Building the future of pharmacy together – Your College Your home Our future
Published: 6 November 2026
I’m conscious that for many people much of the Board of Trustees’ work over the past few months has been behind the scenes. To shed some light — a sharp focus has been on ensuring our new governance structures are up and running and working effectively. The new Board, with a majority of pharmacy professionals who are elected from the membership, was set up in April. It has been refining the rules (standing orders) by which our various governance bodies operate — this includes the National Pharmacy Advisory Councils for England, Scotland and Wales, as well as the Senate.
We’ve established subcommittees on finance, risk and remuneration. We’ve also agreed to set up a scoping group to further work on equality, diversity and inclusion across the organisation and have reviewed and established more than 25 internal policies reflecting our new charitable status. A significant milestone was becoming additionally registered in August with the OSCR, the Scottish Charity Regulator, which is essential to our new structure as a charity and ensures we reflect our footprint across Great Britain.
The Trustee Board holds ultimate responsibility for the Royal College of Pharmacy’s governance, strategy and legal compliance. Meanwhile, the Senate, led by our elected President Tase Oputu, advises the Board on professional matters affecting pharmacy, including our work on supporting members, education and credentialing.
And latterly we’ve been focusing on what comes next — I’m delighted to be able to share my thoughts on ‘Building the future of pharmacy: our transition strategy for 2026-2028‘, which we unveiled today at our annual conference.
Its purpose is, very simply, to get us to where we need to be as an organisation by 2028, and to lay down the foundations for our long-term strategy, which will be developed with our members, the public and the wider profession.
Firstly, I feel I should address the obvious question: why transition strategy? Partly it is because we are still a young Board, trustees were only appointed in April. Most importantly, reflecting your feedback, we want to have more comprehensive engagement over the next few months with members, the public and the wider profession before we put in place a strategy for the long term.
As a Board, we do have a clear picture of what the organisation needs to look like to deliver for our members and the wider profession, but we want this to be informed and shaped by everyone involved as we create a long-term strategy. This is very much summed up in Your College, Your home, Our future.
By 2028, we want the College to be the professional home, authoritative voice and recognised leadership body for pharmacy. This means that pharmacy professionals, the profession and the public, across the health and pharmacy landscape, will experience a College that is more member-focused, more influential, visible and open. An organisation that can demonstrate its impact on patients and the public that is committed to actions, partnerships and delivery.
Theory of change and key priorities
We have chosen to build our transition strategy around a theory of change, which I consider a positive element of good charity governance. A theory of change links the environment we’re working in with the outcomes we’re aiming for and, crucially, how we get there. Our transition strategy sets out four strategic priorities with clearly defined actions that will help us achieve them.
The first priority is to establish the College. Now the foundations have been laid, the work begins on raising the profile of our work, strengthening pharmacy advocacy through partnerships and showcasing innovation.
Our second priority is to become the home of pharmacy. The College will be an inclusive, supportive home for its members and the wider profession.
To get there we will engage more deeply with specialist pharmacy groups, pharmacy technicians and colleagues in Northern Ireland. On membership of pharmacy technicians, we will outline proposals to both professions. This would be a significant change, which is why we are not rushing into it. It will need the support of members from both the College and APTUK. Our objective is to reach a position on how this will best be achieved to bring pharmacy together and establish the College as the professional leadership body to meet the aspirations of the profession and benefit patients.
The third priority is the advancement of pharmacy to provide excellence in patient care. This means supporting pharmacists to expand their practice safely. It is about building a workforce that is confident and capable of adapting to future healthcare needs. And it’s an area where we’re already making great strides — as I will come to shortly.
And the fourth priority is to transform member experience and engagement. We want to enhance our member offer that meets the needs of our membership in the rapidly changing healthcare landscape. Again, this means seeking views, listening to and acting on their feedback.
This transitional period will see us build on those foundations. A key part of our work going forward is engagement around the College’s long-term strategy. We are starting today with the launch of Your voice: Create RCPharm’s future — a conversation with members, partners, wider pharmacy and the public on their views on the future. As part of this we are inviting everyone to give their views on the Your voice portal.
In 2027, we are planning digital engagement, face-to-face discussions and events to help develop our long-term strategy.
Real change, now
I want to finish by acknowledging some of the other important work the College has carried out in recent months that is already having impact. The list is long, but includes the Scottish and Welsh conferences, speaking up in support of community pharmacy teams and responding to a significant policy announcement on Pharmacy First in England.
At the beginning of the autumn, I was particularly pleased to see the new enhanced curriculum and credentialing pathway launched. This work is significant, not just because of the important impact it will have on the quality and safety of pharmacy services, but also because it was co-designed with pharmacists, employers, educators, patient representatives and partners from different sectors of pharmacy across the UK. Work such as this gives a concrete example of what we can achieve as a royal college: bringing the profession and stakeholders together across the health and education space to deliver positive change.
The transition strategy is about creating the conditions for us to do more of this work, providing the professional leadership that is so essential in the constantly shifting healthcare landscape.
Read our transition strategy to find out more.
Visit the Your voice portal to share your views and help shape the future of the College.
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