Articles & guides
Practical writing on independent prescribing, healthcare education and clinical practice — for the clinicians and teams who turn knowledge into safe, confident care.
How Do You Get Onto the Pharmacy Business Ladder? The Honest Routes In
The market is regulated — some would say closed. The PNA route, the exemptions that no longer exist, the overpricing problem when you buy, and why you must value on EBITDA and buy income streams, not a counter.
Bought a Pharmacy? Granted Isn't Listed — the Timeline Nobody Explains
Asset sale vs share sale, the change of ownership process, the one-year window, the 30 days' notice — and why you can't relocate or touch the NHS contract until you're actually on the pharmaceutical list.
Why Independent Pharmacies Struggle With GPhC Inspections (It's Not Incompetence)
When you're the pharmacist, superintendent, accountant, driver and cleaner, something has to give. The fix isn't more hours — it's a live governance system, so when an inspector walks in, everything is already there.
Does a Pharmacist Need to Be on Site? Remote Supervision, Honestly
Dispensing practices already run without a pharmacist present. Pharmacy's real advantage is 10-minute walk-in access — and it's worth far more attached to a clinician who can diagnose and manage than to a final check.
How to Protect Your Professional Registration When You Set Up a Clinic
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Four things keep your registration safe when you develop clinics: real competency, checked governance, documented reflection, and mentoring.
How to Set Up an Online Prescribing Service in the UK: Governance, SOPs and Safe Prescribing
Why the HSSIB is investigating online prescribing, why governance is where clinics fail, and how to set up safely — an independent governance committee, bespoke SOPs, audits, insurance, medical-records access, and why questionnaires alone don't work.
Community Pharmacy Independent Prescribing: Is It Worth It?
A frank look at the reality — Wales and Scotland already prescribe, England starts with about five conditions from August (not open prescribing), the risks, the liability that stays with you, and what it really means for your wage.
How to Set Up a Weight Loss Clinic in the UK: The Science, the Governance and the MHRA Rules
Understand the science first (GLP-1 and GIP, energy balance, muscle), then the governance — trained staff, policies you follow, independent BMI verification, GP continuity, insurance — and the MHRA rule that stops you advertising the jabs.
How to Market Your Pharmacy or Clinic in the UK: Authority, Not Just Advertising
The difference between advertising and marketing, becoming an authority in your niche, using AI to build content, free local webinars, and the MHRA rule that means you can't advertise prescription-only medicines.
Testosterone for Women Is Now Licensed: AndroFeme, SHBG and Low Libido
Testosterone for women no longer has to be unlicensed. AndroFeme 1%, the steroid pathway, and why oral estrogen quietly lowers free testosterone via SHBG.
How to Set Up an ADHD Clinic in the UK: Skills, Team, Governance and CQC
Two questions decide everything: who is the clinician, and who runs the business? The competency framework, £600 assessments, the governance clinicians will demand — and where CQC actually fits.
Should You Pay for a DPP? Who Should Really Foot the Bill
Should you pay for a Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP)? A proper DPP who assesses and mentors you should be paid — but the real question is who pays: you, or the state. Wales already reimburses ~£3–4k, and some English…
Should Pharmacies Dispense at a Loss? Legal vs Moral
Pharmacies legally cannot refuse to dispense NHS prescriptions — even at a loss. But legal and right are not the same thing. How the Drug Tariff and price concession lag create losses, why that's unjust for a public service, and…
Why I Don’t Read the Accounts When I Buy a Pharmacy (and What I Verify Instead)
Buying a pharmacy? Don't trust the bottom line. Why prepared accounts can be window-dressed, the difference between accrual and cash accounting, and the numbers you can actually verify — NHS schedules, VAT returns, PAYE, rent and…
Opening vs Buying a Pharmacy: Which Should You Do?
One route costs £800k+, the other a £750 application. The honest trade-offs on cost, time, risk and control — and when each one makes sense.
How Does a Pharmacy Make Money? The 4 Income Streams (and Why There Are More)
NHS dispensing, NHS services, over-the-counter retail and training — plus the private services most owners leave on the table.
Why You Can't Just Open a Pharmacy (Even If You Have the Money)
It's a controlled market for a reason. The pharmaceutical list, the 2013 Regs, the one word nobody warns you about — the PNA — and the four routes to a new NHS contract.
Critical Thinking in the Age of AI: Why Clinicians Still Need to Think
AI hands you information in seconds, but it can't hand you judgement. Why critical thinking, lifelong learning and clinical competence matter more now, not less.
5 Mistakes That Cost Pharmacy Owners Hundreds of Thousands
The avoidable errors that catch first-time buyers — overpaying, misreading NHS payments, TUPE staff liabilities, weak due diligence, and the 90-day cash-flow gap.
How Much Does a Pharmacy Owner Actually Make? The Honest Numbers
Turnover isn't profit, and profit isn't your take-home. What a 10,000-item pharmacy really turns over, the ~10–15% net margin, and what an owner actually pockets.
Should You Buy a Community Pharmacy in 2026? An Honest Look Before You Commit
The honest numbers before you sign anything — what it costs, the funding squeeze, the survival stats, and the three types of owner who actually make pharmacy pay.
Faheem Ahmed on GPhC Fitness to Practise: What Really Happens — and 5 Lessons I Learned
I went through fitness to practise myself. How the process actually works — the three stages — and five honest lessons, plus the governance that protects your registration.
Orforglipron Explained: the Oral GLP-1 Weight-Loss Pill With No Needle
Why a non-peptide small molecule can be a daily GLP-1 pill — no injection, no fasting window — built up from the chemistry.
How to Describe Any Condition Like a Consultant: a 10-Point Framework
A simple clinical reasoning framework — ten things to say about any condition — with a full UTI worked example.
How to Demonstrate Clinical Competence (Not Just Credentials)
Why a course, a title or years of experience don't make you competent — and the practical way clinicians prove and develop it.
How to Find a Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP) in 2026
Why finding a DPP is harder in 2026, who qualifies to be one, and a practical sequence to secure one.