Pharmacy best practice in Scotland
Explore how pharmacy teams across Scotland are putting the Pharmacy 2030 vision into practice. Discover inspiring case studies, watch best practice examples and share your own successes.
Best practice event
Watch the fantastic plenary session from our Pharmacy 2030 Celebrating Best Practice event, held in Glasgow on 29 May 2022.
Submit your examples
Help us promote the best examples of Scottish pharmacy practice and submit your examples of best practice for review.
Written case studies
Read our case studies of best practice in different settings across Scotland, supporting the aims of our professional vision for the future – Pharmacy 2030.
Video case studies
Watch pharmacists from across Scotland talk about their examples of best pharmacy practice and hear from pharmacy teams as they offer valuable insights.
News and Blogs
Where does Pharmacy fit into Scotland’s public service reform agenda?
The new Scottish Government is prioritising public service reform, in their words, to ensure public services are inclusive, sustainable, and effective in improving people’s outcomes. As the Royal College for Pharmacy, we believe that utilising pharmacy in the most appropriate ways is key to ensuring the success of public service reform in healthcare. We exist to improve patient outcomes and advocate for thousands of pharmacists across all sectors. We’re very active in lobbying the Government for concrete policy changes which would improve patient outcomes, you can read these in our 2026 Election Manifesto for Scotland. As a key stakeholder already advocating strongly for public service reform, we recently responded to the Scottish Parliament’s Public Service Reform Committee’s consultation on this topic. However, we are concerned that the Public Service Reform Committee consultation does not create sufficient space for stakeholders to contribute ideas about the fundamental redesign of services. That’s why we’ve published an open letter to the Scottish Government and everyone with an interest in Public Service Reform in Scotland. In our letter, we call for public service reform to focus on redesigning services, not simply reducing budgets or workforce numbers. Reform should make better use of the pharmacy workforce, accelerate digital transformation through integrated health and care records, expand preventative care, and break down organisational barriers to deliver more joined-up, person-centred services. We know that pharmacists are an underutilised clinical resource that can improve access to care, deliver independent prescribing, deliver appropriate care to reduce pressure on hospitals and other NHS services, and help deliver better outcomes for patients across Scotland. Fiona McIntyre FRCPharm, Policy and Practice Lead for the Royal College of Pharmacy in Scotland has set out more about what genuine public service reform would look like for pharmacy in her blog ‘Pharmacists must be fully integrated into the NHS’. In this piece, she argues that pharmacists must be fully integrated into the NHS if Scotland is to meet future healthcare challenges and maximise the benefits of recent pharmacy education and legislative reforms. With all pharmacists now qualifying as independent prescribers, pharmacy teams have significant potential to support a focus on prevention, manage long-term conditions and provide care close to home. Achieving this will require better integration of community pharmacy into NHS services, universal access to shared digital health records, greater investment in pharmacy teams, and the redesign of care pathways so that pharmacists can work at the top of their clinical expertise. We look forward to continuing to work with the Scottish Government, MSPs and other stakeholders to achieve fundamental reform of pharmacy services, supporting the Scottish Government's ambition to improve outcomes for people across Scotland. Laura Wilson FRCPharm Director for Scotland
Why you should stand: insights from an elected RPS board member
With nominations for the royal college’s new National Pharmacy Advisory Councils underway, Audrey Thompson offers candid insights into the impact elected members can make — and why you shouldn’t hesitate to stand.
RPS Scotland advises parliamentary committee on remote and rural healthcare
RPS's Director for Scotland emphasises a holistic and 'whole system' Government policy approach around rural care, and training for pharmacists.