse, along with Dr Victoria Tzortziou-Brown and Dr Venothan Suri to discuss the GP workforce: Have we swapped a recruitment crisis for a retention crisis? 

Dr Fieldhouse has said about his visit to Pulse London: ‘I’m really glad to be at this event, both as a delegate and a speaker, especially as workforce is so topical at the moment. The number of GP locums in the UK has increased by 5,000 GPs in the last five years, but the funds to utilise us in a sustainable way has not materialised. And with the GP contract negotiations not going as well as they could be at the moment, with the potential for looming industrial action, what could possibly go wrong?!’1

Pulse LIVE London is the must-attend free GP event of the year, specifically created for all practising, GMC-registered GPs and trainees in the UK. Not only does it provide the chance to listen and learn from experts in their fields, but it provides the ideal networking opportunity to meet with likeminded GPs while gaining up to 8 CPD hours. This is a great opportunity for GPs to kick-start 2024 and continue their professional development.

‘Excellent conference with the chance to choose the talks that you wish to attend which makes it more relevant. Also very high quality speakers and choice of topics. Overall excellent.’ ~ Jonathan Moore, Portfolio GP, Pulse LIVE London 2023 attendee.

If you wish to sponsor, exhibit or partner with an upcoming Pulse LIVE Event, please get in contact with our Event Sales Manager Nick Hayward.

1:  www.nasgp.org.uk. (n.d.). NASGP chair to join panel on workforce at London event | NASGP. [online] Available at: https://www.nasgp.org.uk/medical-orgs/rcgp/nasgp-chair-to-join-panel-on-workforce-at-london-event/ [Accessed 22 Feb. 2024].

The Pharmacist launches Pharmacy First zone

A Pharmacy First zone has launched on The Pharmacist, specifically focused on new Pharmacy First services in pharmacies.

The launch of the Pharmacy First scheme in England this year has been a significant development for patient services, and represents a huge commitment by pharmacy teams.

Community pharmacies can sign up to offer advice and treatment, where merited, around seven common clinical conditions, guided by new national clinical protocols. These are conditions where the patient would have otherwise needed an appointment at a GP practice.

The Pharmacist’s new Pharmacy First zone will bring together ongoing news and clinical content, supporting pharmacy teams to deliver the new services, plus highlighting the useful content we have already produced as the service was being developed.

New articles will be promoted on The Pharmacist’s newsletters and social media, and will be available through our app.

Thousands of consultations have already been delivered by pharmacists in the first few weeks of the service, and a public awareness campaign has been launched by the NHS.

The clinical conditions are: sinusitis, sore throat, acute otitis media, infected insect bite, impetigo, shingles, uncomplicated urinary tract infection in women.

Many other pharmacy-led clinical services are discussed in The Pharmacist’s Clinical zones, from respiratory, to immunisation, menopause, contraception and hypertension, alongside over 200 clinical case studies that highlight the work of pharmacists who have pioneered privately-led services in their local communities and developed the clinical expertise of their teams.

Scotland’s NHS Pharmacy First Scotland service and Wales’ Common Ailments Service also empower pharmacies to offer treatment and advice on a wide range of minor illnesses.

For advertising opportunities across the Pharmacy First zone, please contact us today.

The Pharmacist delivers the latest daily political, business, and clinical news in the pharmacy sector; with blogs and clinical and professional features on key topics affecting community, PCN, and in practice pharmacists. Our clinical updates span a wide variety of therapy areas relevant to primary care, such as: cancer, dermatology, diabetes, gastroenterology, immunology & vaccination, mental health, respiratory, sexual health, smoking cessation and travel health.

Pulse Reference relaunch

We are thrilled to unveil the Pulse Reference relaunch, a unique resource that allows GPs to make sense of their patients’ symptoms and delve deeper into likely diagnoses.

Based on the best-selling Symptom Sorter book, co-authored by Pulse’s own clinical adviser, Dr Keith Hopcroft, Pulse Reference covers the vast majority of symptoms seen in general practice, from the most common to some of the more obscure.

Unlike any other tool or website on the market, Pulse reference is comprehensive, easy to access, practical and written from the real world of general practice. It will point the GP towards possible differentials, highlight useful tips and red flags along the way and help towards formulating a likely diagnosis.

The journey is then completed with a useful overview summarising all the key information the GP needs to know for that diagnosis, from epidemiology through assessment to treatment and prognosis.

How GPs can use Pulse Reference:

  • Step 1: Start your search: Type a symptom, keyword or illness into the search bar
  • Step 2: Select the link most relevant to your search
  • Step 3: Explore the full GP analysis of the symptom, which includes:
    • Differential Diagnosis: the likely diagnoses, subdivided Common, Occasional and Rare
    • Ready Reckoner: key distinguishing features of the most common diagnoses
    • Possible Investigations: those tests most likely to assist you in making the diagnosis
    • Top Tips: useful hints from the authors’ experience
    • Red Flags: scenarios that should ring alarm bells – and why

Information is presented in a consistent, comprehensive, and digestible way. It is also a vital learning tool for those starting out in general practice.

The experts behind Pulse Reference are Dr Keith Hopcroft and Dr Poppy Freeman. Dr Keith Hopcroft is the co-author of Symptom Sorter and has been Pulse’s editorial advisor for more than 15 years. He is a GP in Basildon, Essex, a medical student trainer and medical writer and columnist. Dr Poppy Freeman is also a clinical advisor to Pulse and set up the Covid Toolkit on Pulse Today in 2020 to provide GPs with up-to-date guidance on all the clinical and organisational Covid updates. She is a GP in Camden.

Please contact us today to discuss details of our exclusive, high-profile sponsorship opportunity, providing access to HCPs actively engaging with Pulse Reference.  

