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The Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists (GHP) has launched a national campaign advocating for pharmacists working in the NHS to have a minimum of 10% of their contracted hours protected for supporting professional activities (SPA). In a statement published on 7 February 2025, the GHP emphasised that this protected time "should be recognized by employers and embedded in job plans." The organisation highlighted the existing inconsistency across the UK regarding the amount of SPA time allocated to pharmacists and stressed the need for a consistent amount of development to "allow pharmacists to be able to be safe practitioners, to meet the demands of service development, and to be able to safely mentor and supervise more junior colleagues." The GHP raised concerns that many pharmacists end up doing "unpaid work" to catch up with the required training or completing self-learning in their own time. "This pressure is unfair and unsustainable, potentially contributing to burnout and in combination with all the other pressures, leads to pharmacists leaving the NHS," it stated. The GHP asserted that a minimum of 10% of contracted hours for SPA is "a strongly justifiable argument."

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has raised concern over the Health Education England (HEE)'s decision on cutting funding to independent prescribing training. The HEE has reportedly decided that no funding will be available to back-fill trainees undertaking the pharmacist independent prescribing (PIP) qualification, or for the supervision of trainees by DPPs and DMPs. The PDA noted that, whilst all successful trainee pharmacists will be entering the GPhC register as independent prescribers from 2026, the existing pharmacist workforce is reliant on opportunities to undertake prescriber training through release from their employment, and the ability to secure a Designated Medical Practitioner (DMP) or Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP) to support the 90 days of supervised practice required. The association said it has already heard examples of potential DMPs or DPPs requesting a significant fee from trainees before they will provide supervision, adding that meeting that request is not an option for many. "This latest decision threatens to undermine the availability of the large numbers of pharmacists seeing supervisors as more IP training becomes available," it said in a statement.

In a surprising move that has divided the pharmacy profession, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has sanctioned hundreds of pharmacies to allow patients to self-select certain Pharmacy (P) medicines, a decision met with strong opposition from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) as well as from the Pharmacy Defense Association (PDA). In a statement, RPS shared that at a board meeting held on 19th June, they expressed "disappointment" over what they described as a lack of prior consultation and comprehensive communication from the GPhC regarding the implications of this policy shift. They argue that allowing patients to self-select certain P medicines could potentially jeopardize established professional guidelines and compromise the role of pharmacists in ensuring safe medication use. "Enabled by the General Pharmaceutical Council, we understand that hundreds of pharmacies, from large multiples to small independents, have been approved by the regulator to enable patients to self-select certain P medicines," the statement said.