Developing National Health Service pharmacists as researchers : learning from the Scottish Pharmacist Clinical Academic Fellowship Programme

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Depasquale, Clare and Roberts, Susan and Zlotos, Leon and Bennie, Marion and Sturrock, Andrew and Cunningham, Scott (2026) Developing National Health Service pharmacists as researchers : learning from the Scottish Pharmacist Clinical Academic Fellowship Programme. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice. ISSN 2042-7174 (https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpp/riag008)

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Abstract

In the United Kingdom (UK), the vision is to further develop the pharmacy workforce through career development pathways aligning to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s post-registration foundation, advanced, and consultant practice curricula, which align with the four pillars of advanced practice recognized across multiple healthcare professionals—clinical practice, leadership and management, education, and research. However, it has been recognized that research capacity, competency, and confidence within the pharmacy profession require development. It has been noted that it is this ‘pillar’ that most frequently impedes successful credentialing at both ‘Core advanced’ and ‘Consultant levels’. A report presenting the findings of a UK-wide call for evidence on clinical academic careers in pharmacy outlines recommendations to embed a research culture in pharmacy careers, develop a clinical academic pathway for pharmacy, and provide a pipeline of pharmacy research leaders. The establishment of such pathways would provide opportunities for building capacity within the profession. The Scottish Pharmacist Clinical Academic Fellowship (SPCAF) programme was created to develop a network of Clinical Academic Pharmacist posts; a collaborative initiative between National Health Service Education for Scotland and the two Pharmacy Higher Education Institutions in Scotland is aimed at developing pharmacists as researchers to advance pharmaceutical care within the National Health Service in Scotland. This commentary presents a summary of an archival review completed as part of a wider research programme that adopted a case study approach with the purpose of evaluating the SPCAF programme cohort 1 (2021–23). The scope is to support others looking to develop similar practice-based research programmes aiming to build research capacity, competence, and confidence in the pharmacy workforce.

ORCID iDs

Depasquale, Clare, Roberts, Susan, Zlotos, Leon, Bennie, Marion ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4046-629X, Sturrock, Andrew and Cunningham, Scott;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)