Scotland’s First Minister, Humza Yousaf, has appointed Neil Gray MSP to be Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care.
Commenting on the announcement Laura Wilson, Director of RPS Scotland, said:
“I would like to congratulate Neil Gray on being appointed to this position.
Pharmacists across Scotland are providing high quality, person-centred care to patients every day in a variety of settings including in hospital, GP practices and in community.
Pharmacists are an integral part of healthcare in all settings and we need to maximise the skills and potential of the profession.
We have a bold ambition for the future of Pharmacy, Pharmacy 2030, which demonstrates the potential of the whole profession to transform patient care, experience and safety.
Top of our list of policy priorities is ensuring pharmacists in all settings have read write access to patient records to support prescribing decisions. Governments in England and Wales are moving at pace on this issue, with access being granted for community pharmacists imminently. RPS wants a similar commitment from Scottish Government to ensure pharmacists in Scotland have access to national shared electronic patient records. With all pharmacists coming out of undergraduate training as prescribers from 2026, this issue is more urgent than ever.
RPS will be seeking an introductory meeting with Mr Gray as soon as possible to discuss shared patient data and our other policy priorities including introducing workforce planning for pharmacy and progressing our work on environmental sustainability in healthcare settings.
“I look forward to working with Mr Gray in his new role.”