Pharmacists must maintain professional oversight, critically evaluate AI-supported functions, and work within established governance arrangements as the use of AI in healthcare continues to develop, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) has said.
The organisation has published analysis on the implications of AI for pharmacy practice in supplementary guidance, produced in response to a report from the National Commission into the regulation of AI in Healthcare that was published in September and subsequently accepted by the government.
The PDA has advised members that the Commission's recommendations do not change existing legislation, professional standards or regulatory requirements, and said that the Commission’s recommendations align with key principles already covered in the PDA’s guidance, through Professional-In-The-Loop (PITL) oversight, professional accountability, governance, transparency, training and risk management.
Pharmacists should continue to follow current guidance and fulfill their existing professional obligations while future developments in AI regulation are considered, they said.
Pharmacists need sufficient information, competence, visibility, authority and organisational support to evaluate AI-supported decisions appropriately, said the PDA.
The PDA said: "The Commission's recommendations do not diminish professional accountability. They propose a future framework in which responsibility for AI safety would be more explicitly distributed across the parties responsible for different parts of the system."
Examples of areas of development for AI that pharmacists and employers should monitor, said the PDA, include AI readiness at a national level, allocation of responsibility, for example between manufacturers, healthcare organisations and professionals, and transparency with patients on AI-delivered care.
The PDA's update sits alongside its existing guidance on AI in Pharmacy Practice, helping pharmacists understand emerging policy developments and their potential implications for the use and regulation of AI across healthcare.
