RPS Wales, ABPI highlight pharmacy’s role in sustainability at Senedd

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Wales and the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) co-hosted a drop-in session to inform members of the Senedd (MSs) about the action taken by pharmacists to make medicines use more sustainable.

At a ‘drop-in’ session the ABPI, RPS members and staff had the opportunity to speak to a number of MSs from all political parties.

“With medicines accounting for around 25 per cent of the NHS carbon emissions, conversations were based around the key recommendations to reverse this from the RPS’ policies on sustainability,” said RPS.

The three key themes emphasised in all discussions were- the need to educate the public and change behaviours to avoid stockpiling medicines; How the clinical skills of prescribing pharmacists can be used for appropriate de-prescribing and switching patients to low carbon options; and importance of tackling waste.

RPS Wales Director Elen Jones said: “It was fantastic to see how interested and engaged the politicians were around these important issues. By the end of our conversations, they all clearly understood and supported the importance of pharmacy leadership in this area, as well as the need for the link between climate change and medicines to be better understood by patients.

“We were also delighted to be joined by AMR specialist pharmacists Nicholas Reed and Meryl Davies who explained to the MSs how a twin approach can be taken to tackle both the climate and antimicrobial resistance crisis, driven by overuse and inappropriate disposal of antibiotics.

“The work doesn’t stop here though! We’ll now be following up with the MSs we met to have more detailed conversations around these crucial issues.”