Department of Health introduces 'Consultant Pharmacist' role in NI

The Department of Health has published ‘A Guide to Developing the Role of Consultant Pharmacists' in Northern Ireland on Thursday (22 June).

The guidance provides direction on supporting a consistent approach to the introduction of senior clinical pharmacy roles within and across HSC organisations.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer Professor Cathy Harrison said: “There is a recognised need for increased clinical pharmacy and medicines focussed leadership across our HSC."

"Consultant Pharmacists have an essential role in healthcare as clinicians and as leaders who make a significant impact to medicines optimisation and clinical governance, providing a vital link between clinical practice and service development by generating and disseminating evidence to drive improvements in care.

"I am delighted that this guidance has been published to take forward the strategic development and appointment of the consultant pharmacy workforce in both primary and secondary care and to enable pharmacy to be at the forefront of healthcare in NI”.

Consultant Pharmacists are clinical experts, working at a senior level with other senior clinicians and colleagues in the care of patients. As leaders in their therapeutic area and profession, they work to the four pillars of clinical practice, leadership, research, and education to deliver improved care and drive change across the healthcare system.

Health and Wellbeing 2026 - Delivering Together, committed to advance the talent and skills of the entire HSC workforce to help ensure that patients receive the highest standard of care. One of the recommendations in the 2020 published Pharmacy Workforce Review is to further develop the Consultant Pharmacist role to ensure on-going provision of clinical leadership across all pharmacy sectors in Northern Ireland.

DoH said that the introduction of Consultant Pharmacist posts into the HSC in Northern Ireland, is an important step towards achieving these objectives.