Last night the University College London School of Pharmacy, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the National Pharmacy Association hosted a lecture on the topic of “Community Pharmacy in the 21st century NHS”.
The lecture was delivered by Harry McQuillan, the chief executive of Community Pharmacy Scotland. McQuillan expressed optimism about the potential for clinical transformation in pharmacy and highlighted the role of technology-enabled community pharmacies in promoting wellness at home through personalised medications. McQuillan also emphasised that pharmacist prescribing would be crucial in ensuring that community pharmacy continues to play a vital role in healthcare delivery.
James Davies, RPS Director for England, said:
“It was a great honour to be a discussant at this prestigious event. Community pharmacy is undergoing a professional transformation. The profession is moving away from a focus on the supply of medications towards providing care through services.
“As described in the RPS Vision for England there is an opportunity for a strong future for community pharmacy, through application of pharmacists’ core skills of risk management, improving safety, driving local health promotion and increasingly through independent prescribing. To make this happen we will need to step out of existing pharmacy structures and work across the pharmacy professions. Something that has arguably been achieved faster in Scotland and Wales than in England. Today’s lecture provided a platform through which those future opportunities could be discussed and shared.”
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