IOTOD summer webinar

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

Following on from the success of our spring webinar and annual conference, we are pleased to announce that the IOTOD Summer webinar ‘The opioid-dependance treatment triangle in prisons: medication, continuity, and harm reduction’ will be taking place on Wednesday 7th September at 16:00 BST.

The IOTOD summer webinar will be led by Professor Heino Stöver and joined by Dr Andrej Kastelic. This webinar will look at the treatment of patients with opioid use disorder within the prison system and their specific needs from treatment services. Additionally, this webinar will share best practice approaches for transferring this patient population on daily dose methadone or buprenorphine to long-acting buprenorphine (LAB) and discuss any associated benefits these treatment formulations may have in custodial settings. The event will conclude with a lively Q&A session.

Accessing our community of healthcare professionals via our media brands Pulse, Nursing in Practice, The Pharmacist, Hospital Pharmacy Europe and Hospital Healthcare Europe, as well as the well-established IOTOD community, the webinar will welcome addiction specialists, psychiatrists, GPs, community pharmacists, primary care nurses and other healthcare professional managing patients with opioid dependence and associated comorbidities. 

The IOTOD webinar ‘The opioid-dependance treatment triangle in prisons: medication, continuity, and harm reduction’ is supported by grant funding from Camurus. 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.

HCM Academy, CME on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetic condition that can affect as many as 1 in 200 people. The HCM Academy is a cardiology programme created and launched in November 2021 by PCM Scientific. It provides free peer-to-peer CME courses developed to bring quality best practice care and recognition of HCM in patients.

With 40 live digital workshops delivered by leading experts to date, the programme has now been extended until the end of October 2022. Not only does the HCM Academy provide live digital workshops, but it also offers online educational activities to enhance learning and provide free education and insight around the recognition and management of HCM.

These free CME modules and case studies allow users to learn directly from leading HCM experts and hear from HCM patients about their experiences.

“It is my pleasure to introduce the HCM Academy to you, this is a unique program that has been painstakingly put forth by the HCM Academy. The whole purpose is to introduce a broad group of healthcare providers, including family practitioners, internal medicine, and APPs, to this exciting disease called HCM…. There are about 600,000 patients [in the US] that may or may not know they have HCM. So, there is a lot of work to do, and the front-line physicians are crucial in the fight against this disease. I sincerely hope you enjoy the program and sign up for additional sessions because there is a lot of good material there.” Milind Desai – Regional Leader, The HCM Academy

The HCM Academy is developed in partnership with and endorsed by the HCMA and targets our community of family practitioners, primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, advanced practice providers, GPs, internists, and community cardiology teams across the United States of America.

Pulse: The workforce plan failures

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

This month, Pulse investigates what has gone wrong with the Government’s GP recruitment plans.

Pulse reveals that the vacancy rates in general practice is worse than ever, while attempts to recruit GPs from abroad have failed badly. We also reveal that primary care networks aren’t receiving the full funding available to them to hire other healthcare staff, which has hampered efforts to reduce GP workload.

Elsewhere, we analyse the case of Dr Manjula Arora, who was suspended for a month by the GMC’s tribunal service for telling her out-of-hours employer she had been ‘promised’ a laptop. Her suspension caused fury across the profession, and we asked how much this case has harmed the GMC’s attempts to improve its image among doctors.

Copperfield rails against even more overmedicalisation, while Nabi takes aim at single-issue health campaigns.

In our clinical section, we look at recognising cancer in children, and our sports injuries series provides advice on treating knee problems in the GP surgery, while the clinical clangers piece focuses on ear infections.

Alongside this, we have a CPD piece on treating transgender patients, and take a look at a week in the life of a GP supporting Soho’s Chinese community.

Cardiovascular disease event series

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

Over 2022, Cogora: The Agency are organising 50 localised 90-minute promotional educational meetings across England on cardiovascular disease (CVD), held virtually and face-to-face.

The cardiovascular disease event series aims to address the educational needs of healthcare professionals concerning current CVD burden and lipid management.

Both primary and secondary care cardiology experts will be sharing their experiences to date and how they have locally implemented a new clinical pathway.

These experiences and the catch-up videos are hosted on a standalone promotional educational hub and promoted through an extensive email and advertisement campaign via our media brands Pulse, Nursing in Practice, and The Pharmacist.

