Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Pharmacists are being given the chance to develop leadership skills and shape national healthcare policy as part of the 2017 chief pharmaceutical officer’s clinical fellowship programme in England.
Nine fellowships are available to practising pharmacists who will be placed with a leading host NHS or healthcare organisation – including NHS England and the Care Quality Commission – for 12 months from September 2017.
The programme intends the fellows to spend time on key projects that inform NHS policy and practice around patient safety, medicines optimisation, transfer of patient care, digitalisation and pharmacy workforce training.
Chief pharmaceutical officer for England Keith Ridge said: “The focus on medicines and the pharmacy profession is increasing all the time, and in order to really make a difference to our patients and help them to get the best possible outcomes from their medicines, we need high-quality leadership.
“The opportunities for pharmacists to step up and grasp those opportunities have never been greater and this is why I have established [the scheme] to identify and develop the future leaders of our profession.”
Applications for the 2017 fellowship opened on 10 April.
The programme was first launched in 2015 with a single fellowship post. It has since expanded, and there are currently six pharmacy clinical fellows.
More details can be found on the website of the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management, which manages the programme.
