To celebrate World Pharmacists Day, pharmacy leaders have highlighted the vital role pharmacists play in providing expert medicines advice and supporting safe, effective and efficient healthcare for patients.
World Pharmacists Day has been led by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) every year since 2009 and it takes place on 25 September to mark the anniversary of the inception of FIP in 1912.
This year’s theme is ‘Pharmacy strengthening health systems’, and messages of support have been shared across the UK and beyond.
‘Our profession inspires me every day’
Professor Claire Anderson, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), described World Pharmacists Day as ‘a moment to reflect on our accomplishments as a profession and express gratitude for the remarkable efforts of pharmacy teams in promoting and preserving health.’
‘The challenges we face as the experts in medicines are significant, but our profession inspires me every day through its focus and impact on patient care,’ she said.
‘Integral to healthcare provision’
‘Pharmacists are integral to healthcare provision and they are guardians of medicines and prescribing safety; they are advocates for patient education and shared decision making across all systems,’ said Laura Buckley, primary care lead at the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists and a regional ambassador for the Primary Care Pharmacy Association (PCPA).
And she said that World Pharmacists Day was an opportunity to ‘celebrate the impact that pharmacists have in healthcare, on patients and their families, their colleagues in pharmacy, and in the wider multidisciplinary team’.
‘Pharmacists critical for healthcare around the world’
Paul Day, director of the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA), described pharmacists as ‘critical for healthcare around the world’.
And he added that the PDA was ‘delighted’ to now be part of FIP, the organisation behind the day of celebration.
APPG chair thanks pharmacists for ‘tireless’ work
Pharmacy All-Party Parliamentary Group chair Taiwo Owatemi thanked pharmacists for their ‘hard work’ caring for communities.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, she said that as an NHS cancer pharmacist, she knew first hand ‘how tirelessly pharmacists work to support our NHS and deliver vital services to people across the country’.
Crucial role in the NHS
Chief pharmaceutical officer (CPhO) for England, David Webb, said in a video on X that pharmacists in all settings play a crucial role across the NHS.
And he said that he had seen ‘amazing contributions’ made by pharmacists to patient care and multidisciplinary teams.
He added that pharmacy in England had an ‘exciting future’, highlighting changes to professional practice such as the advent of independent prescribing on a more widespread sale, which he said would benefit patients everywhere.
‘Vital contribution to delivering and improving health care’
CPhO for Northern Ireland, Professor Cathy Harrison also shared a video on X saying that pharmacists ‘make a vital contribution to delivering and improving healthcare’.
‘Pharmacists can offer expert help quickly’
The Department of Health and Social Care also posted on X to highlight the ‘vital role’ that pharmacists play in the community, offering ‘expert help quickly on a range of minor illnesses, with no appointment needed’.
Representatives from community pharmacy bodies such as the National Pharmacy Association, Community Pharmacy England, the Company Chemists’ Association, the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies and others also highlighted the crucial and evolving work of community pharmacists in supporting their patients and communities.
A version of this story was originally published by our sister publication The Pharmacist.
