Royal Pharmaceutical Society Research Articles

Non-medical prescribing in nursing: the history and evolution of independent and supplementary prescribing.

Non-medical prescribing has been shown to be beneficial to both service users and practitioners spanning all care sectors. Nurse prescribing has developed significantly in its short existence, and is set to continue to push the boundaries of practice as the role and education of nurses changes and adapts to current population healthcare needs. This article details the origins and evolution of non-medical prescribing, the variety of annotations found on the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) register involved and how these affect nursing practice, as well as the expansion of roles. It also discusses supervision and assessment requirements in line with the NMC standards for prescribing programmes, and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society competence framework.

Spreading the word about the value of pharmacists

Thorrun Govind is a community pharmacist, lawyer and former Chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) English Pharmacy Board with extensive media experience in radio, television and social media. Here, she talks to Joy Ogden about how she is spreading the word about the value of pharmacists in the community as well as their further potential.

Jean Irvine and Lesley Yellowlees, first female presidents of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and of the Royal Society of Chemistry, respectively

Jean Irvine and Lesley Yellowlees, first female presidents of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and of the Royal Society of Chemistry, respectively

Artículo traducido] Mejora de la calidad de las publicaciones y avance en los paradigmas de la investigación en Farmacia Práctica clínica y social: la Declaración de Granada

Pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences embrace a series of different disciplines. Pharmacy practice has been defined as “the scientific discipline that studies the different aspects of the practice of pharmacy and its impact on health care systems, medicine use, and patient care”. Thus, pharmacy practice studies embrace both clinical pharmacy and social pharmacy elements. Like any other scientific discipline, clinical and social pharmacy practice disseminates research findings using scientific journals. Clinical pharmacy and social pharmacy journal editors have a role in promoting the discipline by enhancing the quality of the articles published. As has occurred in other health care areas (i.e., medicine and nursing), a group of clinical and social pharmacy practice journal editors gathered in Granada, Spain to discuss how journals could contribute to strengthening pharmacy practice as a discipline. The result of that meeting was compiled in these Granada Statements, which comprise 18 recommendations gathered into six topics: the appropriate use of terminology, impactful abstracts, the required peer reviews, journal scattering, more effective and wiser use of journal and article performance metrics, and authors’ selection of the most appropriate pharmacy practice journal to submit their work. © 2023 The Author(s) Published by Elsevier Inc, Springer Nature, Brazilian Society of Hospital Pharmacy and Health Services, Elsevier Inc, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Biomedcentral, Sociedad Española de Farmacia Hospitalaria (S.E.F.H), Pharmaceutical Care España Foundation, European Association of Hospital Pharmacists, Faculty of Pharmacy

478 A qualitative exploration of the implementation of the Prescribing course Designated Prescribing Practitioner role in community pharmacy

Abstract Introduction To alleviate NHS workload pressures Scottish Government wish to train more pharmacist independent prescribers (IPs) for community pharmacy (1). A critical aspect for IP training is the role of Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP) for the period of learning in practice. A paucity of work has focussed on implementation of the DPP role with a recent cross-sectional survey (2) indicating that further qualitative exploration is warranted. Aim To explore the implementation of the DPP role in Scottish Community Pharmacy (CP). Methods Following a survey (2) participants opted in to qualitative semi-structured online mini-focus groups. This included key stakeholders likely be involved in the implementation of the DPP role (e.g Directors of Pharmacy, Prescribing Leads, Education and Training leads, IP qualified CPs). The topic guide was informed by the survey key findings, Royal Pharmaceutical Society DPP Framework and the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and piloted with academic and practice-based stakeholders. All focus groups were conducted using Zoom, recorded, transcribed, and independently analysed thematically, by two researchers, using the Framework Approach. Data generation continued until data saturation. Results Data were generated from six mini-focus groups with 12 key stakeholders across Scottish Health Boards. Key themes derived related to: views on the DPP role, characteristics of potential DPPs, facilitators and barriers to implementation. Participants supported DPP implementation and noted benefits of pharmacists training pharmacists. They noted that potential DPPs need to be confident and competent and be active prescribers. Facilitators for implementation included: new contracted services (e.g. NHS Pharmacy First Plus), growing need for more IPs, and the impact of COVID-19. Barriers included: limited time, capacity, resources, and support to take on the DPP role. Pharmacists were also considered risk averse which could influence role uptake. Conclusion This theory-based work involved a range of key stakeholders and highlights that there is a need to further consider interventions to overcome barriers related to capacity and resource related issues. A limitation relates to the dyadic nature of some focus groups that may have affected data collection. Future research should focus on further theory-based work evaluating structures, processes, and outcomes of DPP role implementation.