Pulse PCN Cardiovascular Disease roundtable

The Pulse PCN Cardiovascular Disease roundtable brings clinical directors and cardiovascular leads together to discuss how networks are delivering on this service specification.

Pulse PCN’s cardiovascular disease roundtable sees six leading GPs from Cheshire, Leicestershire and London discuss the success and challenges in improving hypertension case finding and work in diagnosing familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH).

Pulse PCN editor Victoria Vaughan says: ‘This roundtable shows how GPs are changing the way services are delivered to actively find hypertensive patients and treat them before the situation potentially escalates to a heart attack or stroke.

‘The examples from delegates at the discussion show how PCNs and GP practices are, in some areas, moving away from a sickness service to a prevention service – a popular idea among policy makers as a sustainable way to maintain the NHS.

‘We’ve also released this roundtable now in support of the British Heart Foundation’ s heart health month which encourages everyone to learn CPR in 15 minutes for free. ‘

Pulse PCN’s quarterly roundtables examine the core tasks PCNs must deliver as part of the PCN Network DES and the challenges and opportunities this work brings.

Explore 12 thought provoking roundtables covering topics such as structured medication reviews, covid vaccination and early cancer diagnosis highlighting the thoughts of clinical directors from across England.

Pulse PCN’s roundtable series is part of our comprehensive offering for our community of primary care network (PCN) clinical directors and their teams. And they are now hosted on a new Pulse PCN roundtable hub making it easier to access these great clinician-led debates.

For the opportunity to reach our audience of decision-makers across 1,250 PCNs through a variety of digital advertising options and future roundtables, please contact us today.

Improve patient learnings by sponsoring a CPD module

Our educational platforms, Pulse 365 and Nursing in Practice 365, give GPs and primary care nurses a centralised hub to fulfil their learning requirements. Improve patient learnings by sponsoring a CPD module.

Choosing from a mix of bite-sized, interactive, and longer-form content spanning over 20 clinical areas, users can choose content to consume depending on their preferences and time. Written by primary care experts, our CPD modules are accessible in article, case based and video formats, and are free to access for all users.

How does it work?

Cogora will work with you to discuss a preferred format, module objective and topic. We will then propose a CPD module title, brief and suggest a couple of KOLs/writers.

Once agreed, we will work with the KOL to write the module. And once approved, the module will go live, and will be promoted to our audience of GPs/nurses, with a guaranteed number of module completions over 12 months, with monthly reporting.

CPD sponsorship allows you to develop eLearning and reach our engaged community of primary care professionals. Your eLearning content will be promoted via the website, newsletters and social media.

We have received great feedback from users over the years regarding the quality of sponsored modules and how they have proved useful for their professional development. Here are a few examples of  what we have received:

  • “Outstanding update, clear and super informative, and practical.”
  • “Interesting, thorough and practice-changing.”
  • “Excellent module with useful information to implement in clinical practice.”
  • “Good module. Learned a lot about a topic I previously knew little about.”
  • “Extremely helpful overview.”

Please contact us for more information about our CPD sponsorship packages.

Event post show reports

For all 2024 events, Cogora is offering all sponsors enhanced data on the events that they engage with as well as better insights into those they are considering attending.

Each year we deliver over 35 virtual and face to face events across the UK, free for our community of healthcare professionals to attend. From our media brands Pulse, Pulse PCNNursing in PracticeManagement in Practice and Hospital Healthcare Europe, these events are produced and marketed by Cogora.

Post show analysis and session snapshots

Using Cogora’s first and third party data, we will now be sharing enhanced detail of the profile of attendees at each event. Post show summaries will detail not only the number of attendees and job title breakdown but also the number of practices, PCNs and ICNs represented. They will give an indication of the patient list size represented by attendees at the event and total NHS budget.  Sponsors will also be able to see which clinical areas have been identified as areas of interest or which topics have been requested at future events.

For those sponsors with workshops at a face-to-face or virtual event, these figures can also be provided a session level, allowing you to see the reach and potential influence of your educational content alongside attendee feedback from the session.

Exhibitor dashboards

Providing a secure platform to access data from Cogora events, our brand new exhibitor dashboards combine first party attendee data with Rx data to give pharmaceutical sponsors even greater insight into the spending and prescribing habits of attendees at events they attend.

The new bespoke dashboards allow each sponsor to dictate which drug(s) to analyse and compare it to other prescription products within the same clinical area. With insights both at a global (all attendee) level, session or stand level (i.e those that have actively engaged with a specific sponsor) or individual level, sponsors now have the opportunity assess and analyse the potential impact of their event involvements.

Interested in finding out more about our event post show reports? Contact us today for more information.

Pulse: Past, present and future

Pulse’s final issue has gone out with a bang, focusing on the past, present and future of Pulse and general practice. In this extra special edition, we’ve gone back to broadsheet size, which is how Pulse was published for the majority of its time in print. We have also mimicked the style from our very first issue in 1960.

The Pulse: Past, present and future issue is also dotted with front covers from yore, many of which still have relevance. We have articles on the major clinical developments of the last 65 years, chosen by the RCGP and written by luminaries of general practice. We look at the origins of Pulse and the incredible life of its first editor.

In our focus on current general practice, we have an exclusive interview with the GPC England chair on the current state of the profession, and have a special column from Chris Morris, one of Britain’s greatest ever satirists and the son of two GPs.

For the future section, we look at some outlandish and not so outlandish predictions, consider what part AI will be likely to play in general practice and take the views of the next generation of GPs.

Every day over the month of February, we will publish a new article on PulseToday as part of the ‘Pulse in Print’ series, including all the copy from the issue plus much much more.

The team has already been inundated with requests for copies of the print issue and it is likely to prove to be a collector’s item.

