RPS approves five consultant pharmacist posts since taking over approvals process in January 2020

In October 2020, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society will launch a credentialing service for individual consultant pharmacists, which will include a supporting consultant pharmacist curriculum. 

Royal Pharmaceutical Society building in London

Five new consultant pharmacist posts have been approved by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) since the Society took over the approvals process in England and Wales in January 2020.

The posts have been approved in the fields of primary care and medicines optimisation; older people; cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular clinical research; paediatrics; and haematology.

Including the five approved consultant pharmacist posts, twelve applications for new posts have been received to date, with the remaining seven still in the review process.

In October 2020, the RPS will launch a credentialing service for individual consultant pharmacists, which will include a supporting consultant pharmacist curriculum. The RPS said this will help consultant pharmacists to demonstrate that they have the knowledge, skills and behaviours to work at consultant level.

Approval of consultant pharmacist posts had previously been managed through a regional process. Now, employers and organisations wishing to create a new consultant pharmacist post must submit applications through the Society’s website.

Inderjit Singh, chief pharmacist at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, successfully applied for approval of a consultant pharmacist post in haematology. Singh said it was “encouraging that there is now a national process, rather than regional panels which risked variation occurring”.

Singh said the approval process was “robust, with the appropriate level of challenge to ensure that the proposed role meets all of the required criteria for a consultant post”.

Joseph Oakley, RPS head of assessment and credentialing, said consultant pharmacist posts are “integral to supporting the transformation of services, with consultant pharmacists acting as the leaders of a growing and more clinically focused pharmacy workforce”.

He added that these roles are “designed to break down traditional organisational and professional barriers, providing medicines-focused leadership and influencing the development and delivery of pharmaceutical care across healthcare systems”.

“I am delighted that the RPS is able to play such a pivotal role in developing the consultant pharmacist workforce, to enable pharmacy to be at the forefront of healthcare,” he said.

Last updated
Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, RPS approves five consultant pharmacist posts since taking over approvals process in January 2020;Online:DOI:10.1211/PJ.2020.20208282

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