RPS launches revised 'Professional Standards for Hospital Pharmacy'

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has launched a new revised RPS Professional Standards for Hospital Pharmacy Services at its annual conference held on Friday (11 November).

RPS developed the standards through an extensive consultation with the profession, multidisciplinary teams and patients. They are relevant for providers of pharmacy services in acute, mental health, private, community service, prison, hospice and ambulance settings.

The revised Standards contain two brand new descriptors – research, audit and quality improvement, and inclusion and wellbeing. Updates have been made to the supporting statements to ensure they reflect current practice and are fit for the future. A new assessment tool has been developed to support organisations either self-assess or peer-assess against the Standards.

“For the first time the Standards apply UK wide, having gained support from Pharmacy Forum NI, alongside endorsement from The Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK and other professional groups,” RPS said.

Interim Chair of the RPS Hospital Expert Advisory Group Roger Fernandes said: “This refresh of the RPS Hospital Standards was driven by contributions from colleagues, patients and partner organisations, for which we are very grateful.

“The Standards create consistent quality of patient care across healthcare and provide Chief Pharmacists and Directors of Pharmacy with a set of guidelines against which they can be held accountable. These will be essential in enabling leaders meet the expectations of the General Pharmaceutical Council who will be directly defining their future roles after legislative change comes into force on 01 December this year.”

Claire Steele, President of APTUK said: “We encourage pharmacy technicians to support the application of the standards in their practice, actively strive for continuous improvement in service delivery and help others within the pharmacy team to do so too.”

RPS President Professor Claire Anderson said: “I’m delighted to see the update of this seminal publication which supports pharmacists working across healthcare settings and organisations to lead on implementing continual improvements in patient care.”

RPS has supporting resources highlighting the importance of quality and providing any useful background information on the pharmacy services to help organisations implement the standards in practice. This includes a guide for Chief Pharmacists or equivalents working in Great Britain.