PULSE 365 launches

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of PULSE 365, our new education platform for GPs, bringing together our face-to-face events, virtual events, CPD learning platform and our community – the first of its kind.

A positive learning to come from the Covid-19 lockdowns was the discovery of the convenience and effectiveness of online learning. A ‘hybrid’ offering for events and online education has been universally welcomed by our audience and this is where PULSE 365 comes into its own.

The new education platform for grassroots GPs, brought to you by the award-winning team behind Pulse magazine, Pulse LIVE, and Pulse Learning. Designed to give GPs easy access to the best CPD and professional educational content in a variety of formats, PULSE 365 lets our community learn anytime, anywhere.

Users can choose from a mix of bite-sized, interactive and longer-form content spanning over 20 clinical areas, depending on their preferences and time. Relevant and constantly updated, content is presented in a variety of formats: CPD modules, virtual seminars, on-demand sessions, in-person events, handbooks, directories and articles; with tools to help GPs plan throughout the year: save favourites, track progress, add to calendar and more.

PULSE 365 also allows users to connect and collaborate with fellow GPs and share best practice to help improving patient care.

For further information about PULSE 365 and the advertising opportunities, please contact Nick Hayward at [email protected].

Look out for further information on the soon-to-be released Nursing in Practice 365 edition – offering practice and community nurses a great choice of educational content.

Major concerns around the new NHS structure, CCG report finds

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

Out-going clinical leaders have expressed major misgivings about how the NHS is being run and raised concerns about a loss of clinical leadership as the healthcare system undergoes a massive restructure this week, according to a report from Healthcare Leader.

The report, CCGs: A post-mortem, released today, found that nearly three quarters of clinical commissioning group (CCG) leaders and staff (74%) do not have confidence in the way the NHS is being run.

Just under two-thirds think the move to Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), which take over from CCGs this week, will not be positive (60%) or improve primary care (62%). Half think it will not improve patient care (52%) and 68% of respondents feel there will be a loss of clinical leadership as the new system takes over.

While today marks the first official week of Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) taking up the reigns of running the NHS, it also marks the end of the GP-led commissioning era as CCGs are consigned to history.

Before those clinical leaders are dispersed Healthcare Leader captured their thoughts and feelings. Through eight interviews with CCG chairs past and present and a CCG evaluation survey of 143 clinical leaders and staff, CCGs: A post-mortem, pulls together a snapshot of the past decade’s successes and current concerns to evaluate and reflect what CCGs achieved and predict what ICBs need to be wary of and build on for future success.

The report records some of the work done by CCGs and gauges opinions on what the future could look like after GP-led commissioning. It also seeks to recognise a decade of dedication from the GPs who put their heads above the parapet and became commissioners.

Healthcare Leader editor and report author, Victoria Vaughan, says: ‘We carried out the report to mark the end of nine years of CCG work, which had both benefits and disadvantages, and for it to act as informal handover notes to the new system.

‘Our report shows that there are profound concerns about the loss of primary care clinical leadership and a swing to the dominance of the acute sector as the NHS architecture is reshaped.

‘It highlights that there is a whole tranche of out-going clinical primary care leaders who have experience and knowledge which is worth utilising to help support and inform the new system.

‘There was also sadness around the end of an era during which there was real power in primary care which benefitted patients where CCGs were well run.’

The survey also shows that 67% think CCGs were successful in making clinically led decisions, 71% think they were successful in increasing the primary care perspective and voice within the NHS and 66% think they generated clinical leadership.

About Healthcare Leader

Healthcare Leader is an online media platform dedicated to informing, engaging and supporting decision-makers in NHS primary care services.

As the architecture of the NHS shifts from clinical commissioning groups to integrated care boards and integrated care partnerships, Healthcare Leader gives primary care leaders in the three emerging tiers of the NHS – system, place and neighbourhoods – the opportunity to share innovative ideas on how to address the challenges they face politically, structurally and financially.

Our team produces daily news, thought leadership, roundtables, insight and reports to champion primary care services. We work to seek out case studies, profiles and interviews covering innovative projects and pilots to help spread best practice and support the ICBs’ triple aim – a duty of better health for everyone, better care for all patients and sustainable NHS services.

For more information visit healthcareleadernews.com and contact: Victoria Vaughan, editor [email protected] Jess Hacker, reporter [email protected].

