The Aural Apothecary

The Aural Apothecary

The Aural Apothecary Podcast. An authentic yet lighthearted take on the world of medicines and healthcare in the UK from Jamie, Gimmo and Steve the Chemist.

Episodes

7.8 Dr Margaret McCartney - Conflicts of Interest and the Skinny Jabs

April 4, 2025 • 56 mins
This episode we are joined by Dr Margaret McCartney a practising General Practitioner and a Senior Clinical Lecturer in General Practice at the University of St Andrews. Margaret is a vocal advocate for Evidence Based Medicine and regular journal / newspaper columnist and contributor to the BBC Radio 4 programme Inside Health.

Does accepting money for a view affect a healthcare professional’s ability to make unbiased decisions in t...
Mark as Played

7.7 Diving into the Deep End - The Aural Apothecary Analyses: The Inverse Care Law.

February 28, 2025 • 69 mins
In this special episode we ‘Dive in at the Deep End’ and examine in-depth the Inverse Care Law. What is it, why does it matter to medicines optimisation - and what can we do about it?

The Inverse Care Law is a term first defined by the Welsh GP Dr Julian Tudor Hart over 50 years to describe how, perversely, people who most need health care are the least likely to get it. A law that sadly is as true now as it was then. Will we final...
Mark as Played

7.6 Professor Lauren Walker - The trials and tribulations of a Clinical Pharmacologist

January 31, 2025 • 60 mins
What is a Clinical Pharmacologist? Who better to tell us than Professor Lauren Walker, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics and Honorary Consultant in General Internal Medicine at Liverpool University. 

Lauren is a leading researcher in multimorbidity and AI-driven healthcare and plays a key role in early-phase clinical trials. We chat about her role in ‘First in Human’ trials - what are they, what are the risks and...
Mark as Played

7.5 - Deprescribing from Down Under - Dr Emily Reeve

January 10, 2025 • 58 mins
What is Deprescribing? Why is it so important? And the big question... who invented it?! We present a masterclass in deprescribing from pharmacist Dr Emily Reeve from Monash University in Australia who is also Chair of the Australian Deprescribing Network.

The need to review, reduce or stop medicines has been a regular topic of conversation here on the Aural Apothecary. But how do we do it? Deprescribing should be an integral compon...
Mark as Played

The Aural Apothecary Almanac 2024. Weight loss drugs, Assisted dying and the Weight of the British National Formulary

December 20, 2024 • 67 mins
Pull up a chair and join the Three Apothecaries around the fire as we wrap up the year with a lively chat featuring friends and colleagues Clare Howard and Jonathan Underhill. Together, we reflect on an exciting and dramatic year in the ever-changing world of healthcare and medicines.

From groundbreaking developments like weight-loss drugs and debates around assisted dying to critical issues such as polypharmacy and exploring new ca...
Mark as Played

7.4 The Aural Apothecary Analyses! When Guidelines Go Wrong - A Medicines Safety Special with Dr Matthew Jones and Angela Carrington 

December 6, 2024 • 58 mins
Welcome to the second in our series of ‘The Aural Apothecary Analyses’, where we will be delving a bit deeper into some of the recurring themes from our first series. This week we are joined by Dr Matthew Jones and Angela Carrinton to discuss medicines safety and how we can help clinicians & patients make better decisions. 

Healthcare professionals rely on guidelines to help them make the right choices. But do they work? Is the ...
Mark as Played

7.3 John Seddon - Saving the NHS through system change

November 15, 2024 • 64 mins
Freedom from Command and Control was the very first book choice on the Aural Apothecary and its themes of failure demand, systems thinking and value have featured heavily on the show ever since. It is a real pleasure therefore this week to welcome its author, John Seddon. 

John Seddon is an occupational psychologist and author, specialising in the service industry. He is the managing director of Vanguard the inventor of 'The Vangua...
Mark as Played

7.2 - Back to the Future! Dr Berwyn Owen and The Evolution of Community Pharmacy.

October 24, 2024 • 57 mins
This week, when we return to our normal format we are joined by Community Pharmacist Dr Berwyn Owen. Berwyn is a pharmacy proprietor and prescriber in North Wales. Formerly a Chief Pharmacist and a member of the General Pharmaceutical Council he is well placed to discuss what the future of medicines management looks like through the lens of community pharmacy. 

Drawing on his wide ranging experience which includes stints in pharmac...
Mark as Played

7.1 The Aural Apothecary Analyses! Statins and Shared Decision Making, with Brian Finney and Dr Sam Finnikin

October 4, 2024 • 50 mins
Welcome back to The Aural Apothecary! For our first episode we bring you an exciting new format, where we’ll be diving deeper into some of the recurring themes from our first six series. The Aural Apothecary Analyses!

