The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has today launched a consultation on its plans to develop curricula for pharmacists practising in critical care and mental health.

The professional leadership body said the two new curricula will “build on and are supplementary” to its core advanced curriculum which defines the clinical capabilities expected of entry-level advanced pharmacists.

The consultation, which closes on March 12, is open to RPS members and non-members as well as members of the UK Clinical Pharmacy Association (UKCPA) and College of Mental Health Pharmacy (CMHP) who helped to create the curricula.

The RPS said they were “identified through an open expression of interest process and prioritised on their clear patient and service needs supported by policy.”

It said the critical care curriculum sets out the “advanced knowledge, skills and capabilities” pharmacists need “to support critical care teams to effectively use medicines to resuscitate, stabilise and optimise the patient during their illness and through discharge and rehabilitation where appropriate.” It also helps pharmacists “manage medicines for pre-existing conditions throughout their critical illness.”

The RPS said the mental health curriculum sets out pharmacists’ knowledge and skills to help them support “highly complex patients, populations and health and social care systems” by “improving the provision of mental health (including substance use) treatment, the management of co-morbidities, the availability, reach and quality of harm reduction activities” as well as “address some of the structural barriers faced by this population.”

“Both curricula will be assured through the collaborative assessment of additional specialist clinical outcomes via an add-on module to the RPS core advanced e-portfolio,” the RPS added.

“Successful demonstration of these outcomes, in addition to the outcomes in the RPS core advanced curriculum, will result in the awarding of both the RPS core advanced credential and an additional specialist credential. These e-portfolio modules will be launched by September 2024.”