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RPS Scotland has named Fiona McIntyre as its new Policy and Practice Lead. With a background in hospital pharmacy, McIntyre will be responsible for policy development and professional support at RPS Scotland, and is set to assume her new role in early October. McIntyre will assume a leadership role for specific projects across Great Britain, collaborating with the Policy and Practice Leads in England and Wales, RPS Scotland said in a statement. Her responsibilities include representing pharmacists in working groups and meetings, engaging with pharmacists and pharmacy organisations, and supporting the RPS Director for Scotland. "During my career in NHS Scotland, I have advocated for pharmacy teams whenever possible," said McIntyre. "I am passionate about the profession's role in the safe and effective use of medicines, and I'm privileged to join the RPS. I look forward to promoting pharmacy in Scotland and helping our profession reach its full potential." "I'm pleased that Fiona will be joining the RPS Scotland team as our policy lead," said Laura Wilson, Director for RPS Scotland. "Fiona's experience will be invaluable to the role, and the whole team looks forward to her starting with us in October."

As part of its inclusion and diversity strategy, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has launched a campaign to challenge barriers to working in pharmacy for those with disabilities. A profession-wide survey on the subject conducted by the RPS, identified disability as the biggest barrier to working in pharmacy, highlighting the area of work to support pharmacists. The campaign will focus on reducing barriers to enter the profession, developing more accessible working environments and encouraging employers to collect data on disability in the workplace. The campaign, based on inputs from the RPS Ability Group volunteers with visible and non-visible disabilities, will run until the end of March. Following recommendation of the RPS Ability Group, RPS has written to the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) the Higher Education Occupational Practitioners (HEOPS) to update the guidance on standards of medical fitness for pharmacy students.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has opened a survey which asks its members how they would want to take part in and learn about decisions made by the RPS. The RPS said the survey was a core part of the independent review of member participation and communications led by communications consultancy Luther Pendragon. It said: "We will be asking our members to join focus groups to give their opinions on how participation can be developed and strengthened, and how RPS communications about decisions it has taken on behalf of the profession through its governance boards can be improved. We will also be asking our elected members and key external stakeholders for their views over the coming weeks." The Luther team will then build a series of recommendations for RPS and develop a corporate communications strategy which will include action plans to enable greater participation. RPS president Claire Anderson said: "We want to hear from as many of you as possible through our survey to inform how the organisation works with and engages with you, our members.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has launched a partnership with the charity Marie Curie to develop professional standards in end of life care for community pharmacy. Available for pharmacy teams across the UK, the standards will provide a free, evidence-based framework to help community pharmacies self-assess and continuously improve their end of life and bereavement care for patients and carers. They will enable community pharmacy teams to work together to develop their own practice. RPS is setting up a professional standard steering group which will have community pharmacy experts, experts within the field of palliative and end of life care, lay members, and healthcare professionals who interact with community pharmacy. Elen Jones, director lead for palliative care work at RPS, said: "RPS has a long-term commitment, striving to ensure that people living with life-limiting conditions who are approaching the end of life have timely access to medicines and clinical support from a skilled pharmacy team. "The development of these standards, in partnership with Marie Curie, is a crucial step to support community pharmacy teams to undertake simple quality improvement measures and build upon the care they already provide to this group of patients and carers."

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) England director, Ravi Sharma, has resigned after four years on the job. He will be leaving the RPS in October to join Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, part of the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust group, as head of pharmacy. RPS will be commencing the recruitment of a new director for England shortly and in the interim Ravi will be working with Paul Bennett, the RPS CEO, to help in delivery of key objectives and in the appointment of his successor. Paul commented: "Ravi has made a significant contribution to the organisation during his time with us. His drive and enthusiasm for advancing the recognition of the role of the Society itself and of pharmacists and professional practice is probably best reflected by his desire to ensure a real focus on personalised medicines and his work on equality and diversity, workforce wellbeing, and most recently the development of a new vision for pharmacy in England.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has designated four pharmacists in Scotland as its fellows in recognition of their services to the profession. Pharmacists Paul Forsyth, Alasdair MacIntryre and Peter Mulholland were presented with their certificates at a recent celebration and networking evening at RPS Scotland's building on Melville Street, Edinburgh, while the fellowship of the fourth pharmacist, Findlay Hickey, will be celebrated in 2023. The evening also saw RPS Scotland director Clare Morrison and General Pharmaceutical Council Scotland director Laura Fulton welcome a group of newly qualified pharmacists to the profession. Commenting on the evening's celebration, Morrison said: "It was an absolute pleasure to welcome pharmacists to our building in Edinburgh, the home of pharmacy in Scotland. The mood was so vibrant as people came together to celebrate and to network.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has launched a new position paper on 'How pharmacy can do more to tackle health inequalities'. The RPS paper aims to help pharmacists and pharmacy teams to take action against health inequalities. It is designed to provide a reference source for pharmacy teams to use over time to continually improve services. RPS said: "Like all health services, these pharmacy services do not always reach everyone. Often it is people who are suffering the greatest inequalities that find it most difficult to access the services that are currently available. This can be for a large number of reasons including poverty, education, being part of a group vulnerable to exclusion, language and power." Therefore, the RPS paper focuses not on "what" services pharmacy provides but "how" they are provided, with an aim of making them more accessible for people who are currently struggling. Claire Anderson, President of Royal Pharmaceutical Society said: "It's fantastic that pharmacy teams in every sector of pharmacy across Great Britain are providing care that can improve health inequalities, with many patients able to access pharmacy services very easily. Brilliant examples of this shine through in the paper.