Please contact us today to discuss sponsorship opportunities of our ‘Pulse in Print, the future of general practice’ articles.

The Besins Hormone Academy

Our latest case studies look at how the Besins Hormone Academy was created to support and upskill UK primary care professionals in testosterone deficiency care, and menopausal and perimenopausal care.

Working with Besins Healthcare (UK), a global market leader in the provision of men’s and women’s health and wellbeing products, Cogora first organised and hosted the Besins Menopause Roadshow 2023. This consisted of five peer-to-peer education meetings delivered in person across the UK, Birmingham, London, Manchester, Glasgow, and Newcastle.

The events sought to simplify healthcare professionals’ (HCPs’) understanding of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) prescribing, debunking common myths, and talking through the risks and benefits of management options in different scenarios.

We then developed the Testosterone Deficiency platform, hosting a series of educational resources, including recorded webinars and audio soundbites. The resources prioritised the goal to improve clinical confidence to identify testosterone deficiency and help men navigate this condition.

Across the Besins Hormone Academy, Cogora assumed responsibility for all aspects of concept/branding, the agenda, speaker/faculty management and liaison, content development, event logistics, website development, design of onsite materials and marketing assets, and recruitment.

Marketing was done via our media brands Pulse, Pulse PCN, Nursing in Practice and The Pharmacist, and Besins were able to stay up to date with progress via a bespoke analytics dashboard.

Check out our case studies to find out more about the Besins Menopause Roadshow and Besins Testosterone Deficiency platform.

For more information about Cogora’s educational programmes, please contact us.

Cogora: The Agency – January digest

Throughout January, Cogora: The Agency has been busy making plans for the year and kicking off 2024 with a bang.

The Agency have been hard at work on the preparations for the 21st International Congress of Endocrinology, taking place in Dubai in March 2024. The team have collaborated on a plethora of conference materials, liaising with therapy area experts and clients to ensure a consolidated message that speaks to the educational needs of healthcare practitioners (HCPs). The team are delighted to continue supporting the same client with their educational symposia planned for the European Congress of Endocrinology (ECE), taking place in Sweden in May 2024. The creative concepts will flow from one congress to the next, ensuring a consistent and clear educational message.

The team braved adverse weather conditions to join three clinical experts, a nurse, a hepatologist and radiologist, to record a short educational video on the use of peritoneal catheters in patients with malignant and non-malignant ascites. The filming session was so successful that the team are now preparing a further continuous professional development (CPD) module from the additional material discussed by the speakers on the day. The recording session also gave the team a great opportunity to sit down with the client face-to-face and discuss their goals for the next year and how the team might be able to support their growth and development strategy.

Following on from the Advisory Board meeting in December, the Agency have developed a proposed care pathway and strategic recommendations ahead of a key drug launch in the gastroenterology space. A meeting summary and the proposed next steps for developing the administrative and educational materials needed to ensure a smooth launch once approval has been received have been developed and refined with input from the expert faculty. The streamlined assets proposed aim to facilitate optimal uptake of a new therapy, giving patients greater choice in their available treatments. The team are excited to discuss the options with the client this month in a face-to-face meeting.

The results of a second Advisory Board that took place in December covering the use of a short-acting formulation of a medication used to treat abnormal growth hormone levels featured faculty from across Europe. A follow-up interview with a faculty member who could not attend the meeting on the day provided some additional insights, with an interesting discussion of older research that may be overlooked and could be revisited. The interview prompted an additional strategic suggestion for the client, which we hope to follow up with them as the year progresses.

Finally, the team are preparing a number of assets relating to the safe handling of hazardous drugs, specifically the use of carcinogens, mutagens or reprotoxic substances at work. The deadline to implement updates to an EU directive into national law across the EU is April 2024. The amendment to the directive includes more stringent protections for workers, of which employees and employers alike should be aware. Two infographics together with an educational CPD module and key paper evaluation have been developed to bring all stakeholders up to speed on this important development in occupational safety.

Check out what the team were up to in December for more examples of how Cogora: The Agency delivers consistent value for its clients. For more information, please contact us.

Nursing in Practice publishes manifesto for general practice nursing online

Nursing in Practice is asking for feedback from readers over January and February, publishing the 10 points of the Nursing in Practice Manifesto for General Practice Nursing in 2024, and inviting comments on each of the action points on social media.

Two of the 10 points of the Nursing in Practice manifesto will be launched each week at nursinginpractice.com, via our newsletters, app, and social media. The nurses who contributed to the manifesto speak about their concerns and recommendations.  

In the manifesto, GPNs highlighted issues such as workforce shortages, soaring patient demand, and pay and conditions that fall far short of those on offer to nurses working elsewhere in the NHS as just some of the ongoing issues hampering their nursing practice. Nurses identified health inequalities, targeting immunisation uptake, greater focus on supporting patients with long-term conditions, and promoting health, as important areas requiring particular attention.

With changing roles and ways of working across general practice and primary care, many nurses in have told us that the next 12 months are crucial for identifying and addressing issues within the sector, as the pace of change is rapid.

The Nursing in Practice team will return to these important topics identified by the manifesto over the year – to help highlight problems and potential solutions, and to support continued debate.

Nurses are encouraged to keep an eye out for our upcoming projects around these themes, and to get in touch if they would like to get involved in the conversation and share their own experiences.

Nursing in Practice is now a fully digital publication, with articles updated daily by our expert journalist and clinical team, providing nurses with news, features, opinions, clinical advice and CPD, online, in newsletters and via the app.

IOTOD Winter webinar 2024

The IOTOD Winter webinar (Improving Outcomes in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence) will be taking place 7th February 2024.

