Aug172017

Press release: Dovonex Psoriasis Ointment to be available to buy from pharmacies

HM Government

Today the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced the approval of Dovonex Psoriasis 50microgram/g Ointment which will be available through pharmacies without prescription.

Over a million people are estimated to be affected by psoriasis in the UK. The availability of this medicine from pharmacies will increase the choice patients have of where to obtain treatment when their condition recurs.

‘Dovonex Psoriasis Ointment’ contains calcipotriol, a vitamin D analogue and the medication will be supplied as ointment in a 60gtube.

It will be sold after a consultation with a pharmacist and is suitable for adults aged over 18, with mild to moderate plaque psoriasis which has been previously diagnosed by a doctor.

This treatment can be used for up to 12 weeks after which people will be advised to see their doctor about ongoing treatment.

Pharmacists and their staff will be able to provide suitable advice to the patient to ensure that the product is suitable for them. The outer packaging and the patient information leaflet also include an image of plaque psoriasis which will help both pharmacists and patients in this respect.

MHRA is committed to widening access to medicines for the benefit of public health when it is safe to do so. The product was reclassified following a public consultation held earlier this year.

Dr Sarah Branch MHRA’s Deputy Director of VRMM said:

Psoriasis is a chronic disease which can have a major impact on people’s quality of life. By making this medicine more widely available, patients will be able to treat flare ups quickly without the need for a prescription.

Ash Soni, the RPS President said:

Widening access to medicine is great news for patients. Pharmacists are experts in medicines and are well trained to ensure safe supply of medicines to the public. Pharmacists are already able to sell products for the treatment of psoriasis with appropriate advice on management, application and side effects. We welcome the addition of Dovonex Psoriasis Ointment to the range of products available.

Pharmacists are more easily accessible than doctors and trained to give advice on medicine use, make sure the chosen medicine is appropriate and check if a person needs to see another health professional. This is an important patient benefit and we would like to see more medicine available through pharmacy in future.

Background

  1. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe.
  2. All our work is underpinned by robust and fact-based judgements to ensure that the benefits justify any risks. MHRA is a centre of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency which also includes the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) and the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is an executive agency of the Department of Health.
  3. Dovonex Psoriasis 50 microgram/g Ointment is a medicine to be applied to the skin to treat mild to moderate plaque psoriasis which has been previously diagnosed by a doctor, for adults aged 18 years and over, for use for a period of not more than 12 weeks. The active ingredient in Dovonex Psoriasis (calcipotriol) is one of a group of medicines called vitamin D analogues. When calcipotriol is applied to skin affected by plaque psoriasis, it can help to reduce the number of cells made by the skin, thereby reducing the silver scaly patches and redness associated with psoriasis.
  4. According to the British Skin Foundation and the Psoriasis Association, 2% of the UK population are affected by psoriasis.
  5. Following assessment of the available evidence on the benefits and harms of the proposed product The Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) advised in favour of Pharmacy availability for this product. A public consultation on the proposal followed. The CHM is an advisory non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department of Health that advises ministers on the safety, efficacy and quality of medicinal products.
  6. Dovonex Psoriasis 50 microgram/g Ointment has been reclassified from a prescription only medicine to one available in pharmacies. Pharmacists are experts in medicine, and have the necessary skills and training to ensure the safe and efficient supply of pharmacy medicines. The link to the public consultation is here.
  7. MHRA involved the public and healthcare professionals throughout the decision-making process. We carefully analysed their contribution in the public consultation phases before deciding how to proceed. The responses to the consultation were predominantly positive. Full set of consultation responses can be seen here.

Aug172017

News story: MHRA successfully reclassifies Dovonex Psoriasis Ointment

HM Government

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have today announced the approval of Dovonex Psoriasis 50microgram/g Ointment, which will be available through pharmacies without prescription .

Following a successful public consultation, Dovonex Psoriasis Ointment tablets will be available through pharmacies without a prescription.

The Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) advised in favour of the product being available in pharmacies for the treatment of mild to moderate plaque psoriasis which has been previously diagnosed by a doctor in adults aged 18 years and over. The treatment is for application once daily, with maximum duration of use of 12 weeks and maximum pack size of 60g of ointment.

Pharmacists are trained healthcare professionals and will have access to training materials to enable them to identify patients that can be supplied this medicine with reasonable safety.

MHRA always want to encourage people to be involved in their healthcare and are in the process of holding public consultations for conditions that are suitable for self-care. Further information on reclassification can be found here.

Aug172017

Angela Rayner responds to Ofsted’s report on Learndirect

Labour

Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Shadow Education
Secretary,
responding to Ofsted’s report on Learndirect, said:

“We hope the Government has
listened to our call to step in and protect trainees and apprentices in the
short term, but in the long term it still leaves serious questions about the provision
of training, as well as how we got into this position in the first place.

“This is why Ministers should take
direct control now, to make sure the service is protected and restored to its
previous high standards.

“Today’s Ofsted report is just the
latest evidence of the damage done by Government
cuts, privatisation and falling investment.
It’s time for a different approach, which is why Labour would invest in
genuinely high-quality technical and adult education, with free lifelong
learning for all, so that people can re-skill and re-train throughout their
lives.”

Aug172017

Trend of converging working time across 28 EU Member States has stalled

EU

(Dublin, Ireland): The difference in working time between workers in the 28 EU Member States remains large and is especially marked between the ‘older’ 15 EU Member States and the 13 new Member States that joined the EU since 2004, according to new research from Eurofound. This is particularly apparent when comparing annual leave entitlements for workers: a gap of 2.5 working weeks is evident between the most generous and the least generous. The trend of converging working time between the 28 EU Member States has clearly stalled.

