As the value of this shift is realised it has the potential to create the pace and momentum for change. The shift towards pharmacy teams delivering personalised care is becoming more visible to the healthcare system. More pharmacy professionals are being integrated into multidisciplinary teams and local systems across primary care, in general practice and in community and hospital pharmacy. In parallel, pharmacy technician roles have become registered, and expanded to include a breadth of technical and clinical practice. Over the last two decades, the expertise of pharmacists has increasingly been used to deliver better use of medicines, support for public health and more clinically focused care to people. We are grateful to everyone who has contributed their time and expertise to help shape this vision and want to work across pharmacy and with other professions and the wider health and social care system to make it a reality.

The vison for pharmacy professional practice also includes both goals and measures to help bring about the change that is needed. This vision includes best practice examples of where pharmacy teams are already innovating in the best interests of patients. Pharmacy teams are already more integrated within multidisciplinary teams across all sectors, now is the time to step up the pace and scale of this integration, to ensure that all members of the pharmacy team are using their skills and knowledge to the maximum for the benefit of people across the breadth of England.Īs pharmacy professional practice evolves, there are not only exciting new roles for the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians of tomorrow, but opportunities to be embraced today. We think that pharmacy teams can increasingly play a key role. The healthcare service needs to re-build for now and for the future, addressing the health inequalities exposed by the pandemic, and the capacity and demand challenges that the NHS faces. All health and social care professionals, including pharmacy teams, had to adapt to the demands placed upon them and strive to find new ways of working to benefit patients and the public. This vision document is published at a time of significant workforce pressures and increased demands on health and social care services following the COVID-19 pandemic, but also with a real sense of excitement about what the future of pharmacy professional practice could mean for enhanced patient care.

By Thorrun Govind, Chair of the RPS English Pharmacy Board

The Way of Kings by Louise Searl