The 60-minute webinar, titled ‘Integrative treatment for comorbid conditions: the importance of treating mental ill health when managing opioid dependence’, will be led by Professor Maurice Dematteis, Head of the Department of Addictions, University Hospital of Grenoble, France, and Mr Duncan Hill, specialist Pharmacist in Substance Misuse, NHS Lanarkshire (NHSL) Glasgow, Scotland.

The webinar, developed by our CME division, PCM Scientific, will explore the overlap between patients with mental health conditions and opioid dependence (OD), and how failure to treat either aspect often results in suboptimal patient outcomes and exacerbation of both conditions. Understanding the role of mental ill health in OD and how factors such as trauma, pain and poor sleep hygiene can influence both comorbid conditions.

The discussion will highlight the importance of working within a collaborative care model to improve outcomes for patients.

The IOTOD Winter webinar is being promoted to our community of primary and secondary care healthcare professionals via our media brands, as well as the well-established IOTOD community. Attendees included addiction specialists, GPs, primary care nurses, community pharmacists, psychiatrists, as well as other healthcare professionals interested in the management of opioid use disorder across the UK and Europe.  

The level of interest in this webinar is evident, with registrations already surpassing expectations, totalling over 350 registrants.

This webinar follows on from the success of our IOTOD Summer webinar in September 2023, now available on-demand on the IOTOD website.

The educational programme is run at arm’s length from the financial supporters and all content is created by the faculty. No funder has had input into the content of the materials or presentations used in the educational programme. PCM Scientific is the medical education company acting as scientific secretariat and webinar organiser.

Management in Practice Salary Survey

The Management in Practice Salary Survey reveals that the average annual salary of a full-time GP practice manager is £48,802.

The pay report, Practice Manager Salary Survey 2023/24: gauging the state of the profession, produced in association with MCG Healthcare, also found that pay scales for practice managers are very broad, ranging from under £20,000 to more than £100,000 (for both part-time and full-time workers).

The survey of 975 practice managers in the UK found that the largest group – 34% – reported earning between £41,000 and £50,000 a year. Only 1% earn between £81,000 and £100,000.

The majority (77%) of practice managers received a pay rise in the past year, with most being awarded between 2% and 5%.

And two fifths of practice managers receive a monetary bonus, with 61% of that group awarded bonuses worth between 6% and 15% of their base salary.

The comprehensive pay report offers insight into how practice manager pay is determined with the most common factor being affordability regardless of market rates or other factors (42%).

More than a quarter said that at their surgery, practice manager pay is based on their level of specialist skills around finances, such as knowledge of QOF and the GP contract (28%), and on number of years of experience in the job (26%).

A total of 13% of respondents admitted they didn’t know how pay levels were set.

Unsurprisingly, pay is linked to practice managers’ commitment to staying in the job.

Despite 65% of respondents saying they are either very or fairly satisfied in their job, nearly two fifths admit they are thinking of leaving their job within the next 12 months.

And around three quarters of that cohort indicated that pay not keeping apace with the cost of living/inflation or that it doesn’t reflect the level of their work responsibilities/workload was in their top five reasons for considering quitting.

The survey results highlighted the range of benefits practice managers are offered as part of their employment package. The top three are membership of the NHS pension (78%), enhanced annual leave (62%), and free parking at work (60%).

Meanwhile, findings also showed that practice managers are responsible for a long list of duties that run to more than 20 areas and include: maximising finances and funding streams; purchasing and procurement; managing both non-clinical and clinical teams; HR; business planning; preparing for CQC assessment; IT and data security and more.

In larger organisations, this range of functions would be split among a number of different people or teams, yet in primary care these specialised roles are often tasked to just one person, the practice manager, the survey reports. This demonstrates the pressures practice managers face.

The Management in Practice Salary Survey also gives insight into:

  • Pay levels in different regions
  • Level of bonuses and targets set
  • The range of employee benefits offered
  • What experience and responsibilities the highest earners have.

Management in Practice editor, Rima Evans said: ‘Overwhelmingly, the survey results, together with comments from respondents, present evidence of a profession that derives great satisfaction from the work it does and takes pride in doing it well. Nevertheless, many practice managers are being pushed to their limit, with a significant proportion wanting to leave.

‘This is very worrying. If a demotivated practice manager workforce continues to be overlooked, primary care will lose the very people keeping it running smoothly and efficiently, which could threaten its future.’

Management in Practice is tailored to practice managers, GPs and healthcare professionals working in primary care, and carries essential news updates, blogs and business information for GP surgeries.

About the survey:

An online survey was carried out among Management in Practice readers based in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland between 13 June and 16 July 2023, and had 975 respondents. Only non-partner practice managers based in permanent roles (part-time or full-time) were allowed to participate.

HHE Clinical Excellence continues to grow

In 2023 we launched our first Clinical Excellence Events in partnership with Hospital Healthcare Europe and Hospital Pharmacy Europe. This year we are expanding the portfolio to four events in Cardiovascular and Respiratory Care. 

Both respiratory and cardiology are clinical areas that benefit and thrive from the work of multidisciplinary teams; therefore, the audience will comprise key opinion leaders across all relevant professions. 

We aim to provide high-quality clinical events to our audience where the speakers will represent Centres of Excellence across the UK and Europe. Healthcare professionals will have the opportunity to learn from colleagues in different hospitals and departments, ultimately improving clinical outcomes for patients. 

The HHE Clinical Excellence content will highlight: 

  • New advances in technologies such as diagnostic imaging 
  • Clinical advances within targeted therapies and stroke care
  • Developments in new medications and techniques for treating patients 
  • Benefits and challenges that our medical professionals are facing across the UK

The HHE Clinical Excellence Events enable the audience to gain knowledge from leading clinical professionals, ask questions and provide evaluation of the content. Each event follows the successful launch of the Cardiology and Respiratory Zones on Hospital Healthcare Europe, which respectively focus on these ever-important areas of clinical development. 

