Future Pharmacy Practice in Ireland - Meeting Patients' Needs Report

In 2016, the PSI published a major report examining the role of pharmacists in meeting the future needs of patients and the public in Ireland. The PSI’s Future Pharmacy Practice in Ireland - Meeting Patients' Needs report made several recommendations for the planning and delivery of pharmacy services and patient care.    

The report identified opportunities that would make the best use of pharmacists’ knowledge and expertise, both in community and hospital settings. The report also aimed to inform the role that the PSI could play as the pharmacy regulator in supporting pharmacists’ education and practice standards, to meet the identified changes.  

 The report which was commissioned by PSI in 2015, included an extensive consultation process involving patients, pharmacists, other healthcare professionals, regulatory bodies, and engagement with policy-makers including the Department of Health, HSE, and wider stakeholders.  

 The report recommended that a number of new roles for pharmacists in Ireland be considered:  

• Contributing to health and wellbeing initiatives through structured population health information and awareness campaigns and providing reliable information to the public on preventative medicine to support the maintenance and improvement of the health of the public.  
• Providing expertise in assisting patients to manage their chronic diseases and medication through structured initiatives and, where appropriate, through supplementary prescribing in collaboration with a patient’s GP.  
• Providing expertise in assisting patients to manage their chronic diseases and improve adherence to prescribed medicines by structured medicines initiatives, availing of ongoing disease monitoring and where appropriate, patients accessing medicines through supplementary prescribing by pharmacists, which allows therapy or medicines continuation in collaboration with a patient’s GP.  
• Managing medicines throughout the patient care pathway via structured initiatives such as medication reviews for at-risk and vulnerable patients in the community and local settings e.g. nursing homes; and the greater use and sharing of pharmacists’ medicines expertise throughout the patient pathway in acute settings, to increase safety, reduce medication errors, ease transfer of care and optimising the impact of medicines for patients.  

The extensive consultation process undertaken as part of the project was supplemented with national and international research on healthcare trends and best practice. The project steering group was chaired by Dr Norman Morrow, former Chief Pharmaceutical Officer at the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) in Northern Ireland.    

The four supporting papers of the report provide more information on the research and consultation undertaken:  

 Supporting Paper A - National and International Research  

Supporting Paper B - Consultation Programme  

Supporting Paper C - Innovation Paper  

Supporting Paper D - Potential cost avoidance opportunities