We're calling for digital skills to be recognised as a core competency for all healthcare professionals, following a roundtable event that brought together leaders in pharmacy education, digital innovation and healthcare policy.

The Digital Innovation and Education Roundtable took place in June and convened experts from across England, Scotland and Wales, academia, the General Pharmaceutical Council and technology providers to explore how digital transformation can be accelerated across pharmacy and wider healthcare services.

The event highlighted a shared vision that digital and AI literacy is now essential for pharmacy teams. As healthcare shifts from analogue to digital, the ability of professionals to engage with digital tools, data, and AI must be embedded into education, training and daily practice.

Darren Powell, Chair of the RPS Digital Pharmacy Expert Advisory Group, said:

“Pharmacy professionals should have education and training on digital skills and the benefits and risks of AI systems in pharmacy practice. These must be introduced into undergraduate and foundation training programmes.

“We need to equip every member of the pharmacy workforce with the confidence and competence to critically assess and use digital tools to ensure safe, effective and equitable patient care for all.”

The RPS Digital Innovation and Education Roundtable Report outlines key findings from the roundtable event, including:

• Education reform: Pharmacy students and professionals must be trained to interpret AI outputs, understand digital health platforms, and apply data-driven insights in clinical decision-making.
• Skills development: There is an urgent need to upskill the current workforce, with tailored training for different sectors including community, primary care, hospital and portfolio pharmacists.
• Clinical informatics careers: Clearer career pathways into clinical informatics are needed. As part of this, RPS pledged to support credentialing and leadership development in digital pharmacy roles.
• System integration and usability: Integrated digital pathways, shared care records and user-friendly platforms like the NHS App are vital to improving outcomes and reducing fragmented patient care and clinician burnout.

RPS will continue conversations across the devolved nations for a unified digital strategy in pharmacy, facilitate deep-dive events on AI and digital capabilities and support the development of professional standards where gaps exist.

Read the RPS Digital innovation and education roundtable report 

Find out more about our policy on digital capabilities for the pharmacy workforce.

Take a look at our policy on artificial intelligence in pharmacy.