In this episode, we focus on statins and the importance of shared decision making in healthcare. Inspired by a recent paper in the BMJ by Sam and Brian et al, we explore their argument that guidelines should move away ...
Mark as Played

6.10 Tommy Whitelaw - Intelligent Kindness & Gentle Honesty - listening is the best medicine

June 28, 2024 • 51 mins
Join us for the last episode of series six and a joyful exploration of the importance and reality of person centred care. 

For five years Tommy Whitelaw was a full-time carer for his late mother Joan who had Vascular Dementia. In 2011 he undertook a walk around Scotland’s towns and cities to collect hundreds of life stories and letters detailing the experiences of individuals who care for a loved one living with dementia. It was a j...
Mark as Played

6.9 Ann-Marie Goacher. The Eyes: A Window to Our Health

June 7, 2024 • 53 mins
Pain in the eye? It is a red-flag all healthcare professionals are trained to be aware of. But when spotted, who deals with it? We are joined by Specialist Head and Neck Pharmacist Ann Marie Goacher. Ann Marie describes her journey from a local community pharmacist in Ireland to being the lead pharmacist for the head and neck directorate at University Hospitals Sussex. What does an ophthalmic and specialist uveitis pharmacist do?

We...
Mark as Played

6.8 Maricarmen Climént - Risky Business - How to communicate uncertainty

May 24, 2024 • 56 mins
Do Doctors know best? How do you explain the risks and benefits of a medicine when you yourself don’t really know? We chat to Maricarmen Climént, Research and Editorial Officer at Sense about Science about risk communication and how we best help patients to make better choices in the face of uncertainty?

Maricarmen has a diverse background in science journalism and risk communication and holds a degree in Veterinary Medicine and an ...
Mark as Played

6.7 Dr Esther Clift DClinP - Joining the Dots; Frailty & Physiotherapy

May 3, 2024 • 50 mins
We chat to Physiotherapist and Consultant Practitioner, Esther Clift about her pioneering role in the management of frailty. A varied career, where a passion for working with older people was ignited in Southampton, where she undertook an MSc in Gerontology. She currently leads an Acute Frailty Service on the Isle of Wight. 

What is frailty and how can the multi-disciplinary team support it? We chat to Esther about helping older peo...
Mark as Played

6.6 Dr Catherine Labinjoh - Realistic Medicine & The Drug Portal to The World…

April 12, 2024 • 57 mins
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 aims of Realistic Medicine is for people using healthcare se...
Mark as Played

6.5 Alison Tennant - Won’t someone think of the children?

March 22, 2024 • 51 mins
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 fascinating episode where we delve into the art and practice of...
Mark as Played

6.4 Professor Tony Avery OBE - The Problem with Prescribing?

March 8, 2024 • 49 mins
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 primary health care at the University of Nottingham an...
Mark as Played

6.3  - Sally Kneath, Let's talk about Sex - Living with HIV

February 23, 2024 • 48 mins
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 alongside any other chronic condition.

Sally has also been instru...
Mark as Played

6.2 Professor Bapu Jena - Freakonomics MD - Improving healthcare through natural experimentation

February 9, 2024 • 45 mins
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 health outcomes?

Bapu is Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard M...
Mark as Played

6.1 Rory Cellan-Jones - Life as a Mover and Shaker - living with Parkinson's disease

January 26, 2024 • 53 mins
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 of Parkinson's disease. We discuss the role medicines no...
Mark as Played

The Aural Apothecary Almanac 2023 - Artificial Intelligence, the Year of Community Pharmacy and the impact of loss

December 8, 2023 • 64 mins
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 Quality of Life? And what is it that Gimmo and Steve are dr...
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    Boysober

    Boysober

    Have you ever wondered what life might be like if you stopped worrying about being wanted, and focused on understanding what you actually want? That was the question Hope Woodard asked herself after a string of situationships inspired her to take a break from sex and dating. She went "boysober," a personal concept that sparked a global movement among women looking to prioritize themselves over men. Now, Hope is looking to expand the ways we explore our relationship to relationships. Taking a bold, unfiltered look into modern love, romance, and self-discovery, Boysober will dive into messy stories about dating, sex, love, friendship, and breaking generational patterns—all with humor, vulnerability, and a fresh perspective.

    On Purpose with Jay Shetty

    On Purpose with Jay Shetty

    I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

    Dateline NBC

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    Post Run High

    Post Run High

    The perfect companion to Kate Mackz's popular online series The Running Interview Show, Post Run High captures the feel-good energy and real, unfiltered conversations that flow after a great run. Each episode dives into stories, insights, and candid moments with inspiring guests—from entrepreneurs to well-known public figures. Tune in for conversations that get real when the endorphins kick in.

    The Breakfast Club

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

Explore

iHeart

Live Radio

Podcasts

Artist Radio

Exclusives

News

Features

Events

Contests

Photos

Information

About

Advertise

Blog

Brand Guidelines

Contest Guidelines

Subscription Offers

Jobs

Get the App

Automotive

Home

Mobile

Wearables

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.