Pharmacy teams could visit community and faith groups to cut health inequalities, says Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Engaging with local community or faith groups can help pharmacy teams understand their local populations better, a strategy paper published by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) says. ‘Tackling health inequalities: delivering accessible pharmaceutical care for everyone‘, published on 11 January 2023, sets out how pharmacy teams can help deliver accessible pharmaceutical care for everyone in […]

New RPS director for Scotland appointed

Laura Wilson has been appointed as director for the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) in Scotland. Wilson is currently policy and practice lead for the RPS in Scotland, a role she has held since March 2021. She is a pharmacist with previous experience in the community and hospital sectors, as well as academia. Commenting on her […]

Top ten articles of 2023 from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's research journals

Top ten articles of 2023 from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's research journals

Medicines, Ethics and Practice published digitally for the first time

Medicines, Ethics and Practice (MEP), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS’s) professional guide for pharmacists, has been published digitally for the first time. The guide was previously published annually in print form, and later as a PDF. The 45th edition of MEP was published in 2022. The resource is updated each year to reflect the latest […]

Half of pharmacists report increase in patients unable to afford prescription medicines, reveals survey

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has said that pharmacists in England have reported an increase in patients asking if they can “do without” some of their prescription medicines owing to affordability issues. One in two pharmacist respondents to an RPS survey, which gathered 269 responses between 29 November and 5 December 2022, said that an […]

Royal Pharmaceutical Society to commission external review of its constitution and governance structures

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has announced it will commission a full external review of its constitution and supporting governance structures, as part of what it calls its “evolution as the professional leadership body for pharmacy”. In a press release published on 28 February 2023, the Society said the review would consider “what structures would […]

National pharmacy board elections 2023: information for candidates

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has published information for candidates who are standing for election to the national pharmacy boards in 2023. Nominations for the 2023 elections will open on 27 March 2023. The information for candidates, as well as further details of the national pharmacy board elections 2023, can be found at: https://www.rpharms.com/about-us/who-we-are/national-boards/boards-elections

PJ view: Let's showcase how pharmacy can narrow health inequalities

At the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS’s) 2022 annual conference, held on 11 November 2022, Sir Michael Marmot, director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, laid down a challenge for pharmacy in his keynote address. The sector had to work out how it would “react to the challenges I am about to lay out” on […]

Nearly three-quarters of pharmacy staff considered leaving profession in the past year, finds RPS survey

Three-quarters of pharmacy staff members considered leaving their role or the profession over the past year, the results of a workforce wellbeing survey carried out by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) have revealed. The survey, carried out between September and October 2022, is the fourth annual survey run in partnership with the charity Pharmacist Support […]

National pharmacy board meeting: 8 February 2023

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s (RPS’s) three national pharmacy boards held their first meetings of 2023 via Zoom on 8 February 2023. A joint meeting of all three boards took place in the morning, followed by separate national pharmacy board meetings in the afternoon. Opening the joint board meeting in the morning, Thorrun Govind, chair of […]

Pharmacy bodies write to government over ‘lack of engagement’ with sector in long-term workforce plan

A total of 14 pharmacy leadership bodies have written to the government to express concern over what they describe as a “lack of engagement” with the sector over the NHS long-term workforce plan. Representatives of all the major pharmacy representative bodies — including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) and […]

Long service of members

The Pharmaceutical Journal is marking long service of members by publishing the names of Members and Fellows of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society who reached 50, 60 or 70 years of continuous membership in 2022. Members wishing to have their contact details forwarded to any of these people should apply to the membership department by emailing […]

Royal Pharmaceutical Society collaboration will offer fully-funded pathway for advanced pharmacist practice

Royal Pharmaceutical Society collaboration will offer fully-funded pathway for advanced pharmacist practice

Keith Middleton (1951–2023)

On 18 January 2023, Keith Middleton, aged 71 years, of Ruislip, Middlesex. Mr Middleton was a former member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Tribute It is with very great sadness that we are writing about the recent death of Dr Keith Middleton. Keith was an intellectual and fount of all knowledge with respect to the […]

Robina Campbell-Atherton (1933–2023)

On 2 January 2023, Robina Campbell-Atherton (née Gillespie), known as Ena, aged 89 years, of London. Mrs Campbell-Atherton was a former member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Tribute Ena studied pharmacy at the Royal Technical College of Glasgow, which is now Strathclyde University. She carried out her preregistration training at Boots the Chemists, Greenock, and […]