Passing the baton
By Sir Hugh Taylor, Independent Chair
Creating a new future for pharmacy professional leadership in the UK
Creating a new future for pharmacy professional leadership in the UK is a bit like a relay race. For the first leg, the UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership carried the baton. It conducted a deep engagement exercise and made recommendations. The baton was passed for the second leg to the UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board (UKPPLAB), of which I have had the privilege of being the Independent Chair for the last two and a half years, working with pharmacy professional leaders from across eight leadership organisations, four countries and all sectors of practice.
We were given two remits drawn from the UK Commission’s recommendations: to collaborate on a programme of work covering core professional leadership functions; and to agree on a new model of effective and sustainable professional pharmacy leadership in the UK for the future. That we have successfully done. Now the time has come for us in turn to pass on the baton.
UK Pharmacy Professional Leadership Advisory Board – Final meeting
And so, on 9th June, we found ourselves at the final meeting of the UKPPLAB.
It really has been a genuine privilege to work alongside colleagues for over two years. We have faced challenges, navigated differing viewpoints, and had some difficult conversations. Yet throughout those discussions, we have managed to overcome differences and find a way forward, grounded in the statement of Vision and Common Purpose which we co-created together.
The Board itself has become an example of collaboration in action. Not because everyone always agreed, but because everyone remained committed to a shared goal. The result: unanimous agreement on an inclusive way forward for pharmacy professional leadership in the UK, as reflected in the Board’s recommendations published in our statement on 12 February, which will strengthen pharmacy’s collective voice and influence.
A Concordat for Delivery
Our final contribution was the publication of a Concordat for Delivery last week. This might sound like the sort of document that should arrive sealed with wax and accompanied by a brass band, but its purpose is simple. It is a delivery plan. It sets out how the organisations represented on the Board will continue working together to implement the Board’s recommendations: to co-create an ambitious and inclusive Royal College, to become the home for pharmacy professional leadership that everyone working in pharmacy across the UK deserves.
The Concordat is a commitment from leaders across the professions to continue the collaborative approach that has brought us this far. It provides a framework for delivering the Board's vision and offers assurance that this model of collaborative working among leadership organisations and professions will be sustained.
So, as the Concordat itself makes clear, the baton now passes – for the third leg - to the seven signatory organisations. The role of an advisory board is, by definition, to advise. Moreover, we were set up to be a transitional body. We have advised, convened, encouraged, collaborated and now recommended a way forward. The time has come to hand responsibility to those organisations to turn plans into action and ambition into reality.
And this next stage is also a transition – as the process of engaging on a strategy for the new Royal College intensifies and the opportunities for inclusion in the Royal College are pursued. Only when the delivery plan set out in the Concordat is successfully completed will the baton pass for the final time - to a fully integrated, ambitious, flourishing and inclusive Royal College of Pharmacy: the new home for pharmacy professional leadership in the UK.
Board’s Final Annual Report
Alongside the Concordat, we are also publishing the Board's final annual report. This provides an opportunity to reflect on the final 15 months of the Board's work. To take stock of the progress that has been made, and to recognise the considerable effort of everyone involved. If the Concordat sets out the road ahead, the annual report explains how we arrived at this point in the journey.
There is still work to do. The engagement with our renewed narrative for pharmacy professional leadership so far has been encouraging, but we should not assume the job is finished simply because a document has been signed. There are hearts and minds to win over still, and in some cases attention to capture.
The scale of the challenge ahead should not be underestimated. But neither should the determination to meet it. There is enormous energy, commitment and goodwill across the organisations involved. The right people are working together, and there is now a proven model of collaboration on which to build.
Priorities for the future
The priorities for the future are clear. Keep collaborating. Keep moving things forward. Keep bringing people with you. And keep making progress visible. If people can’t see what is changing, they will assume that nothing is.
And we must continue to involve patients and the public in this work. They are not an audience observing from the sidelines; they are the reason we are here in the first place. Whatever structures we create and agreements we sign, our purpose remains the same: improving care for the people and communities we serve. We must listen to and learn from them.
So, as this Board concludes its work, I feel gratitude for the opportunity to be involved, optimism for the future and perhaps a small sense of relief that I will no longer have to explain what the UKPPLAB acronym stands for.
The baton has been passed on. I wish the pharmacy professions across the UK well as they deliver an exciting future for collective professional leadership.
