What are the major issues facing community pharmacy as a profession in Europe today?
The major challenge for the profession is to further develop its role as a major contributor to health systems, not only in the core function of helping to ensure rational and appropriate use of medicines, but also in expanding the range of services available to patients at the pharmacy. The UK has to some extent lead the way here, but now we are seeing interesting developments in, to name three, France, Italy and Portugal. I think European policymakers are increasingly waking up to pharmacy’s potential. At the same time, we are seeing traditional regulatory structures under threat, falling remuneration, new forms of distribution, and even, as has been suggested in Sweden, de-skilling of the profession itself. All in all, we are living through an extraordinarily dynamic period in Europe. New opportunities are opening up at the same time that old certainties about regulation and the economic position of pharmacists are beginning to weaken. You have issued a number of documents in recent
