Recently at the University of Hertfordshire, a new school for pharmacy was launched. This will increase the number of pharmacists in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. It is expected that giving training for pharmacists would improve the access to health services to the community. This would also make 24 hr pharmacy a reality.

At the launch of the new school there were about two hundred guests, which included the local pharmacists and representatives from the community. In a video-clip presented at the launch, the stakeholders were happy that the new school of pharmacy will address the shortage of pharmacists in the locality and enable the professional people to work in their areas.

The guest of honour was the president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. He praised the school saying that it is testimonial to leadership and provides an opportunity for the industry and the academy to work together.

The students will be learning about new clinic skills. The school is part of the Faculty of Health and Sciences. There are about 54 students at present and they are part of the Mpharm course. The school has unique features like interprofessional learning modules and will include the school of nursing, radiography and midwifery in the module too.

The pharmacists will be trained in diagnosis and medication process. This will make them take up new arenas in the non-medical area. There will be new facilities like a chemistry laboratory provided to the students. They will be having new labs for physiology and pharmacology. In the laboratory there will be a separate area for sterile suits and one for formulation sciences. They will also be provided by video links so that they can carry out live consultations with patients.

One professor commented that Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire face an acute shortage of pharmacists. She believes that the new school will attract students and this would help deal with the shortage of pharmacists.