Each event will comprise a full day of CPD-accredited content, with the possibility of sponsorship workshops, allowing the audience to discover new technologies, medications and opportunities. 

Please contact us today to discuss sponsorship opportunities.

Nursing in Practice: A manifesto for general practice nursing in 2024

This issue of Nursing in Practice, A manifesto for general practice nursing in 2024, spoke to general practice nurses to identify their top 10 points for action for 2024 – producing an exclusive manifesto for general practice nursing.

In our final issue of Nursing in Practice, we hear from many GPNs who aren’t happy with the direction of travel at their practices or the progress of the profession and want to see urgent change so that they can care for patients more effectively, so we asked 10 nurses for their top priorities to create a manifesto for general practice nursing.

GPNs highlighted issues such as workforce shortages, soaring patient demand, and pay and conditions that fall far short of those on offer to nurses working elsewhere in the NHS as just some of the ongoing issues hampering their nursing practice. Nurses identified health inequalities, focus on supporting patients with long-term conditions, health promotion and targeting immunisation update in general practice, as important areas requiring attention.

The 10 points of the manifesto for general practice nursing will also be published online at nursinginpractice.com and these important topics will form part of our ongoing content this year.

Our interview with Royal College of Nursing’s primary care lead shows just how important this year will be for nurses working in general practice. Indeed, 2024 will be pivotal for those in the sector, suggests Heather Randall, saying that the next 12 months could be ‘the making or demise’ of general practice nursing.

Elsewhere in this edition of Nursing in Practice, we review key priorities for nurses and the wider team in respiratory care, and in cardiovascular care – highlighting areas such as medication review, communication between primary and secondary care, patient education and the importance of patient follow-up.

An insightful article from an independent advanced nurse practitioner looks at the journey to advanced practice for nurses wanting to achieve it, the potential for regulation for this area of practice, and the value of the role in healthcare.

In this edition, Nursing in Practice has thanked readers for reading our print magazines over more than 20 years. We have now transitioned to a fully digital format, with articles updated daily, providing nurses with news, features, opinions, clinical advice and CPD, online, in newsletters and via the app.

Cogora: The Agency – December digest

Throughout December, Cogora: The Agency has been busy wrapping up for the year and plotting the course for 2024.

Cogora: The Agency hit the ground running, kicking off preparations for the 21st International Congress of Endocrinology, taking place in Dubai in March 2024. The team are preparing a host of conference materials, covering symposium copy to marketing emails, and all the logistics in between. With the new year feeling close, the team are expediting their timelines to ensure everything is prepped and ready to put their best foot forward in 2024.

December has been busy for the Agency team, with two advisory boards completed. The first consisted of a series of asynchronous interviews, followed by a virtual meeting with a second set of key opinion leaders. It covered care pathways in ulcerative colitis and featured a wide variety of specialists from outside the gastroenterology field with drug class-specific knowledge relevant to the upcoming drug launch. A proposed care pathway was prepared, within a tight turnaround time, based on specialist interviews and presented to the gastroenterology panel to understand how such a pathway may be received in practice. A summary of both aspects of the project is underway and will present strategic recommendations for the administrative and educational materials needed to ensure a smooth launch once drug approval has been received. The streamlined assets proposed aim to facilitate optimal uptake of a new therapy, giving patients greater choice in their available treatments.

The second advisory board happening in December covered the use of a short-acting formulation of a medication used to treat abnormal growth hormone levels and featured faculty from across Europe. Although the insights were not what the clients were expecting to hear, they were satisfied that they had a much clearer picture of where their compound fits into the current treatment landscape, and that the advisory board was money well spent! “It is fun, interesting and nice to work with you. I like the professional way you arrange these things both behind the scenes and when client facing – you’re a wonderful team to work with!”

A whopping five scientific paper compendia are in different stages of development within the team. These assets touch on a variety of therapy areas, from the value of automating laboratory tasks to understanding management decisions in patients with ascites. Each compendium begins with a comprehensive introduction, setting the scene for readers and giving the overall context within the therapy area. Key paper summaries follow, with critical findings presented in an easy-to-follow visual format and a concise summary for the key implications of the paper.

Cogora: The Agency are developing a crash course on social media for one of their clients. Drawing on the knowledge of their colleagues in the digital marketing and design teams, the Agency will prepare a short course on tips and tricks for improving engagement and making the most out of social media.

Finally, a series of concise educational webcasts on the topic of lobular breast cancer are nearing completion, with recordings scheduled for the new year. These easily digestible pieces feature a relevant key opinion leader and will be freely available on-demand as part of an HCP awareness campaign.

Check out what the team were up to in November for more examples of how Cogora: The Agency delivers consistent value for its clients. For more information, please contact us.

Healthcare Leader: The Rise of the Machines: AI, digital and data in healthcare

Healthcare Leader, The Rise of the Machines, is our latest report, looking at how AI, digital and data will impact healthcare.

Healthcare Leader is the brand for primary care in the health and care system and, building on our years of supporting the clinical commissioner community, we have produced this report ‘The Rise of the Machines: AI, digital and data in healthcare’ which takes an in-depth look at this issue.

Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare is already producing some significant outcomes in the realms of diagnostic imaging, data analysis and scientific research and it is touted as a game-changer in how we live our lives.  

There are, however, key challenges around, safety, regulation, data and trust of AI-driven outcomes for both clinicians and patients.

In September, we conducted a roundtable Healthcare data: How ICBs can encourage patient trust with data experts and integrated care board (ICB) leaders, which highlighted that building trust takes time and relies on early transparent engagement with patients and clinicians.

This does not match the pace of change seen with AI where governments are working hard to keep up and it is made doubly difficult when even the experts are at the frontier of this technology admit that there are many unknowns.  

