Westminster Kingsway College Launches New Access To Higher Education Programme In Pharmacy And Biomedical Sciences

Westminster Kingsway College has launched a new Access to Higher Education programme in Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences at its new King’s Cross Centre in central London. The College is already a leading provider of Access to Higher Education courses in London as well as specialising in courses for Pharmacy Technicians in conjunction with the University of London’s School of Pharmacy and Birkbeck College.

The new Access programme in Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences will be focussing on those who are looking to progress to university courses in Pharmacy or Biomedical Sciences and the course has been developed in partnership with the School of Pharmacy at the University of London. Candidates will need to have some aptitude for science and maths already and it is preferable that they have been working in a medical or healthcare environment but they may have been out of education for some time or be looking to change their career.

Report Finds Racial Disparities In Prescription Drug Access, Use, Regimen Adherence

“Origins and Strategies for Addressing Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Pharmaceutical Therapy: The Health-Care System, the Provider, and the Patient,” National Minority Quality Forum: The report — by Richard Levy, a health care consultant and former vice president of the National Pharmaceutical Council; Robert Like, professor and director of the Center for Healthy Families and Cultural Diversity of the UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; and Harry Shabsin, a private-practice psychologist — looks at how appropriate medications for a variety of diseases often are under-prescribed, over-prescribed, or mis-prescribed among minorities. The report looks at disparities in treatment of minority patients with cardiovascular disease, asthma, psychiatric illness, pain and other conditions and finds disparities in access to medications through insurance programs, in the prescribing of medications and in adherence to medication regimens. The report offers ways to improve prescribing and use of medications among diverse communities (National Minority Quality Forum release, 5/12).

WFP Appeals For Rapid Expansion Of Humanitarian Access To Gaza

The Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP),  Josette Sheeran, expressed deepening concern about the severe breakdown  of  food supplies and distributions in Gaza, and said the agency would scale up its operations to respond to urgent needs.

WFP  plans to broaden its reach to provide food assistance to up to 360,000 of  the non-refugee population in Gaza, while the United Nations Relief and Works  Agency  (UNRWA)  will  meet  food  requirements  among  the  refugee population that numbers 1.1 million people.

Improved Access To Safe Abortion Needed To Reduce Maternal Death Rate In Ghana, Advocate Says

Ghana’s government should increase efforts to encourage safe abortion procedures and provide reproductive health education to reduce its maternal mortality rate, Jehu Appiah — country director of Ipas Ghana — said in a recent speech during an advocate training meeting at the University of Ghana, Ghana’s Statesman reports. According to Appiah, unsafe abortion procedures account for 30% of maternal deaths in Ghana. Many Ghanaians overlook the 1985 law that legalized abortion, Appiah said, adding that government enforcement is needed to ensure safe access to abortion procedures. Appiah said cultural and religious beliefs also contribute to maternal deaths from unsafe abortions. He added that women often “opt for abortion whenever they get pregnant” and “use all sort of means to just get rid of the pregnancy because of public ridicule.”

PBS’ ‘NewsHour’ Looks At Health Care Access Problems In New Mexico

PBS’ “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on Wednesday examined access-to-care issues facing people who live in rural New Mexico, the state with the second-highest rate of uninsurance in the country. More than half of all New Mexico residents live in non-urban areas, often in towns that have no pharmacy and few physicians.

Many of these uninsured residents work for small businesses that cannot afford to offer coverage, and they must rely on outreach programs that work with insurers and drugmakers to provide basic services, including blood pressure checks and diabetes screenings. A physician shortage in the state has forced many primary care physicians in small communities to be on call 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Additionally, because of the overwhelming demand for physicians, some rural residents must travel to the closest urban emergency department to receive immediate treatment.

Epping GP Surgery Named ‘Practice Of The Year’ For Its Patient Access System, UK

The inaugural Management in Practice Awards recognised the achievements of UK general practice managers and practice teams in providing an excellent standard of service to their patients. The awards ceremony took place during the Management in Practice Event at the Birmingham NEC on 8 October – see http://www.managementinpractice.com/awards.

Practices across the UK nominated themselves by submitting written accounts of their projects, which were then shortlisted by a panel of expert judges in each category.

Employment Rates, Economic Factors Could Decrease Access To Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage For Workers Younger Than Age 65, According To EBRI

The percentage of U.S. residents younger than age 65 who had health coverage through their employer remained at 62.2% between 2006 and 2007, but that percentage likely will decline in 2008, according to a Employee Benefit Research Institute report, the Kansas City Star reports. The report states that this year’s rise in unemployment rates and food and gasoline prices suggest a future decline in the number of workers who have or are able to afford employer-sponsored health insurance.

Scottish Patients With Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia Gain Access To New Treatment

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) announced that Tasigna (nilotinib) is accepted for use within NHS Scotland for treatment of adult patients with Philadelphia positive (Ph+) chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML), who are resistant to or intolerant of at least one prior therapy including Glivec (imatinib), in the early phase of the disease. The approval means that this group of Scottish patients with chronic phase CML who are intolerant or resistant to Glivec can now be effectively treated.

CMS Issues Rule To Provide Researchers With Limited Access To Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit Claims

CMS has issued a rule that will provide researchers with access to hundreds of millions of Medicare prescription drug benefit claims but will limit their studies of the commercial parts of the program, CQ HealthBeat reports.

According to a “fact sheet” issued by CMS on May 22, the rule will allow researchers to study the safety and effectiveness of medications among the elderly and disabled, as clinical trials “often exclude the very old, patients with multiple chronic conditions and those taking multiple medications, comprising the vast majority of Medicare beneficiaries.” The rule also will allow Medicare beneficiaries to use the claims data to update their personal health records with the medications that they take, CMS said.

PBS’ ‘NewsHour’ Looks At Health Care Access Problems In New Mexico

PBS’ “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” on Wednesday examined access-to-care issues facing people who live in rural New Mexico, the state with the second-highest rate of uninsurance in the country. More than half of all New Mexico residents live in non-urban areas, often in towns that have no pharmacy and few physicians.

Many of these uninsured residents work for small businesses that cannot afford to offer coverage, and they must rely on outreach programs that work with insurers and drugmakers to provide basic services, including blood pressure checks and diabetes screenings. A physician shortage in the state has forced many primary care physicians in small communities to be on call 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Additionally, because of the overwhelming demand for physicians, some rural residents must travel to the closest urban emergency department to receive immediate treatment.