Maxine McCabe
The first community pharmacist in the UK has been credentialed as a core advanced pharmacist by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).
Maxine McCabe has worked in the community pharmacy sector, since qualifying as a pharmacist in 2008, and managed several community pharmacies in the Glasgow area. Since 2023, she has taken on a part-time role as a senior educator in the prescribing and clinical skills teams at NHS Education for Scotland (NES), while continuing in clinical practice and her role as a ‘teach and treat’ training hub lead at Burnside Pharmacy in Lanarkshire.
As part of the pathway to recognise advanced practice, McCabe demonstrated working across all four pillars of advanced practice: clinical practice; leadership and management; educating others; and research.
She told The Pharmaceutical Journal: “Working at advanced practice level in my role has many benefits for the local patient population as it has allowed me to expand my scope of practice, and it also allows for me to really assure patients of the level that I’m working at. That’s really important in terms of patient safety and the advancing clinical roles pharmacists are undertaking across pharmacy.
“I would absolutely encourage other community pharmacists to pursue this. It’s challenging but very rewarding. In order to achieve advanced credentialing, you definitely need a good support network around you — mentors across all four pillars of working.”
“It’s definitely been a learning journey for me working with more experienced colleagues who’ve been able to observe my practice and give me opportunities to reflect … and any adjustments or improvements based on those observations is something that’s really beneficial and useful,” McCabe added.
Launched by the RPS, Health Education England and the Centre for Postgraduate Pharmacy Education in March 2023, the pathway is aimed at providing a post-registration career structure to ensure pharmacists can take on more advanced roles in patient care. The first seven pharmacists were credentialed by the RPS in 2023.
Joseph Oakley, associate director of assessment and credentialing at the RPS, said: “We’re thrilled that Maxine has achieved the RPS core advanced pharmacist credential, marking a significant step in her career and an exciting opportunity within the profession. This is testament to her hard work, commitment and drive to show how this can be achieved in a community pharmacy setting, highlighting the expertise of community pharmacists and the RPS’ role in advancing pharmacy practice across the UK.
“Community pharmacists achieving advanced credentialing shows their increasing role in delivering more complex care to patients in their communities as well as their essential role within multidisciplinary healthcare teams as pharmacy leaders, educators and researchers.”
Andrew Sturrock, director of pharmacy at NES, added: “I am delighted to see that Maxine’s commitment to her patients and the profession have been recognised. Maxine role models how community pharmacists can work at an advanced level across all four pillars of practice and credentialing is a significant achievement for Maxine personally and for community pharmacy in Scotland.”