In October, we carried out a survey on attitudes to AI among our audience. The findings, outlined in this report, highlight the tension between the positive attitudes to AI set against the concerns around data sharing.

We also outline the potential and pitfalls of AI in healthcare where leaders in the field discuss current successes and concerns.

To gain greater insight on developments in this area, we spoke to Microsoft UK’s managing director of government, healthcare and life sciences, Jacob West, NHS Greater Manchester’s chief intelligence and analytics officer, Matt Hennessey and BT’s director of healthcare at the enterprise unit, Professor Sultan Mahmud.

The report also examines the role of data governance which is often cited as a real barrier to progress in this area.

Editor, Victoria Vaughan, says: ‘The hype around healthcare and AI is huge and keeping up with the market and capabilities in this area is difficult.

‘This report brings together the views of clinicians and the projections of experts with great reporting on areas of concern, such as trust and data governance, to provide an in-depth look at this area.’

For the opportunity to reach our audience of decision-makers across NHS integrated care systems (ICSs), including ICB leaders, through a variety of digital advertising options, please contact us today.

Pulse PCN Winter 2023

Pulse PCN Winter 2023 focuses on digital transformation in primary care and what impact the related additional role is having on PCNs and practices.  

In this final print edition, Pulse PCN Winter 2023 looks at the work of digital and transformation leads and how PCNs are capitalising on the opportunities in this area despite a lack of guidance.

It highlights that there is much variation between PCNs in terms of approach, experience, and relationship with the wider NHS system at the integrated care board (ICB).

Columnist and chair of the NHS Confederation’s PCN advisory group, Professor Aruna Garcea, reflects on the rapid shift to at-scale working PCNs have brought about but questions if this has been enough.

And PCN of the Year award winner, Central Cheltenham PCN, shares how its network is proactively caring for patients.

Six GP and PCN leads from across the country joined editor Victoria Vaughan to discuss the cardiovascular disease (CVD) diagnosis and prevention service at the latest virtual roundtable and evaluate the impact of the Network DES on this area.

Elsewhere, medical executive lead for primary care at NHS Greater Manchester, Dr Tracey Vell, speaks with senior reporter Jess Hacker about covering the financial deficit.

Pulse PCN continues to provide news, views, insight and roundtables via our newly launched website.

For the opportunity to reach our audience of decision-makers across 1250 PCNs through a variety of digital advertising options, please contact us.

Meet your 2023 General Practice Award Winners

Last week, the 2023 General Practice Awards were held at the Novotel London West. We welcomed over 500 guests from across primary care and the community as well as the healthcare industry for a fantastic night celebrating the very best in patient care.

The 2023 General Practice Awards highlighted the innovation, dedication, and passion of teams and individuals working across the UK.

Group Editor at Cogora, Gemma Collins, gave the opening presentation at the 2023 General Practice Awards:

“We may say every year how truly valuable it is to have a night like tonight where we recognise those who have gone above and beyond, but I think in the current climate, these words have never been more appropriate.  I was lucky enough to be one of the judges on the panel for the Extended Team of the Year category which seeks to recognise those outside of the traditional role in general practice. Whether it be a social prescribing link worker or a community care coordinator, I came across so many individuals playing a major part in improving patient care.

I was impressed to read about the leadership and innovation but what struck me the most was what fantastic collaboration is going on across multi-professional teams within general practice.

From reading some of the shortlist entries across all the categories I can see how much general practice is evolving and that collaboration is key. From those within the practice to those leading PCNs who are working together with public health, secondary care, councils and third sector organisations.  

Everyone is working in unison with one united aim – to deliver the best care possible for their patients.”

Without further ado, here are the winners from the 2023 General Practice Awards:

Practice Manager of the Year
WINNER: Caitlin Clarke, Business Manager – Castle Partnership; Managing Partner – Fleggburgh Surgery
Sponsored by X-on Health
Responsible for overhauling the practice’s appointment system, Caitlin introduced an urgent care team model that utilised the skills of a multi-disciplinary team for signposting, support and supervision. A particular success of the new system saw telephone queues decrease from 30 minutes to 4 minutes. Staff wellbeing improved due to Cailtin’s efforts including the introduction of a free staff gym. She introduced flexible working and protected learning time.

Reception Team of the Year
WINNER: Richmond Road Medical Centre Reception Team
Sponsored by THINK Healthcare
Richmond Road Medical Centre’s Receptionist Team played a pivotal role in transforming the practice into a centre of health, wellbeing, opportunity and belonging for patients. Developing new reception roles to enhance efficiencies, the practice has one of the lowest utilisations of A&E/111 across London and the highest levels of patient satisfaction across the borough. Initiatives they have set up include Peppa Pig Flu Clinics and Teddy Bear GP Clinics.

HCP Programme Provider of the Year
WINNER: Staffordshire Training Hub
Staffordshire Training Hub commissions training courses for 147 Practices across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent, addressing two key issues – transgender patients and patients with hearing loss. They commissioned local Charity, Deaflinks, to deliver courses and encouraged practices to advertise that they were ‘deaf-aware’.
Transgender patients are also affected by health inequality, so STH delivered clinically and non-clinical courses, addressing not just the hormonal treatment options, but also the increased mental health problems within the transgender community.

Clinical Improvement Award: Long Term Conditions
WINNER: The Greenhouse Practice and Driving for Change Teams
This initiative uniquely addresses the complex, long-term healthcare needs of individuals experiencing homelessness in Hackney. This innovative model centres on personalised care delivered via refurbished London buses. It prioritises proactive health screenings and check-ups, facilitating better management of long-term conditions and over-reliance on crisis services.

