Dave Phillips
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has begun a public consultation on producing professional standards for community pharmacy services, a new set of standards intended to define best practice across the sector. The first of a series of public consultation events takes place in London on 16 January 2019, with further events in Glasgow and Cardiff scheduled for 22 January 2019 and 7 February 2019. A written consultation will take place in the autumn of 2019.
As revealed by The Pharmaceutical Journal
at the 2018 International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) conference, held in Glasgow on 2–6 September 2018, the RPS will spend up to 18 months consulting with community pharmacists, pharmacy teams, patients and the public to develop standards that are accredited by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Speaking at the conference, Paul Bennett, chief executive of the RPS, said the standards would “challenge the profession to aspire to the next level of practice”.
In a statement published on 16 January 2018, the RPS said the standards would also help to evaluate services and highlight gaps in provision.
“Delivery of quality services is the bedrock of being a pharmacy professional,” said Robbie Turner, director of pharmacy and member experience at the RPS. “This is a genuinely exciting project which [will] help drive quality and enable teams to know what they are aiming for, and that they are doing the right thing. We all need to know what good looks like so we can aim high.”
Turner said that having a set of professional standards for community pharmacy services would “help with the development of new opportunities for pharmacists”.
“I’m ambitious for the profession and want to see it shine,” he added.
Bookings for the London public consulation have now closed. Places at the Glasgow and Cardiff events can be reserved through the RPS website.
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