The event – part of the regulator’s “programme of work” on the issue – aims to be an “open discussion” on pressures in pharmacy, the GPhC told C+D last week (September 20).

Attendees will be able to discuss “any pressures” that affect them, the regulator said in response to C+D’s question about whether service targets will be addressed.

“Cross-sectorial experience”

A “wide range of stakeholders”, including pharmacy professionals in “a variety of different roles”, representatives from pharmacy organisations, professional leadership bodies and patient groups, will share “cross-sectorial experience” at the October 18 event, the GPhC said.

Delegates will hear from those with “direct experience” in dealing with workplace pressures, as well as leadership and professionalism experts including GPhC director of strategy Hugh Simpson and the head of thought leadership at think tank the King’s Fund, Professor Michael West, it added.

The event will be chaired by Professor Nairn Wilson, former president of the British Dental Association.

The regulator will look at the event’s outcomes before it determines the next steps for its programme on pressures, it added.

In June, the regulator said it would investigate workplace pressures experienced by pharmacy professionals, after a Pharmacists’ Defence Association survey revealed that 55% of just under 2,000 employee and locum pharmacists at the multiples feel commercial incentives or targets compromise patient safety or professional judgement "around half" of the time or more. 

At the time, the GPhC said the event would give professionals “inside and outside of pharmacy” the chance to address the issues raised.