The Aural Apothecary

Did you know that according to the OECD, a fifth of healthcare costs adds no value to patient care? This, along with the drive for shared decision making is the drive behind Scotland’s ‘Realistic Medicine’ campaign. We chat to Dr Catherine Labinjoh, Consultant Cardiologist and National Clinical Advisor to the Realistic Medicine programme about the campaign.One of the main aim

It takes a special sort of person to work in paediatric care. We chat to Alison Tennant, Chief Pharmacist at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust about the risks and rewards of working with children and their medicines. Parents going home with bags of bottles, the difficulties of shared decision making and instead of DNA we have DNB - Did not Bring. A joyous and fascinat

How do you influence the prescribing habits of an entire country? This is the task of NHS England’s National Clinical Director of Prescribing Professor Tony Avery. We chat to Tony about this new, groundbreaking leadership role and techniques used to influence and improve prescribing practice across a whole nation. In addition to this role Tony is a practising GP, a professor of p

A lively chat as we are joined by sexual health pharmacist Sally Kneath. Sally busts the myths that often surround people living with HIV and details how it is managed today - perhaps not how you would imagine. We reflect on the impact of the stigma caused by the 80’s ‘Don’t die of ignorance’ campaigns that still exists today and how we need to move toward seeing HIV alongs

We are joined by Professor Bapu Jena. Physician, economist, author of ‘Random Acts of Medicine’ and host of the superb ‘Freakonomics MD’ podcast, we explore with Bapu the concept of ‘natural experimentation’. How might a marathon be bad for your health? Why might you be safer not seeing a cardiologist after a heart attack? What is the impact of striking doctors on healt

For our first episode of series 6 we are delighted to be joined by former BBC reporter Rory Cellen-Jones. As well as a successful career in journalism, Rory is also part of “Movers and Shakers’ - the hit podcast about life with Parkinsons.Rory was diagnosed with Parkinsons in 2019 and has spent recent years investigating the role technology can play in improving the treatment o

Pull up a chair and join the Three Apothecaries around the fire for our end-of-year chat with friends and colleagues Clare Howard and Jonathan Underhill to discuss another dramatic year.What will 2023 be remembered for? Was it the Year of Community Pharmacy or of Artificial Intelligence? Who would win in a fight – ChatGPT or a clinical pharmacist? How should NICE determine Qualit

A pivotal figure in the development of Evidence Based Practice and an inspiration to many, it was our real pleasure this week to chat to Professor Neal Maskrey. A retired GP and former director of the National Prescribing Centre, Neal has been a key figure in the way clinical evidence is presented and used in practice. He tells us about his new book, Rebalancing Medicine, where he

How do we manage Chronic Pain? This week we talk to Louise Trewern of Living Well with Pain, who has herself lived with chronic pain since childhood. After years of strange illnesses, infections and persistent pain Louise was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and prescribed a stupor-inducing cocktail of opioids, antidepressants and benzodiazepines. We chat to Louise about how she discove

Our new website is now live - www.theauralapothecary.com A fantastic chat this week we talk to Paul Woodgate who as well as having Type II Diabetes and Parkinson’s disease is an advocate for patients in the design of healthcare services. We hear how this important role has evolved from being the oft ignored voice at the back of the room to being a central part of service design.O