Lifelong learning: empowering excellence and growth
Published: 7 May 2025
This was published when the organisation was the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Investing time in active lifelong learning is more essential than ever. Lifelong learning enables pharmacists to enhance their expertise, apply new evidence, adopt innovative technologies and respond effectively to emerging health and care priorities, ultimately to deliver safe and effective care to their patients and the public. However, more than that, it reflects a deeper commitment to continuously developing ourselves so we can adapt to change, support our colleagues and build a profession that’s flexible and more prepared for the future.
At the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, education and professional development sit at the heart of our purpose. We are committed to helping members achieve excellence and grow throughout their careers, through the provision of learning that is practical, relevant and designed to meet real-world needs.
We’re proud to have launched RPS Learn (now RCPharm Learn), a new platform bringing together all our learning content in one place. Developed with the profession, for the profession, it offers bite-sized learning to support pharmacists at every stage of their journey, whether you are consolidating core knowledge and skills, preparing for new opportunities or expanding into new areas of practice.
Looking ahead, lifelong learning will remain a cornerstone of our work. We’ll continue to grow our learning offer, with content that’s accessible and inclusive, and designed for different learning styles and needs. We’ll use insights and innovative approaches to bring our members engaging content across clinical practice, professional skills, leadership, management, education and research and evaluation. In 2025, we’ll have new content in the areas of women’s health, cancer care, mentoring and prescribing practice. We are also collaborating with several specialist interest groups to develop exciting learning modules to support clinical areas of practice.
I encourage you to explore RPS Learn (now RCPharm Learn) and take the next step in your professional development. We also want to hear from you – your ideas, your needs, your preferences for learning. If you have suggestions for future content, please complete our content suggestion form. Together, we’ll shape learning that supports the profession to advance and reach excellence.
Related blogs
Pharmacy’s role in reducing health inequalities for people with a learning disability and autism
This was published when the organisation was the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Listening and learning from people’s experiences At NHS England, people with lived experience of learning disability and autism work in co-production with healthcare professionals, including pharmacists. Learning from people’s personal experiences adds unique quality to our work. We are passionate about STOMP (Stopping the over medication of people with a learning disability and autism of all ages) and STAMP (Start appropriate medication in Paediatrics). We all need to work together so that people are only prescribed the right medication, for the right length of time and for the right reasons. We were both proud to present at the Action in Belonging, Culture and Diversity (ABCD) group. The group meets every two months with the aim of improving inclusivity across pharmacy services. Members talked about the benefits and impact of having a person with a learning disability present at the group. What opportunities are there in your role to listen to and respond to the views and experiences of people with lived experience? Aaron's personal experience of medication I became mentally unwell and was diagnosed with anxiety and depression. The doctor gave me 50mg Sertraline and 30mg Propranolol, said I may experience side effects and would review my medication in a year’s time. I had never taken any psychotropic medication before. I put on a lot of weight, had nightmares and became so unwell I was off work for four months. I made another doctor's appointment and explained how unwell I was feeling. The doctor took me off Sertraline and prescribed me 30mg Citalopram. I started feeling like myself again. There are things that the doctor should have done differently, but there are also things the pharmacy team could have done to help me understand and have the best experience of medication, including: Using plain English when talking, giving me written information and checking I have understood it; Asking me about other medication I am taking now or have taken in the past; Offering information about the medication prescribed and how to take it; Explaining any possible side effects, and what I should do if I experience any; Asking if I have difficulties swallowing; Explaining the best way to take the medication, for example, drink with water not fizzy drinks. Resources to improve inclusivity of pharmacy services Aaron’s experience is not unique. At NHS England, we often hear from people with a learning disability, autistic people and their families about the challenges they face when accessing health services. It is clear from Aaron’s experience that there is more that all pharmacy teams can do to improve care for people with a learning disability. Teams in community pharmacy, within primary care networks and in hospitals have their part to play. This includes: Understanding, recording and implementing reasonable adjustments to make access to pharmaceutical care more comfortable; Being STOMP and STAMP aware to educate people about psychotropic medications. Learn more about STOMP awareness and access STOMP training; Thinking about your communication style to ensure care is accessible and adjusted to the person. Find out more from the CPPE learning Disability Hub; Being learning disability aware: CPPE; Completing the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in learning disability and autism awareness. Read more blogs.
Building confidence as a pharmacist prescriber
Why support matters after you qualify as a prescriber.