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RPS Scotland and Wales get set for 2021 elections

We’ve launched our manifestos for the 2021 Scottish and Welsh Parliamentary elections as we look to influence the future of pharmacy.

With the support of RPS members, the manifestos include eight calls to action and are responsive to the political environments of each country. They call on the future governments to commit to ensuring patients can continue to benefit from safe and effective care by supporting a sustainable, integrated and strong pharmacy profession.   

In Scotland, we’ve included called for better harnessing of the skills of pharmacists in reducing health inequalities and enhancement in their role in primary care vaccination and immunisation services.

The RPS Wales manifesto includes a focus on further integrating pharmacist independent prescribers in routine NHS care, as well as embedding pharmacy team multi-professional workforce planning and education and ensuring pharmacist training and investment in pharmacogenomic therapies.

Both call for read and write access to an integrated electronic patient record, the development of interoperable IT systems to allow for digital solutions to the sharing of information across all sectors, and guarantees for protected time for learning and development for the entire profession.

RPS Scotland and RPS Wales will now be taking steps to ensure pharmacy is recognised and represented in the manifestos of the main political parties and ultimately in the plans for government for 2021-2026.

Jonathan Burton, Chair of the Scottish Pharmacy Board said: “We've listened to our members, the profession and other pharmacy organisations and have put together a list of asks for political parties that we believe will help deliver a quality pharmacy service. Pharmacy is at the very forefront of health care in Scotland and it is vital that it gets the support it needs to enable pharmacy teams to provide access to expert medicine and health care advice to the people of Scotland where and when they need it.”

Suzanne Scott-Thomas, Chair of the Welsh Pharmacy Board said: “This is an important time for pharmacy in Wales and it is vital that the recent challenges and learning of the pandemic are built upon. Our manifesto has reflected on our learning to date and has put forward a set of priorities which focus on improving the public and patient experience and the sustainability and growth for the pharmacy profession. While pharmacy has benefited from the policies of the current Welsh Government over recent years, we must continue to outline a clear course of action to the future Welsh administration so that citizens are able to increasingly benefit from the skills and knowledge of the pharmacy team”

Click here for RPS Scotland Manifesto, The Future of Pharmacy in Scotland.

Click here for RPS Wales Manifesto, A Manifesto for Pharmacy.

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