Shutterstock.com
Swansea University Medical School is launching its first pharmacy degree programme in response to a broadening of pharmacy roles.
The new MPharm degree will take its first cohort of students in October 2020. Keith Lloyd, head of the school, said the new degree was developed in response to the regional, national and UK-wide needs of a “rapidly changing profession”.
“We are rightly seeing pharmacists playing wider roles within primary, community and secondary care,” he said.
“As we celebrate 70 years of the NHS, it is our belief that improved health outcomes can be achieved through even closer partnerships between pharmacists, doctors and other healthcare professionals.
“In reflection of this enhanced collaborative working, interprofessional education will be an important tenet that will be embedded in our MPharm curriculum.”
Andrew Morris has been officially appointed as the new head of pharmacy, and joins Swansea University from the University of Nottingham where he was dean of the faculty of science.
“There is increasing recognition of the benefits of extended clinical roles for pharmacists with significant developments and activity by NHS Wales to increase the number of clinical pharmacists working within general practices and primary care clusters, as well as community pharmacists to provide a greater range of clinically-focused services,” he said.
The university is recruiting for a programme director to support Morris in delivering the new degree.
