Advancing cardiovascular care: how pharmacists are shaping patient outcomes across the UK

As a vibrant professional community, the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association (UKCPA) shares expertise, provides specialist education and training, sets practice standards, and advocates for the advancement of clinical pharmacy to improve patient care.  

We have been invited to Parliament and actively contribute at a national level through engagement in royal college meetings. Members of our team have served on National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) committees, supporting the development of clinical guidelines. We design and deliver educational webinars spanning from foundational to advanced levels, and present our work internationally. We play a vital role in fostering collaboration with primary care, aligning with the direction of travel in patient-centred healthcare delivery. 

Officially partnered with the Royal College of Pharmacy and working closely with other professional bodies, the UKCPA influences pharmacy practice nationally. One of the most impactful ways it does this is through its clinical specialist committees, which provide targeted education and opportunities to share best practice. A prime example is the Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Committee. 

CVD remains a leading cause of death in the UK, affecting more than 8 million people and accounting for one in four deaths^​1​. The NHS Ten Year Health Plan, published in 2025, has a strong CVD prevention and treatment focus^​2​.  

With new treatments and evolving pharmacy roles, clinical pharmacists have an unprecedented opportunity to contribute to medicines review, optimisation and secondary prevention, helping to reduce cardiovascular risk and improve patient outcomes.  

Traditionally, hospital pharmacists focused on medication supply, counselling and supporting inpatients with complex cardiac conditions, such as heart failure, arrhythmias, heart transplants and post-surgical recovery. However, pharmacy roles are expanding beyond inpatient care, incorporating prescribing in outpatient clinics, multidisciplinary team working, education, research and contributions to national guidelines. 

Innovative cardiovascular roles across the UK 

Members of the UKCPA CVD Committee exemplify how these evolving roles translate into real-world practice, spanning the education of undergraduate learners through to the delivery of advanced clinical practice in complex care settings. Some of these roles are described below. 

Ruth Price, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 
As an advanced clinical pharmacist in cardiology and cardiac surgery, Ruth provides expert cardiovascular medicines optimisation across inpatient, outpatient and primary care settings. She runs a specialist post-myocardial infarction (MI) clinic. Areas of work focus on primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, cardio-renal-metabolic care and heart failure. Ruth has led a heart failure project to train primary care clinicians, improving heart failure detection and treatment. Her work includes research, publications and presentations at national and European conferences, and she has contributed to NICE guideline updates on cardiovascular risk and hypertension. 

Anna Man, Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust 
Anna’s role as a consultant pharmacist in cardiology spans a range of projects, with a passion for cardiac rehabilitation. She has served as a specialist committee member on the NICE Medical Technologies Advisory Committee, evaluating digital platforms for rehabilitation. She works across interfaces in supporting the local integrated care board’s (ICB) secondary prevention targets, such as adherence, cholesterol management and up-titration of medications.  

Catherine Tucker, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust 
Catherine works in a hospital lipid clinic, assessing patients for familial hypercholesterolaemia and optimising cholesterol-lowering therapies. She runs a PCSK9 inhibitor initiation clinic, training patients in administration and providing ongoing support. Collaborating closely with primary care across north-east England and north Cumbria, she shares guidelines and resources to reduce cardiovascular risk. Catherine also contributes to regional and national education, and research initiatives, recently securing a research award through the National Institute for Health and Care Research Patient Safety Research Collaboration at Newcastle University. 

Abigail Barrowcliff, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 
As an advanced clinical pharmacist in cardiovascular services, Abi leads an innovative lipid optimisation service for high-risk patients, prescribing PCSK9 inhibitors via outpatient and homecare services. She provides twice-weekly clinical input to acute cardiology wards and supports colleagues across specialties through complex lipid-related queries. Her role blends clinical practice, research, service development and education, translating emerging evidence into practical improvements. 

Aanchal Bahl, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust 
Aanchal divides her week between leading a post-MI medicines optimisation pilot and providing specialist inpatient cardiology pharmacy services. Her one-stop clinic delivers intensive blood pressure and lipid management, smoking cessation support and advanced therapies, including injectable lipid-lowering agents. On the wards, she ensures safe, evidence-based medication use, contributing to governance, education and training to develop professional and service excellence. 

Harsha Parmar, University of Manchester 
Bridging education and practice, Harsha’s role focuses on preparing students for real-world clinical pharmacy. As senior lecturer, placement lead and associate dean for teaching excellence, Harsha works with colleagues, healthcare partners and students to design learning experiences that connect university education with frontline patient care. She supports students’ clinical learning, curriculum innovation, peer review of teaching and national discussions on pharmacy standards, helping graduates become confident, person-centred practitioners. 

Charlotte Hall, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston 
Charlotte’s role as specialist cardiac pharmacist combines clinical practice with education. She improves patient flow and prescribing at discharge to reduce errors, manages advanced therapies, such as mavacamten, through a hub-and-spoke model, and delivers clinical learning in practice (CLIP) placements for students from the University of Bath. CLIP placements allow students to develop consultation skills over time, embedding clinical knowledge and confidence in real-world practice. 

Why this matters 

These examples begin to illustrate some of the breadth and depth of modern cardiovascular pharmacy practice across the UK. Pharmacists are not only optimising medicines and improving patient safety, but also contributing to education, research, guideline development and innovative service delivery.  

UKCPA’s specialist committees, such as the CVD Committee, provide an essential platform for sharing expertise, supporting professional development and driving improvements in patient care. As cardiovascular treatments and healthcare needs evolve, pharmacy teams will continue to play a central role in reducing cardiovascular risk and enhancing patient outcomes nationwide. 

By highlighting these innovative roles, the UKCPA reinforces the message that clinical pharmacy is dynamic, influential and patient-focused — and that pharmacists’ expertise is integral to delivering high-quality, person-centred cardiovascular care.

This article is brought to you as part of a collaboration with the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association (UKCPA). 

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and are not attributed to any organisation. 

The UKCPA is a member association for clinical pharmacy practitioners that encourages, supports and promotes advanced practice in pharmacy. 

To discover expert-led training, resources for clinical pharmacy practice and access ongoing support from our community of practicing clinical experts visit the UKCPA website or contact via email.