Follow Healthcare Leader: Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn.

PCRA 2022 events are now underway

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

Our first 2022 Primary Care Respiratory Academy (PCRA) Quality Improvement webinar, and two Clinical meetings in Birmingham and Manchester have been a great success.

The PCRA 2022 Clinical face-to-face events, delivered by Cogora: The Agency, consist of a full day of respiratory content and have provided a great opportunity for healthcare professionals to network and catch up with each other following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. There was a wonderful level of engagement at both events and the countdown to the much-anticipated London event is underway.

In addition to the London Clinical event, we have three more virtual events to come later this year.

  • Quality improvement webinar on ‘How to shorten the respiratory waiting lists’ (Wednesday 5th October 2022)
  • Clinical webinar on ‘Managing those tricky common problems in COPD’ (Wednesday 14th September 2022)
  • Clinical webinar on ‘Managing those tricky common problems in asthma’ (Thursday 29th September)

The events have been promoted to our audience of primary care healthcare professionals via Pulse, Nursing in Practice, The Pharmacist, Management in Practice and Healthcare Leader. The 2022 Primary Care Respiratory Academy has been developed in partnership with PCRS, and is funded by Chiesi.

The academy also offers a series of on-demand educational resources.

Successful start to our 2022 media events

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

2022 has been a great year so far with an extensive mix of virtual and in-person events across our media brands, with active attendance across our healthcare audiences.

Our recent PCN Birmingham forum had an overwhelming turnout with over 50 PCN Clinical Directors joining us. Drawing on the feedback from our events in London and Birmingham, we have included pertinent topics such as QOF 2022/23, community engagement quality standards, digital transformation in general practice, role of federations/PCNs and collaborative working and more.

The Birmingham editions of Pulse 365 LIVE and Nursing in Practice successfully delivered an engaging CPD-accredited programme delivered by a panel of experts covering key clinical areas including menstrual disorders in teenagers, management of heart failure, transforming asthma care, Type 2 diabetes, finding cancer and more.

The 2022 General Practice Awards has received a record number of entries from healthcare professionals (HCPs), with the new Vaccination Service of the Year category proving particularly popular. Supplier categories are still open for entries so if your business has been providing exceptional support to primary care, make sure you put your team forward. We also have several sponsorship opportunities remaining – contact [email protected] for more information.

The 365 VIRTUAL programmes for Pulse and Nursing in Practice continued to deliver high quality clinical content and we have seen fantastic engagement from our HPC communities. The next virtual programmes will take place on 5-7 July and 13 July, with sponsored sessions from AstraZeneca. If you are interested in sponsoring these events, please contact [email protected].

Looking ahead to 2023, the team are working on exciting plans to optimise our engagement with our HCP audience through the newly launched PULSE 365 platform and the soon-to-be released Nursing in Practice 365 edition – offering a greater choice of event content, both live and on-demand.

Best news writer win at the BSME Talent Awards

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

We are delighted to announce that Costanza Potter, Pulse Deputy News Editor, has been awarded best news writer at the BSME Talent Awards.

The judges said that in a ‘highly competitive category’, Costanza ‘stood out for her tenacious reporting that had a big impact to the magazine’s audience and beyond’.

Pulse were nominated for four awards in total, with Sofia Lind up for deputy editor of the year, Costanza also up for B2B writer and the news team up for team of the year.

The award follows Pulse PCN’s ‘Launch of the Year’ win at the BSME Awards in February. The judges commended the Pulse PCN team for identifying a ‘genuine need in their audience’ and getting them ‘involved in shaping and providing content from the outset’.

The British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) is the only society in the UK exclusively for digital and print editors.

Nursing in Practice: Challenges in child health

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

The challenges in child health that confront health visitors and nurses are greater than ever, practitioners have told Nursing in Practice in the Summer 2022 print edition. 

Nurses in primary care continue to push for babies, young children, and their parents, to receive effective care, and want more support and investment from the Government to tackle challenges in child health, but the situation is more difficult than ever.  

Referrals to an increasingly stretched health visiting service have risen rapidly. And as one health visitor said: ‘We’re also seeing a lack of early intervention because of the pandemic, which means families have got to crisis point before they come into contact with services.’

While demand for services that support families with young children is escalating, the resources required to deliver that support are decreasing, with nurses reporting funding cuts and staff shortages. 

