The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has today in partnership with The King’s Fund published ‘A vision for pharmacy professional practice’.
The ten-year vision outlines key ambitions for the future of pharmacy in England. It notes changing structures in the health and care system, changing pharmacy workforce and service models, as key drivers that support the creation of the new vision.
It’s supported by three themes, which include: integration of pharmacy teams across health and care systems; person-centred care and shared-decision making; and for pharmacy teams to enhance patient experience and access to care.
The vision calls for the complete integration of pharmacy professionals across health and care systems to enable a transformation in patient care, supported by a comprehensive pharmacy workforce strategy, improved use of data and research to drive better patient outcomes, and strong skilful leadership and collaboration to inform professional practice.
Chair for RPS in England Thorrun Govind said: “There are so many opportunities for pharmacy teams to provide better support to patients and the public to prevent ill health, improve health and reduce health inequalities. Implementation of the vision will unlock the potential of pharmacy across the hospital sector, general practice, community pharmacy, industry and academia.
“Integrated Care Systems will be crucial to making this happen, enabling the integration of pharmacy with the wider health and care system at a scale which could make a real difference for patients. We want this vision to help drive collaboration, delivering the changes that need to happen now and overcoming barriers to maximise the potential of pharmacy to improve patient care in the future.
“Realising pharmacy’s potential will depend on a whole-system approach to collaboration and I look forward to working with pharmacy colleagues, the NHS and stakeholders to create partnerships that can help make this vision a reality.”
To read the vision, please click here.
