47%

Pharmacy is slowly consolidating, with 10 major multiples controlling 47 per cent of the pharmacy market, but with over 4,000 independent pharmacy owners. How the industry develops over the next few years may well shape it for decades to come, said a report from business analysts LaingBuisson.

92,000

According to research from the London School of Economics, an estimated 92,000 people in England who would benefit from palliative care are not receiving it. The study also suggested that 6,200 people in Wales, 3,000 in Northern Ireland and 11,000 people in Scotland are also missing out on end-of-life care.

40 years

The Day Lewis Group’s latest acquisition has taken the group’s number of pharmacies past 250, as the company celebrates its 40th anniversary. This brings the group closer to its aim of owning 400 branches by 2020, according to Day Lewis’s chief executive officer, Kirit Patel.

2015/16

For the first time, access and waiting time standards for mental health services will be introduced for the NHS for 2015/16. In the new targets, it is expected that by April 2016, 50 per cent of people experiencing a first episode of psychosis will receive treatment within two weeks.