The Institute of Health Visiting warns that the health visiting workforce is being asked to handle ‘unmanageable’ caseloads. 

Children’s services are being push to the limit, explains Helen Lewis, an ANP in general practice based in the South Wales Valleys. ‘We continued to see children and families during the pandemic, and now we’re seeing more children than even before the pandemic… Some patients also don’t understand why their child can’t be seen straight away – dealing with their frustrations also adds to the workload.’

It’s also alarming, she says, that practices are seeing even more families who ‘can’t afford to fill their fridges up’.

The latest of Nursing in Practice also looks at the plight of the nurses battling long Covid, and the impact that is having on their own health and their careers.

Transgender health is the topic of an in-depth Q&A article giving advice, for example, on the barriers to accessing healthcare all too often experienced by trans people.

We also share guidance for nurses on supporting patients through the current and high-profile HRT shortages, examine factors in asthma inhaler choice, and give an update on contraception in the under-18s.

Plus, Nursing in Practice editorial board member Marilyn Eveleigh argues that over-reliance of recruitment from overseas isn’t the right formula for success for an alarming number of vacancies, at a time when the nursing profession needs strength and stability.

Pulse Editor wins at the PPA Awards

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

Congratulations to Pulse Editor, Jaimie Kaffash, who was awarded Editor of the Year by the Professional Publishers Association!

The judges said Jaimie had ‘demonstrated excellent journalism and demonstrable commercial success’.

‘This editor plays a huge part in highlighting important issues and consistently puts out relevant content for the readers.’

Jaimie said: ‘This is a recognition of the team, first and foremost. I have been in awe of how they have managed to produce so much incredible work throughout the pandemic.

‘It is a pleasure to continue editing a magazine for such an engaged and smart audience, who are so willing to highlight problems and injustices in the health service – and occasionally what is going well! – and tell us when we get things right and wrong.’

Pulse was nominated for a further three awards at the PPA Awards: Media Brand of the Year (business), Innovation of the Year (Pulse PCN) and Cover of the Year. The PPA Awards seeks to celebrate the work and achievements made across the UK publishing and media industry since the start 2021.

Pulse in the Press: Half of GPs plan on retiring by the age of 60

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

An exclusive Pulse survey revealing that half of the existing GP workforce plans to retire at or before the age of 60 has been picked up by the national press.

The story of half of GPs plan on retiring by the age of 60 has been mentioned in the Mail, Independent, the Times and ITV News. Our reporters have also been on Times Radio and BBC Radio Cambridgeshire to discuss the findings.

Of more than 800 GPs surveyed across the UK by Pulse, almost half (47%) said they intend to retire at or before 60, including 1 in 8 who said they intended to retire before reaching 55.

Respondents gave a number of reasons why they wanted to retire early, with the most common factors being burnout and workload, although problems around pensions have also been a significant reason.

This story follows another recent Pulse exclusive, revealing that the first female chair of the BMA GP Committee had taken sick leave following sexist comments.

Pulse: Does sexism within BMA House leave GPs in England unrepresented?

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

This month, a major Pulse investigation focuses on the culture within the BMA as we reveal that the first chair of the BMA’s GP Committee in England in its 109 years had to take sick leave partly as a result.

Pulse reveal how a ‘toxic’ culture is putting off new GPs – especially female ones – from joining the GPC, and how the complaints culture is leading to numerous solicitor-led investigations. The exclusive has since been picked up by the national press, including the Times and the Daily Mail, and has sparked huge debate on social media.

We focus on the NICE guidelines on dependence-forming drugs plus we ask whether a lack of face-to-face GP appointments really was to blame for a spike in stillbirths, as one national news website claimed.

Columnist Dr Shaba Nabi says that the profession needs to evolve or die, while Copperfield is delighted that he is currently facing no complaints.

In the clinical section, we have Key Questions on peripheral arterial disease and a guide on remote consultations for headaches.

Pulse in the Press: BMA GP Committee Chair had to take sick leave following reports of sexist comments

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

An exclusive Pulse story into sexism at the BMA caused huge controversy.

Pulse revealed that the first female chair of the BMA GP Committee had taken sick leave following sexist comments. This story has since been picked up by the Times and the Daily Mail, and sparked huge debate on social media.

