National pharmacy board meetings: September 2024

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS’s) three national pharmacy boards held separate meetings during the week commencing 16 September 2024, to discuss recent and upcoming Society policies, workstreams and activities.

English Pharmacy Board: 17 September 2024

The English Pharmacy Board met via Zoom on 17 September 2024. Apologies were received from Brendon Jiang, treasurer of the RPS and vice chair of the board.

Public affairs

John Lunny, public affairs manager at the RPS, said that the Darzi review — the ‘Independent Investigation of the NHS in England‘, published on 12 September 2024 — showed a “real shift in language around the NHS being broken”.

Lunny noted that the review was positive on the potential for pharmacist prescribing and pointed out its concern around pharmacy closures. He also noted that there are new members of the All-Party Pharmacy Group (APPG) following the change in government, and noted that Sadik Al-Hassan, a community pharmacist, is now also a Labour MP. He highlighted details of a new ten-year plan to reform the NHS, expected in early 2025.

Open display of P medicines 

James Davies, director for England at the RPS, reminded members of discussions around facilitated self-selection of P medicines at the previous meetings, adding that the policy position of RPS had not changed at this moment. Referring to the call for evidence that followed the previous meeting, which closed on 6 September 2024, Davies said the Society was undertaking an “objective analysis of what people are sharing with us”, with the science and research team working through it and also carrying out a literature review on the subject. He said the evidence review and literature review would be ready for the November 2024 board meetings.

Scottish Pharmacy Board: 18 September 2024

The Scottish Pharmacy Board met at the Society’s Edinburgh office on 18 September 2024, with an option to join via Zoom. Apologies were received from board member Josh Miller.

Election of vice chair

Laura Wilson, director for Scotland at the RPS, asked the board to elect a vice chair, as Catriona Sinclair’s term had come to an end. Wilson noted that — despite this role being unofficial in Scotland and Wales — it is a very useful one that she was keen to fill.

Board members Jill Swann and Catriona Sinclair had been nominated, and both gave a short speech summarising what they would bring to the role. Swann said that she had already had the privilege to represent the RPS at other meetings and conferences, and that this was “a massively exciting time for pharmacy” with some challenges ahead. She said she would “make sure our voice is clear and it is heard”.

Sinclair said that she had a lot of experience chairing. “It’s a challenging role but what I brought in the past was support and devil’s advocacy: and I am direct, not frightened to say things to make the discussion broader.”

Following a vote, Swann was elected to the role and Sinclair was thanked for her nomination and previous work as vice chair.

Public affairs

Ross Barrow, head of external relations at the RPS in Scotland, noted that the next Scottish Parliament election is currently expected in May 2026. He also reiterated the importance of the Society, ensuring its voice is heard around the Scottish Budget on 4 December 2024 on medicines and care.

Regarding the election, Barrow noted that a Scottish manifesto would allow the Society to prioritise issues in Scotland and suggested trying to create a draft manifesto by the end of 2024.

Barrow highlighted relevant Scottish legislation for 2024/2025: Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults Bill, the Right to Palliative Care Bill, the National Care Service Bill and the Environmental Protection (single use vapes) Regulations, noting that the Society’s consultation response to the Palliative Care Bill says that pharmacy needs adequate resources to support families.

Open display of P medicines 

Wilson updated the board on activity around self-selection of P medicines, adding that current RPS policy said that they should not be on open display.

“We were clear we have to review when practice changes: we want things to be evidence based, that’s why we put out the call for evidence,” she said.

Welsh Pharmacy Board: 20 September 2024

The Welsh Pharmacy Board met at the Society’s Cardiff office on 20 September 2024, with an option to join via Microsoft Teams.

Open display of P medicines 

Elen Jones, director for Wales at the RPS, updated the board on current position and actions on P medicines, and added that data from the report being prepared by the Science and Research team would be used to inform the next steps on this.

Public affairs 

Iwan Hughes, public affairs and policy executive at RPS Wales, reminded the board the results of a Senedd perception audit was shared at the board’s previous meeting, the results of which showed an increased clarity on the role of RPS and higher engagement scores in a number of areas.

“All of us here have been active in Senedd” around areas of prescribing, sustainability, hospital pharmacy, community pharmacy and primary care settings, he said.

Hughes also pointed out that the Society developed a set of core key messages in 2023, developed to be reinforced at Senedd events, and that ministers had spoken back to the RPS on these themes over the past 12 months: for example, around pharmacist prescribing.

Looking ahead, Hughes said that the Society — which is seen as a trusted voice — would maintain this focus on building the reputation and understanding of pharmacy, and focus more on policy asks.

Hughes proposed the establishment of a short life working group (SLWG) to come up with “simple, clear, concise calls” ahead of the 2026 Senedd election, to which a large number of board members agreed to volunteer for. He said the SLWG could consider the problems facing pharmacy in Wales and find evidence to strengthen the case. “If we can cost what our calls would be that would really help,” Hughes said, giving examples of low-cost/high-return matters, such as deprescribing.

Updates given at all three meetings

Science and research

At each board meeting, Diane Ashiru-Oredope, deputy chief scientist at the RPS, presented an update on the Society’s science and research programme on behalf of herself and colleagues Parastou Donyai, chief scientist at the RPS, and Amira Guirguis, chair of the RPS science and research committee.

Ashiru-Oredope also told each board that the science and research team had recently created the ‘Call for evidence‘ document on the self-selection of P medicines, and has started working on a systematic review on the risks and benefits of P medicine self-selection in pharmacies.

The call for evidence closed on 6 September 2024 and a report on the evidence has already been submitted. The report and literature review are expected to be prepared by the time of the next board meetings in November 2024.

The team have proposed the creation of a new working group to focus on the online market for illicit and licit supplements and medicines, noting that the latest trend in this area is the sale of weight loss medicines.

Ashiru-Oredope raised some suggested policy areas that the boards may wish to consider: taking a strong stance on vaping by non-smokers, children and pregnant women; raising public awareness of the dangers of online purchases, and a position statement on medicines reuse.

At the Scottish Pharmacy Board (SPB) meeting, Paul Bennett added that it was for the three boards to consider the policy areas they felt appropriate to pursue, and the Science and Research team were there to support that.

Events

Hanna Jenvey, events and sponsorship manager at the RPS, updated each of the three board meetings on RPS constitution and governance roadshows, as well as the current plans for the RPS Annual Conference 2024.

Jenny said the RPS had held 89 member-facing events so far in 2024, hosting just under 9,000 delegates in total. She also highlighted that there were currently 44 events open for booking on the RPS website.

The Society has 14 in-person constitution and governance roadshows open for booking on the RPS website, as well as two Zoom events: one for voting members and one for students. Jenvey explained that each event would last for 2.5 hours, with one hour and 10 minutes for content and one hour and 20 mins for networking and catering.

Jenny said that bookings for the RPS Annual Conference 2024, which will take place on 8 November 2024, were “progressing well”, with 204 research posters set to be displayed — the “largest number yet”.

She explained that the conference would feature four content streams, with all delegates starting and ending the day together. This year’s conference will feature more varied content delivery styles, such as roundtable discussions, debates and informal opportunities to meet with Paul Bennett, chief executive of the RPS, and Claire Anderson, president of the RPS. 

• The next national pharmacy board meetings will be held on 7 November 2024