Clinical Improvement Award: Long Term Conditions
WINNER: Virtual Multi-disciplinary Team (vMDT) platform & pathway implementation for heart failure in Lincolnshire ICB
This process was introduced for heart failure patients needing optimisation of treatment and specialist input within the PCN. The virtual MDT enables the team to document discussions and create actions for individual team members that are visible and transparent ensuring rapid completion relating to patient care plans. Data from the virtual MDT platform helped to plan for wider transformation.

Clinical Improvement Award: Mental Health
WINNER: Stort Valley and Villages PCN waiting well with suspected Autism Pathway – Stort Valley and Villages PCN Children and Young People Social Prescribing and Occupational Therapy team
Stort Valley and Villages PCN set out to address the needs of children presenting with autistic traits and their families. Led by an Occupational Therapist with a specialist mental health background, the service is supported by the wider social prescribing and care coordination team. Resulting in relieved workload for the wider team and an improved success rate in onward referrals being accepted. The service has changed lives by intervening earlier in the process of assessment.

Clinical Improvement Award: Mental Health
WINNER: NHS Practitioner Health
Over the past 15 years, this service has treated more than 25,000 practitioners and is the largest publicly funded provider of its kind globally. Led by general practitioners, and supported by psychiatrists, mental health professionals and administrators, the service offers assessments, pharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, case management and support to return to work or training. 95% of patients have demonstrated significant improvement and 75% of patients return to work after treatment.

Clinical Improvement Award: Public Health & Prevention
WINNER: Vulnerable Adult Service at The Inclusion Health Hub in Norwich
The patients supported by the vulnerable adult service are often homeless or living in hostels; the hub also has an outreach asylum seeker health care team. Aiming to share their learnings more widely across the UK, the team impressed our judges with their work on providing safe places for vulnerable adults to receive healthcare and support in order to get their lives back on track. The service targeted the most deprived 20% of the population in their area, identified individuals with poorer-than-average health access experience and dedicated time to those in the maternity system. Outcomes include reduced early deaths, prevention of avoidable deaths, prevention of patients falling through the cracks, reducing unnecessary A&E attendance.

Digital Solutions Provider of the Year
WINNER: LocumDeck by NASGP

Since 2020, NASGP has provided exceptional support, guidance, and service to BOB Integrated Care Board, addressing their challenges in recruiting and retaining GP locums. Thier innovative
platform, LocumDeck, has enabled seamless communication and booking processes between practices and GP locums, resulting in cost savings, improved patient access, better patient outcomes,
and enhanced peer support among GP locums.

GP Trainee/Rising Star Award
WINNER: Dr Ratan Singh Randhawa GP Trainee, East Twickenham PCN, Committee Member, Hounslow Healthwatch
With a work ethic built on advocating for patients, supporting colleagues and promoting excellence in clinical practice, Dr Randhawa greatly impressed the judges. His compliance work has been escalated to the ICB and EMIS as a potential national issue. He has created a website for his VTS scheme and peers to improve their experience on the teaching programme as well as running a session on how to pass the RCA.

Pharmacist/Pharmacy Team of the Year
WINNER: Gareth Evans MRPharmS, BPharm(hons) – Community Pharmacist Wansford Pharmacy

Focusing on the evidence that sleep apnoea is a vastly undervalued condition to screen for and treat, the team established a patient-funded sleep apnoea screening and testing service. They collaborated with patients’ GPs to fast-track patients to appropriate treatment. A hugely positive impact was seen both in terms of the pharmacy-GP relationship but also for patients and their quality of life, morbidity and health risk reduction. Staff have been trained to initialise conversations on sleep issues and the service has received rave reviews bolstering staff morale in challenging times.

Medical Supplier of the Year
WINNER: Dene Healthcare
Due to the current climate putting financial constraints on GP practices, Dene Healthcare have re-worked their systems and focus, to collaborate specifically with individual Practices on a case-by-case basis, creating real tangible and lasting savings in the procurement process as a whole!  Their methodology and procedures are now redefined, to represent the value of the entire procurement process.

Extended Practice Team Member of the Year
WINNER: Farida Laeeq – Care Coordinator for Asylum, Refugee & BAME community
Farida has gone above and beyond to support her patients, ensuring they receive the care and support they need to integrate safely into the community. The judges were impressed with her work creating a dedicated clinic to support asylum seekers and refugees coming to the city. The service offers a full health assessment and signposts to organisations offering psychosocial support. This has also been offered to the central Liverpool PCN.

Staffing/Recruitment Agency of the Year
WINNER: Integrated Care Specialists Group Ltd

Integrated Care Specialists Group Ltd was formed in January 2022 to do things differently. There are three directors, one is a partner in a Liverpool GP practice and two are the very best time served medical recruitment specialists. In the first 18 months they have grown from a team of three to seven. In that time, they have helped over 250 clients and over 200 locums to improve access and outcomes for patients covering over 9000 days of clinical expertise within Primary Care.

Nurse/Nursing Team of the Year Award
WINNER: Birley Health Centre – Nursing and Health Care Team/ Superheroes

This group of nursing superheroes really do go the extra mile. Running extra covid clinics for their patients and those of other practices struggling with capacity and using a council bus to arrange for patients to get to practice; they have had their best ever year at QOF, smashing all their targets. The team is led by Nurse Lead Dawn, a local legend. Dawn hosts wellbeing chats, organises schedules to fit the person and the business, and stands out due to her community work.

The General Practitioner of the Year
WINNER: Dr Mohammed Jiva MBE, General Practitioner, CEO Rochdale and Bury Local Medical Committee, CEO Rochdale Health Alliance, GP Federation, Clinical Director, Middleton Primary Care Network
Sponsored by Medical Defense Society

As the CEO of Rochdale and Bury LMC for the past 15 years, Dr Jiva is an asset across the boroughs. He had a major impact through the COVID-19 pandemic converting national policies into diagrammatic form to support practices. He has supported PCNs and implemented pathways and policies resulting in over 60 ARRS staff employed. He opened the first PCN venue offering patient services in a shopping centre which brings sexual health and HIV testing to the public.

