The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain is committed to the advancement of pharmacy practice and recognises the benefit that both research and the academic pharmacy workforce bring to the profession.
The Society has demonstrated this commitment through investment in commissioned research and in supporting research capacity through its Academic Excellence Awards.
The Society has supported a rolling programme of research which has, for the last five years, focused on three key policy areas: workforce, education and ethics.
For more information, contact:
Brad McConachieThe issue of pharmacy workforce is central to the successful implementation of the NHS plans as new roles for pharmacy, such as prescribing and medicines management, have been identified. An understanding of the underlying causes of changes in recruitment, retention, career choices and skill requirements within pharmacy is crucial.
The Society’s work in relation to pharmacy workforce commenced with the commissioning, in 2002, of a research based pharmacy workforce census. This census generated data on how many pharmacists were working, in which sectors and how many hours worked. Further census exercises have been undertaken in 2003 and 2005 to identify trends in pharmacy workforce patterns.
In 2003 the Society established the Pharmacy Workforce Planning and Policy Advisory Group with financial support from the Department of Health and the devolved administrations. The purpose of the group was to develop a proactive and responsive system for scoping future workforce needs in pharmacy and to make recommendations on how future supply and demand could be managed.
The main output of this project is the development of a pharmacy workforce model. This model has been designed to accommodate many of the variables that were identified in the research, enabling planners and policy makers to test the impact of different scenarios and policy options to assess their collective impact on the future balance of demand for, and supply of, pharmacists. The model utilised 2002 census data and is being updated with 2005 information by the workforce model research team.
One of the issues identified during the original project was the key role played by the university sector. It is important first because it is an area in which there appears to be a particular shortage of pharmacists working and secondly because it provides the route for supply of future pharmacists. Therefore a further study was commissioned to explore the factors affecting the shortage of academic pharmacists and their consequences for the deployment of teaching resources and for staff perceptions among the population in academic departments of pharmacy in the UK, in order to inform policy to encourage greater numbers into the academic sector of pharmacy. For more information, click on the link below:
An annual register analysis is conducted to provide a profile of the Society’s membership each year and to compare and contrast findings with baseline data collected from the most recent census. Analysis of the registration information held on members on the register, taken at the same point each year, will provide a useful profile of the membership year on year, and will ensure some degree of continuity in the absence of primary research data. For more information, click here
Work has also been commissioned to undertake a longitudinal analysis of the three censuses together with the register analysis (to be published in 2008).
In response to the changing demands on the pharmacist the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain undertook a wholesale review of undergraduate pharmacy education. Its final recommendation identified 'a need to explore whether the pharmacy undergraduate curriculum would benefit from restructuring to integrate clinical, practice and science teaching'. For more information, click on the link below:
A detailed examination of other models of healthcare professional education within the UK as well as international models of pharmacist education was commissioned to enable a wider informed debate to take place regarding the appropriateness of the current UK model of pharmacy education and training in preparing pharmacists to be fit for practise within the new NHS. For more information, click on the link below:
The Society’s future research priorities are detailed in its Research strategy 2007-2011.
In 2007 the Society’s Council agreed research priorities should now be refocused to develop a balanced portfolio of projects focusing more explicitly on informing leadership and development as well as the regulatory functions, in particular:
Between 2004 and 2006, the commissioning and management of research has been awarded to the Pharmacy Practice Research Trust in the form of an annual restricted grant, to enable the Society to benefit from the robust research governance arrangements set up by the Trustees and to ensure that the research is, and is seen to be, independent. For recent calls for proposals, click here
From 2007 onwards the Trust continues to take forward research priorities for the profession supported by the Society through an operational grant and staff resources.
In addition to commissioned research the Trust supports a number of smaller grants (Sir Hugh Linstead Fellowship, Galen Award and the Research Training Bursary Scheme) to develop research capacity. These enable small scale research projects, that may not be eligible for funding from other bodies, to be undertaken. They are awarded to both academics and pharmacy practitioners.
The Trust is an independent research charity, set up by the Society in 1999 with a broad remit to promote and develop research relating to the practice of pharmacy.