The four UK chief pharmaceutical officers have responded to concerns about recent decisions made by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society by announcing the establishment of a commission to produce “a blueprint for the purpose and functions of professional leadership in pharmacy for the future”.

“This is so we have the right support in place for the profession, for patients, for the NHS, to work with the regulator and Government,” England’s new chief pharmaceutical officer David Webb said at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress on Friday. “Not least we will need this leadership to make sure the move to independent prescribing is safe and effective and that everything that will make it so is in place. It will also bring the profession with us on this journey.”

The RPS welcomed the establishment of the commission in a statement issued on Friday afternoon. The statement does not address the chief officers’ move directly, but states: “We believe strongly that the RPS is the organisation that can set and assure standards of post registration pharmacy practice.

It continues: “We have already taken a collaborative approach to develop a suite of post registration curricula across the UK to ensure safe and effective patient care. We will continue to work with the GPhC and others on this developing programme.”

The terms of reference of the commission have not yet been set, but it is understood that the chief officers would like the work to be complete by the end of the year.