Co-creation discussions enable us to get down to brass tacks on the future for pharmacy professional leadership in the UK

By Sir Hugh Taylor, Independent Chair

The recent meeting of the UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board was held during a Tube strike, which made travel to the venue difficult for many members. Despite the obstacles, we came together — in person and online — for conversations that were purposeful, forward-looking, and demonstrated a shared resolve to keep up the momentum of our work.

Our main focus was on the implications and opportunities of the Royal College of Pharmacy. We heard an update from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) on their pathway towards becoming a Royal College by April 2026. Recruitment is underway for the new Chair of Trustees and key executive roles; and a series of stakeholder webinars are planned to discuss development of the strategy for the Royal College. It is a complex and demanding programme of change for the RPS as an organisation, but the commitment to create a Royal College that is both ambitious and looks and feels new and different came through clearly. I welcomed their openness to enabling discussions about how to achieve this, with room for flexibility; recognising that there is no blueprint and no options can be ruled out at this stage.

This was our first Board meeting since the Co-Creation Liaison Group (CCLG) was formed, which is our dedicated forum for these discussions, and so I was able to feedback to the Board on the latest developments. The CCLG provides space for the eight professional leadership bodies (PLBs) and specialist professional groups (SPGs) and two Independent Expert Members (IEMs) of the Board, a pharmacist and a pharmacy technician, to explore confidentially how we can move forward together in shaping a future model of pharmacy professional leadership.

I was really delighted that more than 430 people from across the UK joined one of six engagement webinars to feed into our co-creation process, and want to thank those who participated. Their contributions were shared with the CCLG and the Board and are featured in this month’s meeting statement, along with many other useful updates, including the CCLG membership.

The tone of the CCLG discussions has been strikingly positive so far. At our meeting, participants were asked to think as leaders for the professions as a whole. That invitation was met with generosity, openness, and a genuine spirit of collaboration. From these early conversations, three clear themes are emerging as we’ve set out in the meeting statement: inclusivity, flexibility and an aspirational offer. These will now provide a strong foundation for us to build on together as we move forward with common purpose to create practical and lasting solutions that serve all members.

The first big question we’re facing is: can and should the Royal College become the single unified and unifying body that meets the aspirations of all professionals working in pharmacy, potentially covering all four nations and both pharmacy professions? We have already heard a lot of support for that proposition, not least in our engagement webinars. But the next question is: what would it take to make this happen over time, and in a way that commends itself to all the organisations represented and their members? And are there other options?

Of course it is early days in the co-creation conversations. But we are now really getting down to brass tacks in our discussions.

At the main Board meeting, members supported the three themes and the direction of travel for co-creation and offered their support to future discussions. Board members as a whole are determined to build pharmacy professional leadership that feels ambitious, distinct, and future-facing, and which has a bold and attractive offer to make to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Our IEM, Patient and Public Reference Group and Academy of Medical Royal Colleges colleagues are playing a vital role in supporting the co-creation process as we move forward.

This work isn’t easy, and there remain big questions to discuss, but the direction is positive, and the energy is palpable. In engagement webinars and Board meetings it is great to see people start to come alive to the possibility of making a collaborative future a reality.

The engagement process is ongoing through the Autumn with more webinars planned by the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK and the RPS’s strategy engagement exercise – please get involved and have your say. This is a very important juncture for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the UK.

I’ll finish by highlighting our first Board Annual Report which has been published this month. It was an opportunity for me to reflect on how far we’ve come as a Board since we met first in April 2024. We’ve begun to shape what pharmacy professional leadership could look like for the future, and how we can bring people with us on that journey. This feels like a significant step forward; and while there is more to do, I believe that with your support we can achieve our collaborative goals.