Dr Farah Jameel was elected as the firs female chair of the BMA’s GP Committee (GPC) in England in November 2021. However, in March this year she took sick leave, with the conduct and culture of the GPC contributing to her ill health, a Pulse investigation has concluded. Dr Jameel has now returned to her role.

Delivery of the IOTOD 2022 Conference

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

PCM Scientific delivered the 20th annual Improving Outcomes in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (IOTOD) conference on the 11th – 12th May, welcoming 290 delegates from 17 different countries.

The IOTOD 2022 conference offered a range of exciting and interactive sessions. It involved thought-provoking talks and expert-led panel discussions in the field of opioid dependence, equipping our audience with the tools to improve their quality of care in their day-to-day clinical practice. For the first-time, the virtual conference was delivered with live Spanish translation via Cogora’s platform, HCP Connect.

Feedback from delegates and our international expert faculty has been fantastic so far.

  • “I thought it was very good and I enjoyed the meeting.”
  • “I thought the content related very well together thematically and holistically.”
  • “The team had flawless grip over the development of the meeting and its content.”
  • “This was fantastic, really well planned and I thought that the guidance with the slides and support to polish them was excellent, thank you team.”
  • “No technical problems and I thought the technical support side was tremendous.”

Further feedback will be collated following our evaluation survey surrounding the live event and the on-demand period, as well as insights into the likely positive impact on clinical practice, via our Commitments to Change.

Making a comeback this year, IOTOD hosted its very own poster session where delegates featured their latest research and findings in the field of opioid dependence. Returning to the conference was our popular complex case studies discussion, where delegates discussed opioid dependence and co-morbidities with international colleagues and world-leading experts.

The European Accreditation Committee in CNS (EACIC) has granted 7 CME credits to this event.

Pulse PCN roundtable success

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

The Pulse PCN roundtable on enhanced access was the best attended roundtable since Cogora launched the brand last year.

There were 12 participants, including 10 PCN clinical directors, from across England representing areas including Devon, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, Lancashire, and London.

The hour-long discussion, held virtually in April and chaired by Pulse PCN editor, Victoria Vaughan, shed light on the reaction to the new PCN Network Direct Enhanced Service (DES) contract.

It focussed on the requirement that PCNs must provide appointments in the weekday evenings between 6.30pm and 8pm and 9am to 5pm on Saturdays.

The delegates were largely positive about the move with most feeling it was well funded and within their capabilities. For others though, this latest demand nearly saw their network break-up.

A full report of the roundtable will be out in the summer edition of Pulse PCN in June and also available online here.  Previous topics covered in roundtables include place-based partnerships and population health management.

Expert-led online CME education in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

The HCM Academy provides free CME courses for GPs, family physicians, nurses, and community cardiology teams. The programme, created and launched in November 2021 by PCM Scientific, focuses on best practice care for people living with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). It allows users to learn directly from leading HCM experts and hear from HCM patients about their experiences.

HCM Academy offers expert-led online CME education in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy via two main learning streams: live digital CME workshops and online CME courses. This free online CME education offers on-demand and interactive learning. Multiple digital CME workshops have already been delivered by HCM specialists and to date, hundreds of healthcare professionals have attended.

The second stream of learning is the online CME courses, consisting of 6 educational CME learning modules and 5 on-demand case studies. Alongside these resources, 5 real-life patient journeys are available to view and explore. All of these resources provide greater insight into specific aspects of quality HCM care and disease management.

“I think the HCM Academy offers a substantial opportunity to improve outcomes – when you look at what is being offered, it’s truly the full gamut of disease. Whether it’s age, symptoms, or treatment, or missed opportunities. I would encourage everyone to take advantage of this unique offering via the HCM Academy” John Lynn Jeffries – National Faculty, The HCM Academy

The HCM Academy is developed in partnership with and endorsed by the HCMA and targets family practitioners, nurse practitioners, GPs, internists, and community cardiology teams across the United States of America.

The Pharmacist extends coverage to pharmacy in general practice

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

Cogora’s digital publication for pharmacists has extended its news and clinical content to include pharmacists working in general practice and in Primary Care Networks (PCNs).

Plans have kicked off with the launch of The Pharmacist PRACTICE newsletter, bringing regular news, updates and CPD to the growing general practice pharmacy sector.

