Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she is taking steps to improve (a) the training of pharmacists on and (b) their access to new drug therapies.

As a regulated profession, pharmacists have a professional responsibility to keep up to date and must complete a revalidation process with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) annually to provide assurance of competence. In 2021, the GPhC published new learning outcomes for the Initial Education and Training of Pharmacists, including learning outcomes that specifically relate to novel and new therapies. To support this outcome, NHS England commissioned new learning resources within the e-learning for healthcare provisions.