The latest annual report, Developments in working time 2015–2016, shows significant disparities in the average amount of collectively agreed annual leave days between workers in the EU Member States. With the addition of public holidays, ‘high-leave’ countries include Croatia with 41 leave days, Denmark with 39 days and Germany with 37. These should be compared with the figures for ‘low-leave countries’, such as Ireland, Hungary and Estonia, all which come in at just 28 days annual leave. The average figure for the EU28 was 33.8 days – 34.7 days in the EU15 and 31.3 days in the Member States that have joined the EU since 2004 (the NMS13).

Collective bargaining plays an important role in determining the duration of working time in many of the EU28 countries; it plays a lesser or sometimes negligible role in some of the NMS13. The nature and extent of this role also differs widely across countries, with bargaining at different levels (intersectoral, sectoral and company level) being more or less important.

The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK were the only countries registering changes to collectively agreed weekly hours between 2015 and 2016. Over the same period, the EU15 average was reduced from 37.6 hours to 37.5; consequently, this resulted in a reduction for the EU28 from 38.1 to 38 hours. At 35.6 hours, France remains the country with the shortest average collectively agreed working week in the EU. In some Member States – Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovenia – working time is not generally defined through collective bargaining.

The ‘actual hours worked’ are the hours that individuals spend in work activities, including production activities, ancillary activities, short breaks, and education and training necessary for successfully carrying out the job tasks. In the EU, full-time employees in the UK report the longest usual weekly working hours in their main jobs in 2016 – 42.3 hours, 0.1 hours less than in 2014 and 2015. They are followed by employees in Cyprus (41.7 hours), Austria (41.4 hours), Greece (41.2 hours), Poland and Portugal (41.1 hours). Employees in Denmark report the shortest weekly hours (37.8 hours). This is 4.5 hours less per week than their counterparts in the UK – the equivalent of more than five working weeks per year.

The report also looks at working time across selected sectors, including chemicals, metalworking, banking, retail, and public administration. It finds that across all selected sectors, the NMS13 countries work significantly more hours compared to EU15.

The report aims to provide a definitive sense of which EU workers work the most hours. It complements Eurofound’s database of wages, working time and collective disputes, which since 2000 has provided information about the systems in place that define working time as well as some of the main outcomes of these systems. In addition, the report updates and complements the report Working time developments in the 21st century, which covers data on a range of aspects of working time, including collectively agreed working hours between 2000 and 2014.

Publication: Developments in working time 2015–2016 

Database of wages, working time and collective disputes

Aug172017

Trend of converging working time across 28 EU Member States has stalled

EU

(Dublin, Ireland): The difference in working time between workers in the 28 EU Member States remains large and is especially marked between the ‘older’ 15 EU Member States and the 13 new Member States that joined the EU since 2004, according to new research from Eurofound. This is particularly apparent when comparing annual leave entitlements for workers: a gap of 2.5 working weeks is evident between the most generous and the least generous. The trend of converging working time between the 28 EU Member States has clearly stalled.

The latest annual report, Developments in working time 2015–2016, shows significant disparities in the average amount of collectively agreed annual leave days between workers in the EU Member States. With the addition of public holidays, ‘high-leave’ countries include Croatia with 41 leave days, Denmark with 39 days and Germany with 37. These should be compared with the figures for ‘low-leave countries’, such as Ireland, Hungary and Estonia, all which come in at just 28 days annual leave. The average figure for the EU28 was 33.8 days – 34.7 days in the EU15 and 31.3 days in the Member States that have joined the EU since 2004 (the NMS13).

Collective bargaining plays an important role in determining the duration of working time in many of the EU28 countries; it plays a lesser or sometimes negligible role in some of the NMS13. The nature and extent of this role also differs widely across countries, with bargaining at different levels (intersectoral, sectoral and company level) being more or less important.

The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Sweden and the UK were the only countries registering changes to collectively agreed weekly hours between 2015 and 2016. Over the same period, the EU15 average was reduced from 37.6 hours to 37.5; consequently, this resulted in a reduction for the EU28 from 38.1 to 38 hours. At 35.6 hours, France remains the country with the shortest average collectively agreed working week in the EU. In some Member States – Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovenia – working time is not generally defined through collective bargaining.

The ‘actual hours worked’ are the hours that individuals spend in work activities, including production activities, ancillary activities, short breaks, and education and training necessary for successfully carrying out the job tasks. In the EU, full-time employees in the UK report the longest usual weekly working hours in their main jobs in 2016 – 42.3 hours, 0.1 hours less than in 2014 and 2015. They are followed by employees in Cyprus (41.7 hours), Austria (41.4 hours), Greece (41.2 hours), Poland and Portugal (41.1 hours). Employees in Denmark report the shortest weekly hours (37.8 hours). This is 4.5 hours less per week than their counterparts in the UK – the equivalent of more than five working weeks per year.

The report also looks at working time across selected sectors, including chemicals, metalworking, banking, retail, and public administration. It finds that across all selected sectors, the NMS13 countries work significantly more hours compared to EU15.

The report aims to provide a definitive sense of which EU workers work the most hours. It complements Eurofound’s database of wages, working time and collective disputes, which since 2000 has provided information about the systems in place that define working time as well as some of the main outcomes of these systems. In addition, the report updates and complements the report Working time developments in the 21st century, which covers data on a range of aspects of working time, including collectively agreed working hours between 2000 and 2014.

Publication: Developments in working time 2015–2016 

Database of wages, working time and collective disputes