The initiative reflects the increasing value that pharmacists bring to the general practice team, with the number of pharmacist roles being rapidly expanded by NHS funding.

Over 3,000 pharmacists in PCNs and general practice in England now work closely with GPs – bringing their specialist knowledge of medicines, side effects, cost effective prescribing and the support of patients with their medication and long-term conditions.

The Pharmacist has a long track record in delivering news and information to community pharmacy, championing the information needs of independent pharmacy teams. The value of the profession has only been reinforced during the Covid pandemic.

The Pharmacist will work to help grow synergy in the pharmacy community, across PCNs, general practice and community pharmacy.

This year, The Pharmacist team has also relaunched the brand’s website, thepharmacist.co.uk, enhancing the content, structure and usability of the site.

PCRA 2022 events

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

We are delighted to welcome back our Primary Care Respiratory Academy (PCRA) virtual and face-to-face events this year.

The PCRA 2022 Clinical face-to-face events, delivered by Cogora: The Agency, will consist of a full day of respiratory content in London (Friday 17th June), Birmingham (Tuesday 21st June), and Manchester (Monday 28th June). This much awaited face-to-face event series brings an exciting opportunity to discuss an excellent selection of clinical content amongst peers.

This year we have four excellent sessions interspersed with interactive working groups and discussions, including:

  • Important updates of asthma diagnosis and management
  • Paediatric asthma, COPD, and the updated post-Covid-19 guidelines
  • Looking to the future: important updates in COPD, deconditioning and addressing the review back-log
  • New guidelines that matter in clinical practice: post-Covid syndrome, breathlessness in athletes, ILD, bronchiectasis, and fitness to fly 

PCRA 2022 also includes a selection of Quality Improvement webinars on greener healthcare (Wednesday 8th June) and how to shorten the respiratory waiting list (Wednesday 5th October), as well as two case-based Clinical webinars covering tricky aspects of COPD diagnosis (Wednesday 14th September) and asthma diagnosis (Thursday 29th September). 

The events will promoted to our audience of primary care healthcare professionals via Pulse, Nursing in Practice, The Pharmacist, Management in Practice and Healthcare Leader. The 2022 Primary Care Respiratory Academy has been developed in partnership with PCRS, and is funded by Chiesi.

A series of eight interactive and educational webinars which took place throughout 2021 are available for on-demand viewing.

Two weeks to go until IOTOD 2022

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

With only two weeks to go, the PCM Scientific team are gearing up to deliver the 2022 Improving Outcomes in the Treatment of Opioid Dependence (IOTOD) virtual conference on May 11th – 12th. 

Following the success of our 2021 virtual conference, the IOTOD 2022 conference will offer a range of exciting and interactive sessions. It will involve thought-provoking talks and expert-led panel discussions in the field of opioid dependence, equipping our audience with the tools to improve their quality of care in their day-to-day clinical practice.

Making a comeback this year, IOTOD will host its very own poster session where delegates can feature their latest research and findings in the field of opioid dependence. Returning to the conference will be our popular complex case studies discussion, where delegates can discuss opioid dependence and co-morbidities with international colleagues and world-leading experts.

Topics to be addressed at IOTOD 2022:

  • Opioid dependant patients: Profiles past and present
  • Psychosocial treatments and beyond ODT medication
  • Opioid analgesia dependence: is it being managed?
  • How has treatment provision in opioid dependence evolved?
  • Viral hepatitis: uncovering the unknown
  • Complex cases: panel discussion

Accessing our community of healthcare professionals via our media brands Pulse, Nursing in Practice, The Pharmacist, Hospital Pharmacy Europe and Hospital Healthcare Europe, as well as the well-established IOTOD community, the IOTOD 2022 conference welcomes addiction specialists, psychiatrists, GPs, community pharmacists, primary care nurses and other healthcare professional managing patients with opioid dependence and associated comorbidities. 

The European Accreditation Committee in CNS (EACIC) has granted 7 CME credits to this event.

Find out more about the IOTOD experience here.

The Pharmacist has launched a new website

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

The Pharmacist has launched a new website with an impactful and user-friendly design, with new functionality.

Readers can now access the latest pharmacy news and updates on a fresher and faster-loading site, explore revamped clinical categories, and vote on the most important issues of the week in a new online poll feature. 

