The first quarterly meeting of the UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board, chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, took place on April 23.

The Board was established by the UK’s chief pharmaceutical officers as a vehicle for greater collaboration across the UK pharmacy professional leadership bodies (PLBs) and specialist professional groups (SPGs) over a three-year period, following the recommendations of the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership’s report, published in February 2023.

At its next meeting in July the Board agreed to focus on:

• Professional education and training
• Scope of practice for future pharmacy professionals
• Regulatory support.

It also agreed to establish a Pharmacy Stakeholder Forum, which will meet twice a year to provide input to the Board’s work programme and will be chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor.

Its membership will be UK-wide and include regulators, education and trade bodies, special interest groups, negotiating bodies and trade unions.

A Patient and Public Reference Group will also be established. This will be chaired by board member Joan Saddler, co-chair of the NHS Equality and Diversity Council.

Its membership will also be UK-wide and include key national patient representative bodies, large patient charities, senior patient and public involvement leaders, as well as patient representatives recruited via an ‘expression of interest’ process.

The UK Commission report said there was an urgent need for the pharmacy professions to work collaboratively to deliver on their potential, and address together a wide range of professional issues.

These include the development of independent prescribing as part of the initial education and training for pharmacists, and an expansion of the clinical role of pharmacy technicians.