Facilitators and barriers to expanding scope of practice for pharmacist independent prescribers in North Wales: a qualitative study

Davies, Rachel Louise Kloss, Deslandes, Rhian ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2727-1797 and Yemm, Rowan 2025. Facilitators and barriers to expanding scope of practice for pharmacist independent prescribers in North Wales: a qualitative study. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice , riaf117. 10.1093/ijpp/riaf117

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Abstract

Objectives: To explore factors that either enable or hinder pharmacist independent prescribers (PIPs) when they expand the scope of their prescribing practice. Methods: Following ethical approval, PIPs who had expanded their scope of practice since qualifying, who worked within one Health Board in North Wales, self-declared minimum 2 years’ experience and prescribed once a month or more were recruited via gatekeepers to a semi-structured interview study. Thematic analysis was utilized after de-identification of verbatim transcripts. Key findings: Both intrinsic and extrinsic themes were identified. Confidence and attitude were intrinsic themes that acted as facilitators. Extrinsic themes included support, governance, service, and workplace. Support was a key facilitator encompassing mentors, time, funding, management, peers, structured programs, space for reflective practice and accessible colleague advice. Lack of each of these support factors was perceived as a barrier. Governance frameworks were deemed enabling by some and restrictive by other participants. Service factors (for example new roles, or skill mix change within teams) and workplace factors (including multidisciplinary working and role models) both enabled scope expansion. Not working in a multidisciplinary team setting was seen as a barrier. Conclusions: Previous studies on implementation in independent prescribing (IP) identified similar themes, suggesting scope expansion for PIPs is enabled by the same factors that support development of IP in general. Further research with different contexts or methodology is required to validate these results and inform future guidance on this topic.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	In Press
Schools:	Schools > Pharmacy
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: cc-by
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0961-7671
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	4 December 2025
Date of Acceptance:	28 August 2025
Last Modified:	04 Dec 2025 14:54
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/182902

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