Leading pharmacy group Weldricks has strengthened its commitment to providing the highest quality of care to the communities it serves by implementing the RPS Daffodil Quality Improvement Standards for Community Pharmacy. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) on Monday (20 November) announced that Weldricks will soon be rolling out the Daffodil Standards across half its stores in South Yorkshire. Developed in partnership with UK charity Marie Curie, the RPS Daffodil Standards serve as a framework for improving the quality of palliative and end-of-life care provided by community pharmacy teams. Amy Marlin, Superintendent Pharmacist of Weldricks, commented that the implementation of the RPS Daffodil Standards is "another step forward in our journey to provide the highest quality of care to the communities we serve."

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) on Wednesday announced that it is spearheading a new project, which aims to delve into the root causes of the growing challenge of medicines shortages across the United Kingdom and provide solutions to mitigate its impact on patients and pharmacy practice. A newly formed advisory group, chaired by RPS Fellow Dr. Bruce Warner, is set to convene later this month. The group will have experts from primary and secondary care, patient advocacy groups, the pharmaceutical industry, suppliers, regulatory bodies, governmental representatives, and NHS officials. The group aims to formulate a robust report to provide expert thought leadership and support for the wider debate on UK policy. Their work will be informed by a thorough literature review, stakeholder interviews, online RPS member events, and patient stories.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) brought together a wide range of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy organisations from across Scotland at the Scottish Parliament on Monday (3 October) to support people living with disabilities. The meeting was chaired by Jeremy Balfour MSP, Convener of the Scottish Parliament's Cross-Party Group on Disability, and the meeting was also attended by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer Alison Strath. Attendees of the meeting committed to bold actions to support people living with seen and unseen disabilities to work in pharmacy. Last year, a survey of RPS members identified that living with a disability was considered to be the biggest barrier to working in pharmacy. This year, RPS is running a disability in pharmacy awareness campaign, to highlight some of the barriers and challenges raised by RPS members and to work with stakeholders across pharmacy to overcome these. Yesterday's conversation at the Scottish Parliament was a significant step in achieving this.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) on Wednesday (14 February) launched consultations on two new pioneer curricula defining the clinical capabilities expected of entry-level advanced pharmacists practising in critical care and mental health. The advanced pharmacist critical care curriculum and the advanced pharmacist mental health curriculum are supplementary to the RPS core advanced curriculum. Interested stakeholders are invited to provide feedback on the content of the curricula, their feasibility in terms of delivery, their relevance to all countries, and how these may impact different social groups. Both consultations will be open until Tuesday 12 March, and members and non-members of RPS can submit their comments via the online form or the word document.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has decided to lease two floors of its east London headquarters to Ingeus, a business with services in employment, health, justice and youth. RPS will retain three floors of the building, including its museum and library on the ground floor, as well as the two upper floors which will be used for events, collaborative working and team meetings. The decision follows an announcement in April that the the Society was re-evaluating whether it needed to hold on to its current office space as homeworking was becoming the norm due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Society also wanted to maximise value from its property and generate additional revenue which could "be reinvested into further developing our valued products and services". Ingeus runs the government-sponsored Restart Scheme to help people find jobs in their local area.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has joined the Welsh Royal Colleges Child Health Collaborative (WRCCHC) - a newly established group comprising 20 royal colleges and professional bodies that aims to improve health outcomes for children in Wales. Together they have written to the First Minister of Wales asking how his government will improve child health and support the workforce that care for them. Citing recent reports published by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges and the Academy of Medical Sciences that highlighted declining health among children, they have warned of the impact of poor child health. The WRCCHC aims to ensure a sharper focus and understanding on the current and necessary support required for babies, children and young people and the workforce they represent. RPS Wales will be represented in the group by Anthony Lewis, Children and Women Lead Pharmacist at Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has awarded Professor Abdul Basit with the RPS Harrison Memorial Medal for an outstanding contribution to advancing pharmaceutical science. Professor Basit graduated with a First Class Honours degree in Pharmacy from the University of Bath, and received his PhD from The School of Pharmacy, University of London. Currently in position as Professor of Pharmaceutics at the UCL School of Pharmacy, he is internationally recognised for leading in the field of drug delivery, microbiome medicines, three-dimensional printing of pharmaceuticals and digital health. He has also founded three start-up companies. Professor Basit has an impressive track record of publications, and a lifetime grant and investment income of over £100million pounds. His research has led to a series of transformative drug delivery systems, translated into the design of new technologies and improved therapies, many of which have been commercialised and launched worldwide including a new treatment for inflammatory bowel disease. To date, more than a million patients have benefited from inventions created and developed in the Basit Research Group.

