Royal Pharmaceutical Society
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS’s) three National Pharmacy Boards held a joint meeting at the Society’s London office on 7 November 2024.
Matters for discussion included an update on research around P medicines sales, assessment and credentialing, an update on the RPS medicines shortage report and the Society’s business plan.
Sale of P medicines
Diane Ashiru-Oredope, deputy chief scientist at the RPS, presented an update on the Society’s research concerning the open (or facilitated) sale of P medicines, on behalf of the RPS science and research team. Ashiru-Oredope said there are two aspects to the work: a systematic review and a call for evidence. During the systematic review, the team looked at 57 relevant studies in total that covered risks and benefits. The risks highlighted included adverse events, self-diagnosis, lack of medical literacy, overuse of some medications and limited opportunities for intervention. Additionally, the benefits mentioned in the studies included convenience, reduced pressure on systems and improved self-care. Ashiru-Oredope noted that the next steps were to quality assess the data.
The call for evidence data is based on a survey from 12 July to 6 September 2024, with qualitative and quantitative data extracted and themed. Ashiru-Oredope highlighted one response from a pharmacist who audited the sale of P medicines in their pharmacy and found that, on average, one in 11 P medicine sales required intervention. However, Ashiru-Oredope said that the “low response rate” to the survey limits the generalisability of the conclusions.
Audrey Thompson, a member of the Scottish Pharmacy Board (SPB), said that the response from the pharmacist who had completed the audit was interesting, adding that “one in 11 seems reassuring in many ways” and asked about the possibility of commissioning some wider use of that audit tool. Ashiru-Oredope responded that it would be “useful to consider how it could be scaled up”.
Geraldine McCaffrey, chair of the Welsh Pharmacy Board (WPB), noted that the position of the regulator, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), has changed and that “our role now as the leadership organisation, not regulator, is to support the regulator in a way that supports patients: we need to review our position”.
Steve Churton, a member of the English Pharmacy Board at the time of the meeting, said that he would “question the need for further research”. He added: “What is happening is lawful and people will be doing it anyway; I think we should support members to deliver the service asked of them.”
McCaffrey summed up the discussion by noting that the boards would get the report from the RPS science and research team. In collaboration with the GPhC, the boards would also share evidence and “look at what else needs to be done to implement [this] in a way that is safe for patients and protects pharmacists”, said McCaffrey. He added that the matter would be brought back to the February 2025 board meeting.
Assessment and credentialing
In a brief discussion on RPS assessment and credentialing, Aled Roberts, member of the WPB, asked about plans to engage with community pharmacy to explore barriers around this. Joseph Oakley, associate director of assessment and credentialing at the RPS, said that in Scotland, the Society had seen the first community pharmacist credentialed. “We are balancing a lot of tensions in our definition of advanced practice,” Oakley said, adding that the “challenge to us and the profession is how to enable community pharmacists to practise at that level; not how we should change our standard so it is applicable to most pharmacists now”.
Medicines shortages
Alwyn Fortune, policy and engagement lead at RPS Wales, noted that the RPS ‘Medicines shortages policy: solutions for empty shelves’ report would provide an overview of the current causes of shortages and make recommendations for collaborative actions that could be taken by the organisations responsible for medicines supply in the UK. Launches would, he added, take place in Westminster, Holyrood and the Senedd.
James Davies, director for England at the RPS, said that the RPS would review the extent of progress in 12 months after the report’s launch.
Following the board meeting, the report was published on 26 November 2024.
Business plan
Elen Jones, director for Wales at the RPS, introduced a draft business plan for GB, proposing that the Society moves from a one-year to a two-year plan. The plan covered separate areas, including implementing country visions (with Jones noting that there was a lot of alignment between the three), strengthening pharmacy governance, governance review and internal changes, ongoing policy and “hot topics” — examples of the latter included women’s health and sale of P medicines. Jones noted that reducing health inequalities, which is part of all three visions, continues to be a high priority for all three national boards.
Under the area of ongoing policy would come matters including assisted dying, gender incongruence, differential attainment, which “continues to be a high priority”, and access to shared records. Workforce was placed under “hot topics”, with Jones asking: “How do we make sure the credentialing process is fit for all: community pharmacy is doing fabulous work, so how do we make sure that is well-reflected?”
Ciara Duffy, member of the EPB, said the workplan had a “packed schedule” and asked how it could be ensured that the Society responded to crucial things. Laura Wilson, director for Scotland at the RPS, said that “we meet as a policy and stakeholders group every Monday”, adding that “we try to have a very joined-up approach, but when reactive matters comes in, we have capacity to do that”.
Jones said that the Society would be looking to create groups for these new workplan/policy areas. Tase Oputu, chair of the EPB, asked for an outline of how expert advisory groups (EAGs) contribute to these matters — to which Wilson responded that “policy leaders facilitate the gathering of information” and that EAGs feed into that process. “The digital group, in particular, have been heavily called upon regarding AI,” Wilson added.
The boards expressed support for the draft two-year workplan.
- The next Wales Pharmacy Board meeting will be held on 20–21 February 2025
- The next English Pharmacy Board meeting will be held on 25–26 February 2025
- The next Scottish Pharmacy Board meeting will be held on 27–28 February 2025
