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In its effort to address workforce challenges, Health Education and Improvement Wales has outlined initiatives aimed at facilitating the return of pharmacy professionals with refugee status to active practice within Wales. This possibility has been stated in HEIW's Strategic Pharmacy Workforce Plan, which commits to investigating the practicality and significance of establishing a registration pathway for pharmacy professionals displaced due to refugee status. According to HEIW, it is currently investigating the viability and importance of revitalising 'return to practice' packages, formulating pharmacy apprenticeships, initiating international recruitment initiatives, and establishing a registration pathway in Wales for displaced pharmacists and pharmacy technicians holding refugee status. "In the past two years, we have arrived at a point where maintaining the desired access to the volume and quality of pharmacy services for our population has proven unattainable," said HEIW. "In Wales, instances of diminished pharmacy services are evident in both hospital and community settings. The trend of abrupt, temporary closures in community pharmacies continues."

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has introduced a new comprehensive learning programme to support pharmacists in Wales to deliver the Pharmacy Independent Prescribing Service (PIPS). Developed in collaboration with Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), the programme is designed to "equip pharmacists with the essential knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to provide excellent patient care." While the primary emphasis is on pharmacists operating within primary care settings, those from various practice settings are also encouraged to register and participate in the programme. Commenting on the collaboration with HEIW, Elen Jones, director for Wales at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said that it will empower pharmacists across the country to deliver high-quality prescribing services to local communities.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has urged its member - employed pharmacists and locum pharmacists to share their view on UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership report. The four government Chief Pharmacists have published their commission's proposal for how pharmacy leadership may develop in the UK. The association 'strongly' believes that just as it was the members of the profession that established their previous pharmacist professional leadership bodies, so it is for pharmacists to determine if they agree with these proposals and to decide what arrangements they want in future. "As an organisation that has exclusively in its membership the employed and locum pharmacists in the UK, the PDA wants to ensure that it can reflect the views of frontline pharmacists in any future discussions and decisions that could impact upon their careers. Pharmacists are encouraged to read the report, to consider its content and then ensure they respond to the forthcoming communication from the PDA." The commission report says that existing leadership bodies have "relatively low levels of membership" but does not provide details. It has also stated that it has received submissions to its consultation from many pharmacy organisations.