PCN of the Year
WINNER: Cheltenham Central PCN
Sponsored by Hill Dickinson

This PCN transformed 6 individual practices working in silo into a mature PCN with collaborative working and innovative practice. New services were introduced via an advanced pharmacy team, social prescribing link workers, care coordinators, paramedics, trainee nurse associates and a mental health practitioner. The introduction of a novel PCN Lead Nurse role to support nurses across the practices enabled more peer networking, standardised protocols and training. The PCN co-developed a be-friending scheme using community volunteers and work with local schools to identify children and young people at risk of future negative consequences. The team are passionate about sustainability and are supporting practices to reach net zero.

Telecoms Provider of the Year
WINNER:
Voice Connect Ltd
Patient Partner is a unique and innovative offering from Voice Connect Ltd that allows direct appointment booking, review, and cancellation into the clinical system. Its integration sets it apart from other market offerings, ensuring a seamless user experience. The service has the ability to handle dictated medication queries via email, contributing to increased efficiency in managing patient inquiries and aligning with the NHS’s emphasis on leveraging technology to enhance efficiency and deliver better patient outcomes.

Vaccination Service of the Year
WINNER: Healthy Hyde PCN

Working beyond PCN borders and collaborating with local voluntary organisations, Healthy Hyde PCN covers 77,000 people, over 60% of whom live in the most deprived postcodes in England. The team developed a drive-thru vaccination centre to provide vaccines at scale in a safe and effective way. They delivered the most vaccinations per day in Greater Manchester. They also offer co-administration of flu and covid vaccination. The team run PCN-led English lessons for asylum seekers and refugees at food banks – a complex care nurse attended sessions with a translator and delivered 70 vaccines in the autumn/winter programme. They ran educational sessions on using healthcare, vaccines and BLS training.

Professional Services Provider of the Year
WINNER: Menlo Park Recruitment

General Practice continues to face a huge range of challenges but there’s no bigger ongoing challenge than being able to attract GPs, Nurses and Allied Health to work in primary care. Menlo Park have worked with nearly 1,000 practices in the past year in order to ease their recruitment pain, because when a practice doesn’t have clinicians the whole service stops. They work proactively with practices, using our network, to attract candidates that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to engage themselves.

GP Team of the Year
WINNER: Urban Village Medical Practice
Sponsored by Prescribing Care Direct

A unique GP practice serving 12,000 patients across Ancoats, Manchester and specialist care to 1,000 people in the city who are experiencing homelessness. Working with kindness and compassion the team always go the extra mile. During the pandemic the partners obtained a loan to purchase a van and converted it into a mobile consulting room to deliver services to the hardest to reach patients.

The General Practice Awards will be back in 2024 with new categories, a new host, and lots of opportunities for you and your team to shine! To stay updated, click here to sign up to our mailing list.

The Pharmacist survey

The Pharmacist recently conducted a survey to our community of pharmacists, to gain an insight into the current mood within the sector.

Based on nearly 200 responses from community and practice-based pharmacists across the UK, we revealed that more than half of our respondents would consider strike action or withdrawing their services, 71% thought pay was inadequate and three-quarters said they experienced abuse from patients at least once or twice a month.

Meanwhile, half of community pharmacist respondents reported working overtime every week or nearly every week.

We also asked respondents about their capacity to deliver Pharmacy First, before the launch date and details were announced.

More than six in 10 community pharmacists responding to our survey said that they would have the capacity to deliver a common conditions service in England this winter.

And with increasing numbers of pharmacists training as prescribers, including all newly qualified pharmacists from 2026, our survey also highlighted that independent prescribing training for the existing workforce is one of the biggest challenges facing the profession, with respondents ranking it above workforce challenges, medicines shortages, funding and training the next generation of community pharmacists.

Stories from The Pharmacist survey were based on 187 responses in total:

  • 81% from England, 9% from Scotland, 4% from Wales, 6% from Northern Ireland
  • 19% (36 respondents) were community pharmacy owners, 35% (65) were employed community pharmacists, 21% (39) were locum community pharmacists, 12% (22) were pharmacists working in both community and general practice, and 12% (23) were practice or PCN-based pharmacists.

Leaders from across the sector also provided commentary on our findings.

The Pharmacist delivers the latest daily political, business, and clinical news in the pharmacy sector; with blogs and clinical and professional features on key topics affecting pharmacists. For more information about advertising to our audience of community, practice and PCN pharmacists, please contact us today.

Sponsored content partnerships

We are pleased to announce a new digital offering from our media brands – Sponsored content partnerships.

Sponsored content partnerships are available to companies and brands who wish to supply thought leadership pieces to reach and engage with our powerful audience of healthcare professionals.

Thought leadership pieces allow for company CEOs and sector leaders to demonstrate and articulate their expertise in a relevant area and allow immediate engagement with our audience.

Working with our Editor, your thought leadership article (exclusive to Cogora) will be edited, reviewed, and hosted within the Sponsored tab. The article will then be promoted via the website homepage, relevant zone, our editorial newsletters and via our social media channels.  

Covering primary and secondary care markets globally, our portfolio of market-leading brands reach unrivalled numbers of HCPs. We listen to what they tell us and take notice of what they respond to, allowing us to communicate effectively with your target audience.

This new offering is currently available via Nursing in Practice, The Pharmacist, Management in Practice, Healthcare Leader, Hospital Pharmacy Europe, or Hospital Healthcare Europe. For more information about content partnerships, please contact us today.