9. Appendix 2
Short-term implementation goals
Transforming pharmacy professional practice cannot be done by pharmacy teams alone and will require coordinated and sustained effort across the healthcare system, linked to other work streams, both within and outside the NHS.
To support pharmacy practice to transform, and to provide a focus for action by pharmacy and the system, 19 short term implementation goals have been developed for each of the vision themes.
This appendix contains a table of all 19 goals.
Supporting people and communities to live well for longer
1. People living in deprived communities, those experiencing health inequalities or anyone excluded from care are supported by pharmacy teams working in partnership with other local organisations to improve their health (Public Health England 2018) for example, people in the Core20PLUS5 priorities group (NHS England 2021)
2. People are referred directly to other services, such as, diagnostic services, other healthcare professionals, social prescribing or social care by pharmacy teams who are integrated into local care pathways. This referral can also happen the other way around
3. People using community pharmacies are routinely encouraged to use early detection programmes to help detect early signs of illness and to use prevention programmes for long-term conditions as part of a systems approach to improving the public’s health that uses the expertise and accessibility of community pharmacy teams (Public Health England 2022)
Enabling people to live well with the medicines that they take
4. Person-centred care is embedded in pharmacy teams by improving access to education and training resources around shared-decision making (NHS England 2019b) and work to identify and remove communication barriers that prevent people accessing care
5. The current pharmacist workforce is supported to prescribe, optimise and deprescribe medicines (Department of Health and Social Care 2021) within a patient’s pathway as autonomous professionals working in their areas of competency (Royal Pharmaceutical Society 2021)
6. Anyone living with complex medicines needs and long-term conditions can have their treatment and medicines use supported by prescribing pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working across the system as part of a connected multidisciplinary team (Royal Pharmaceutical Society, 2019)
Enhancing patient experience and access to care
7. Pharmacy teams have access to patient records necessary to support care and can record their interventions contemporaneously on an electronic health record that all healthcare professionals use. Regardless of whether they are in primary or secondary care
8. Community pharmacies in England offer consistent core services5 so that people know pharmacies can be used as a first point to access care and be supported by prescribing pharmacists and the wider pharmacy team
9. Collaborative system working and technology allow greater integration of supply models across the health and care system, ensuring that people get safe and timely medicines.
10. Skill mix and development of innovative roles enable delegation and greater diversification of roles within pharmacy teams. Skill mixed teams working at the top of their professional abilities provide the capacity for pharmacy teams to deliver more for the healthcare system
Our pharmacy people
11. A comprehensive pharmacy workforce strategy for pharmacy that includes pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy support staff, and students/trainees is developed nationally to provide the right number of people, with the right knowledge and skills across the pharmacy workforce (Health and Social Care Committee 2022). Pharmacy team workforce planning is part of every ICB people plan
12. Pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy support staff have protected and structured learning/research time with equality in development opportunities, and access to funding for professional development and leadership training
13. A culture within pharmacy is created where everyone feels they belong, with an environment that attracts, develops and retains future generations of pharmacy staff. A one pharmacy team ethos is built that crosses pharmacy sectoral boundaries and teams work collaboratively to celebrate pharmacy’s diversity and be inclusive to everyone (NHS England 2022a), (Royal Pharmaceutical Society 2020a)
Data, innovation, science and research
14. The pharmacy workforce has the digital skills to enable them to capitalise on the data and digital revolution that will provide opportunities for targeted interventions to improve individual patient and population health (Department of Health and Social Care, 2022)
15. The pharmacy workforce is developed across systems ready for the large scale roll out of pharmacogenomic testing and personalised prescribing (NHS England 2022b), (Royal Pharmaceutical Society 2022a)
16. A research, quality improvement and clinical audit culture is embedded, into undergraduate and early years careers in all settings with support for pharmacy teams to access funded research programmes
Leadership, collaboration, and integration
17. Advanced, specialist and consultant pharmacy leadership roles (Royal Pharmaceutical Society 2020b), (Royal Pharmaceutical Society 2022b) are present in all settings across the system, including the operational and technical roles that support medicines governance and patient safety
18. Integrated Care System strategies for the planning and commissioning of pharmacy services are informed by the ICB chief pharmacist and developed in collaboration with pharmacy teams from across the system.
19. Shared pharmacy team roles working across integrated care systems are developed, supported by joint training and development and sharing of models across England.