Professional standards for hospital pharmacy services; optimising patient outcomes from medicines for pharmacy services in acute, mental health, private and community service provider.

In 2011, we began the development of professional standards that will ultimately create a library of high level professional standards which share best practice for all areas of pharmacy practice.

We are currently developing our professional standards for hospital pharmacy services. These professional standards aim to ensure that patients receive a high quality pharmacy service, from admission through to discharge across multiple care pathways. 

We have developed these professional standards in close partnership with the Association of Teaching Hospital Pharmacists (ATHP), the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists (GHP) and our RPS partner groups; with extensive input from our pharmacy advisory group, representing a broad range of hospital pharmacy services in acute, private and community settings, across all three countries. These professional standards are based on a review of existing national and international standards, building on regulatory standards and medicines legislation where appropriate.

The professional standards

We have identified ten overarching professional standards, under which sit several 'dimensions' of practice that encompass all pharmacy services, across a range of care settings. Our vision through the implementation of these standards is to support Chief Pharmacists and their teams, in ensuring that patients receive a high quality pharmacy service that optimises their medicines outcomes. The standards will also allow both commissioners of services, and Chief Executives and Boards of organisations providing services, to have a clear view of what a quality pharmacy service should look like. In the long term, organisations that adopt and implement these standards will bring a new level of consistency and quality across the pharmacy services they provide, to help improve patient care.

Supporting work

Following the publication of these professional standards in May 2012, we have an on-going programme of work that includes support for all organisations and individuals who want to use the standards. Several trusts have already volunteered to be development sites which will gather data on use of the standards in practice. This data will be used to help refine the sensitivity of the standards and develop supporting tools. We will also continue to widely engage with other national organisations, within and outside of pharmacy, to promote the standards and drive up standards of service

If you would like to be involved in the implementation and further development of these standards, or for more details about the project please contact the Support Team