PM HEALTHCARE JOURNAL – SUMMER 2026 ISSUE  – SPOTLIGHT ON ARTICLES

In PM Healthcare Journal’s summer 2026 issue:

ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT

Title: The barriers to pharmacy being more involved in mental health care within an Integrated Care System: cross-sectional survey study

Authors: Anthony Young, Martina Khundakar and Laura Lindsey

Extract:
Parity of esteem, ensuring equal care for mental health patients as for those without mental health conditions, is crucial to reducing the mortality gap. Improved treatment concordance and early physical health interventions can alleviate system pressure, though targeted interventions may increase admissions. The pharmacy sector plays a key role, but challenges remain multifactorial.

This research aims to identify barriers within the ICS pharmacy workforce that limit its contribution to achieving parity of esteem to people with mental health conditions, and to explore how these barriers might be addressed.

ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT

Title: Feasibility and acceptability of including depression in the community pharmacy NHS new Medicine Service: a pilot study

Authors: Rebecca Gossage-Worrall, Cassie Conway, Hammaad Patel, Jonnie Dance and Ghulam Haydar

Extract:
This evaluation examined the feasibility and acceptability of delivering antidepressant medication support through community pharmacy in England as part of the NHS New Medicine Service (NMS).

ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT

Title: Beyond Training: Understanding the Hidden Barriers to Inclusion in Pharmacy Foundation Programmes

Authors: Farzana Mohammed and Nick Haddington

Extract:
Findings from an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Health Education England fellowship project exploring lived experiences of pharmacy foundation trainees across the Southwest, Thames Valley and Wessex regions demonstrate that discrimination remains a significant and persistent issue. This article presents qualitative and quantitative findings that provide a window into the experiences of trainees.

ARTICLE SPOTLIGHT

Title: Building Trauma-Informed Teams: From Policy to Practice in Pharmacy Settings

Author: Rachael Lemon

Extract:
In 2020, NHS England mandated that all trusts implement domestic abuse workplace policies. Six years later, ask most pharmacy professionals if their workplace has a domestic abuse policy. They’ll say either “I don’t know” or “Probably, but I’ve never seen it.”

Ask HR where it lives. They’ll send you a 47-page document buried in the intranet under “Staff Wellbeing Policies (Archived).”

This is the pattern with trauma-informed policies: Policy created (often excellent, comprehensive, evidence-based). Policy uploaded to intranet. Nobody trained on implementation. Staff don’t know it exists. Management references it when questioned but doesn’t enforce it. Nothing changes.

The policy exists. The practice doesn’t.

Read the summer 2026 Journal here

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