Acknowledging publication of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Scotland's new professional vision for the future of pharmacy in Scotland - Pharmacy 2030, a Parliamentary Motion has been lodged in the Scottish Parliament. The vision, produced in collaboration with the National Pharmacy Technician Group Scotland, expects all pharmacists in a patient-facing role to become independent prescribers by 2030. The motion recognised the aim of the publication that by 2030 pharmacy teams will work together, using their expertise to make the best use of medicines and, will take a person-centred approach, providing care holistically rather than by clinical condition. It highlighted the important role that RPS would play by working with partners across health and social care to turn this vision into a reality.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has published a new professional guidance for prescribing practice on Monday (June 6) which it says will be "for the benefit of all independent prescribers across the UK". Based on collaboration with multi-professional stakeholders, the document is a guidance tool for prescribers wanting to expand their prescribing scope of practice. Commissioned by the Welsh government, the document was developed through an expert group with representatives from many healthcare professions, including from Higher Education institutions, professional bodies, regulatory bodies, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, NHS Education for Scotland, Health Education and Improvement Wales, and representatives from hospital, community and GP practice. RPS president Claire Anderson said: "It's fantastic to see the growth in prescribing, both across the profession and more widely, to improve patient care.

Recognising the changing practices in healthcare, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has revised and updated its position on the separation of prescribing and dispensing or administration of a medicine by the same healthcare professional. It's previous guidance, published in March 2020, restricted prescribing and dispensing by the same healthcare professional only in exceptional circumstances. The new guidance, jointly developed with the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), has made prescribing and dispensing of medicines more flexible. It clarifies that "where there is a risk assessment in place and in the best interests of the patient, the same healthcare professional can be responsible for the prescribing and dispensing / supply / administration of medicines." The change in the position statement follows an extensive year-long engagement exercise with medical associations, members, fellows, expert advisory groups, patient groups and the RPS Country Boards.

Pharmacy Supervision Practice Group, an organisations from across the community pharmacy sector, who have come together to look into the future "supervision" in community pharmacy, have published their final report. Over the course of nine collaborative and positive workshop-style discussions the Supervision Practice Group aimed to provide recommendations to reframe legislation, regulation and professional standards and guidance to achieve a new vision for community pharmacy. The group have produced a report which makes several recommendations on the subjects of: * the legislation relating to "supervision"; * the temporary absence of the RP from the pharmacy; * delegation; * the preparation and assembly of medicines when the RP is not signed in. The group have provided recommendations on which the Department of and Social Care and the regulators can draft specifically worded revisions to legislation and regulatory standards. These specific legislative and regulatory changes that are proposed by government and regulators will be subject to a full consultation process.

Jonathan Burton will receive the 2022 RPS Charter Award for his outstanding work for the Society and the wider profession in promoting the interests of pharmacy. The award will be presented by the President at a future meeting of Fellows and Members to take place at the Society's Edinburgh office on 22nd March 2023. Jonathan's main role is as a practising, patient-facing pharmacist within the community in NHS Forth Valley where he uses his advanced practice skills and independent prescribing qualification to assess and treat acute ENT, dermatology, and respiratory conditions. He was one of the first community pharmacist prescribers in Scotland and has always been at the forefront of innovation and service development. Jonathan has demonstrated outstanding commitment and passion for the pharmacy profession throughout his career. He has excelled as a pharmacist in the Right Medicine Pharmacy group, on local and national committees, in advocacy for the pharmacy profession and as a local and national leader who is highly regarded as an exceptional role model for the profession.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has revealed the "differential attainment" gap among Black pharmacy students and Foundation trainees. Research conducted by pharmacy education has revealed unique challenges leading to lower attainment in the registration assessment and an undergraduate awards gap compared to white students. The organisation plans to work with new groups including BPSA, GPhC, NHS England, Pharmacy Schools Council and representatives from Schools of Pharmacy, to achieve a fair and equitable education and training experience for the students. They plan to reach out to student representative organisations to secure their participation in a quarterly meeting of the group. Differential attainment is the unexplained variation between groups who share a protected characteristic, for example, ethnicity, gender and disability.