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Our consultation begins on Community Pharmacy Standards

Have your say and help shape our new Standards

Today we launch the start of our work to produce our first ever Professional Standards for Community Pharmacy Services with the start of a series of events across Great Britain. The standards will set out best practice across the sector and encourage consistent, high quality patient care.

The 18-month project involves consultation with community pharmacists, pharmacy teams, patients and the public to define good practice and effective systems. Built with the knowledge and expertise of those who work in and use pharmacy services, they will be developed in line within the gold standard of NICE accreditation. 

The standards will provide a framework which will support pharmacy teams to continually improve the care they deliver.  They will help create safer, more consistent services within and between providers, and inspire trust with the multidisciplinary team.

The standards will also provide a useful tool for evaluating services and highlighting issues and gaps in provision, enabling improvements to be made.  A common understanding of what should be provided will also create confidence and trust within teams and with the public.

RPS Director of Pharmacy and Member Experience Robbie Turner said:

“Delivery of quality services is the bedrock of being a pharmacy professional. This is a genuinely exciting project which 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.

“The standards will improve and shape future services, and so help with the development of new opportunities for pharmacists.  Organisations that use and measure themselves against professional standards are more likely to provide good care, which is ultimately what all pharmacists and patients want.

“I’m ambitious for the profession and want to see it shine. We need to use the Standards to prompt ourselves, our teams and our organisations to provide continual improvement on behalf of the public we serve.  I’m confident the profession can deliver on this across Great Britain. 

The consultation events start today (16th Jan) in London followed by events in Glasgow on 22 January and Cardiff on 7 February.  There will be further opportunities to contribute to the Standards during the year.

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