As well as informative news, analysis and clinical content, written by expert journalists and practising pharmacists, The Pharmacist has also refreshed the Clinical Ambassadors services zone, where community pharmacists can learn about delivering clinical services from the UK’s most forward-thinking pharmacy contractors.

Carolyn Scott, editor of The Pharmacist, said: ‘We are proud to launch this exciting new website – and hope our pharmacist readers like it just as much as we do. Our plan for this project was not just to refresh the look and feel of the site, but also to improve the user experience and make it easier for readers to access the information that’s important to them.’

Soaring number of NHS webinar registrants

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

With NHS England and NHS Improvement (NHSE&I), the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), and Oxford Academic Health Science Network (AHSN), Cogora: The Agency have been working on delivering a series of live webinars to our community of healthcare professionals via Pulse.

Since announcing their exciting new Consensus Pathway for the Management of Uncontrolled Asthma pathway, NHSE&I, the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), and Oxford Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) have received a staggering number of registrants for the three live webinars set to air in March.

So far, the NHS webinars have had a combined 2,663 registrations, with registrations still open for the remaining webinar on Wednesday 23rd March.

Advanced Nurse Practitioner Beverly Bostock and Respiratory Nurse and Clinical Lead Claire Adams kicked off the series with a focus on identifying and managing uncontrolled asthma. The webinar was an outstanding success with over 400 attendees. 

Next up was Consultant Pharmacist Grainne d’Ancona and Professor Anna Murphy who presented an insightful webinar on improving adherence to asthma treatments. Grainne and Anna delved into patient psychology and detailed how to bring up non-adherence with patients.    

To wrap the series, the final webinar will present the brand-new Consensus Pathway for the Management of Uncontrolled Asthma. Join Prof Andrew Menzies-Gow, Dr Hitasha Rupani, Dr. Steve Holmes, Dr Deepak Subramanian, and Dr David Jackson on Wednesday the 23rd March 7-8pm.

In addition to the three live NHS webinars, healthcare professionals can access a range of educational resources including CPD modules, podcasts, and posters all via the NHS England and NHS Improvement sponsored hub on Pulse. Accessing our community of GPs via Pulse, Cogora: The Agency have been able to achieve high level engagement for the live webinars, but also drive traffic to the hub on Pulse which GPs can access at their own convenience.

Pulse: The hospital GPs

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

This month, our new look Pulse magazine focuses on the health secretary’s plan to have GPs working under hospital trusts. We look in detail at how this has been implemented in various pockets of England, how it has affected patient satisfaction and recruitment.

The March issue of Pulse magazines provides an analysis of what is happening with the GP contract in England, plus look behind the headlines at a claim GPs are not referring enough suspected cancer cases. We also feature our new Pulse Checker page – a not-entirely-serious news page.

In the clinical section, as we enter spring, we answer key questions on Lyme disease, provide a guide on remote consultations for orthopaedic presentations and avoiding a clinical clanger around thrush.

Elsewhere, in conjunction with Pulse Intelligence we give guides on starting and refining electronic repeat dispensing and appointing a non-clinical QOF lead.

IOTOD Spring webinar, ‘Improving outcomes for opioid-dependent women’

Posted on by Bianca Pettifor

This week the PCM Scientific team hosted the IOTOD spring webinar: ‘Improving outcomes for opioid-dependent women: addressing problems, perceptions and practices within treatment services and beyond’. 

This spring educational session was led by Australian-based Dr Shalini Arunogiri and joined by Dr Bern Hard who is UK based, where they discussed problems faced by opioid-dependent women and their specific needs from treatment services. Furthermore, to share best practice approaches for transferring female patients on daily dose methadone or buprenorphine to long-acting buprenorphine (LAB) and the associated benefits of these treatment formulations in this patient population. Both speakers shared their own examples of their own personal patient stories and the impact this treatment has had on their patients. The webinar was a great success with 84 healthcare professionals across Europe in attendance.

Accessing our community of healthcare professionals via our media brands as well as the well-established IOTOD community, the spring webinar welcomed addiction specialists, psychiatrists, GPs, community pharmacists, primary care nurses and other healthcare professional managing patients with opioid dependence and associated comorbidities. The event concluded with a lively Q&A session.

The IOTOD spring webinar was supported by arms-length funding from Camurus and the archived version will soon be available on the IOTOD website.