Pharmacists need to take advantage of independent prescribing pathways, says Bennett

Independent prescribing will be a “significant point” in the history of community pharmacy, according to Royal Pharmaceutical Society chief executive Paul Bennett.

Last month, the RPS announced the launch of a comprehensive new prescribing development programme to support pharmacists across all stages of their prescribing careers.

The initiative comes ahead of the NHS mandate that every newly qualified pharmacist will be an independent prescriber by 2026 — a change set to transform the future of pharmacy practice.

“It will be a significant point in our profession’s history when we look back on it,” said Bennett.

“The latest figures suggest 30 per cent of registrants are now independent prescribers. There has been a building cohort of independent prescribers, which will get a boost in 2026 when more come on stream.”

Open to RPS members, the programme will begin on 23 June 2025 and run for 18 months.

It will offer practical, ongoing support for pharmacists who are new to prescribing, returning to practice, or looking to expand their scope.

The programme will cover six themes, changing the theme every three months.

Each quarter, participants will explore a new theme through flexible, bite-sized learning formats, including podcasts, blogs, webinars, and e-learning modules available via RPS Learn.

They will also be able to build a personalised prescribing portfolio and track their development using the RPS Competency Framework for Prescribers.

“It was an area of organisational focus for us significantly last year - building this prescribing competency framework that outlines the skills and the behaviours that are needed for safe and effective prescribing.

“It's full of very helpful advice, points you to where other support can be obtained from, as well as our own materials. I highly commend it to anybody who is considering becoming an independent prescriber and needs support and guidance and advice on their journey.”

Last month, the government announced the new Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework (CPCF) for 2025/26 in England.

With an annual funding commitment of £3.073 billion, an increased medicines margin, and improved service fees, the new contract provides security and potential opportunities for community pharmacies to expand their role in delivering high-quality healthcare.

As a community pharmacist, Bennett he realises the importance of the contract providing a level of much-needed security for the sector.

“The royal pharmaceutical society readily recognises pharmacists as being crucial to supporting the best use of medicines across the whole of the system. The government and the NHS, we believe must ensure that that value is recognised through appropriate community pharmacy funding,” he said.

“We have a legitimate interest in a vibrant community pharmacy sector being maintained out, some would say, now to be re-established because of the challenges of the last few years, in particular in order to support patient and public access to professional advice and to medicines.

“As the Department of Health and NHS England work to develop the 10 Year NHS plan, we've continued to make representations that warnings of pharmacy closures must be addressed so that patients can continue to access a resilient community pharmacy network.”

As part of the discussions around a Royal College of Pharmacy, the RPS undertook a series of face to face events that ranges from Aberdeen to Plymouth. There were 15 face to face events country and a series of webinars.

“Every single one of those road shows, without exception, there was a recognition from those who attended, a need for support for career progression, post registration, education and credentialing was a very hot topic,” said Bennett.

He added that a Royal College would continue to develop clear pathways to support pharmacists from foundation level through to consultant level practice.

The RPS currently sets national standards with a core, advanced pharmacist curriculum that helps pharmacists develop advanced skills across the domains of care, leadership, education, research and practice. Pharmacists can achieve RPS advanced credentialing to demonstrate advanced level practice and become consultant ready.

“It's not only about that advanced level, it's at various career stages which people say they need and rightly deserve support to enable them to be the best they can be at that point in their career with an eye on where they want to go, where they want to develop their professional practice in the future,” said Bennett.

“We also support that through our training and mentoring services that are thriving, and we'll be providing a new learning platform soon that enables on demand, access to skills development in a wide range of clinical topics at a time that is convenient for our members.

“We will be providing a career pathway - the support, the assessment and the credentialing infrastructure to enable people to demonstrate their competence which I hope will be rewarding for them, rewarding for the profession, and beneficial to patients in the public too. This feels like a really important area for us to be investing in.”

Bennett is confident that community pharmacists have the skills and knowledge to play a key role in the government’s 10 Year NHS plan.

“I'm excited by the prospects for community pharmacy and it's clinical evolution,” he said.

“I have become increasingly interested in the application of tools such as artificial intelligence, and also really excited by the notion of personalised medicines and pharmacogenomics, and how community pharmacists as practitioners with that really close relationship with their patients, can help make sure that personalised medicines have the greatest possible beneficial effect.”