The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and APTUK launched a “statement of intent for partnership working” at the Pharmacy Show in Birmingham on Monday (October 9).

As part of the joint venture, the RPS and APTUK will develop a “road map” over the next five years to help “guide and lead both pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to a consensus on roles and responsibilities within an effective and efficient pharmacy team”.

Speaking to C+D at the Pharmacy Show following the announcement, APTUK president Tess Fenn said the partnership looks to “align the two professional leadership bodies”.

“There are messages that cross all [General Pharmaceutical Council] registrants,” Ms Fenn said. “Our vision is the same: achieving better outcomes for patients and developing our members.”

“[Now] it’s about cementing that and publicly making that commitment to work together,” she added.

The RPS and APTUK will begin by “support[ing] registrants to meet the new revalidation requirements”, Ms Fenn told C+D.

Backfilling pharmacy technician roles

Ms Fenn added that it is “fantastic” that new roles are being developed for pharmacy technicians, including in care homes and GP surgeries, but she is “mindful” that community pharmacy technician roles need to be “backfilled”.

“Primary care is really taking off for technicians – which is fantastic, but we need to make sure there is sufficient workforce coming behind,” she said.

“We want to look at developing the community pharmacy technician role as well.”

Watch two pharmacy technicians share their experiences of working in GP surgeries and a care home.

Catch up on all the tweets from the Pharmacy Show with C+D's Storify.