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The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) says the pharmacy regulator should maintain a two-year post qualification eligibility criteria, in addition to the qualitative measures being introduced which would be in the best interest of patient safety, before a pharmacist is allowed to commence an IP course. The association was responding to an announcement by the GPhC's move to scrap the two year requirement for Independent Prescribing (IP) course. "The PDA accepts that the qualitative approach could mean greater individual consideration of potential IP course candidates and the two-year measure could have sometimes been a blunt tool. However, the PDA is already seeing cases of patient harm and allegations around fitness to practice arising from IP," the association said. The association also said that it supports individual pharmacists with near misses, as well as actual incidents, giving the organisation possibly the most comprehensive understanding of risk. Frontline pharmacists also recognise these issues and in a survey of over 1,000 pharmacists undertaken by the PDA in late 2021, of those who had 2+ years' experience of practice and who were already independent prescribers, 90 per cent said the qualifying period should be two years or more.

Sobha Sharma Kandel wants community pharmacy teams up and down the country to be super responsive to emerging needs of their patients - by always being pro-active rather than reactive. "We know that every patient benefits from our proactive approaches - listening, asking questions, providing information and making clinical interventions when appropriate. "At a time when general practice is overstretched, community pharmacy must be relied upon as the frontline of the NHS when it comes to providing diagnosis, treatment and continuous care in our communities to promote health and wellbeing of our patients." Sobha believes Covid-19 has helped shift public perception of community pharmacies from being a place where one goes to collect a prescription to a hub where one can access a range of healthcare advice and services. "We are way more than just a shop where you can collect your medicines," she said, giving examples of how her interventions have helped reduce medication errors, prevent harm and subsequently reduce cost of care. She once saved a baby from getting overdosed with omeprazole when they had issues with gastroesophageal reflux. On another occasion, she managed a lady's high blood pressure by finding equivalent medications to a combination dose prescribed by her doctor in another country.