In terms of identifying the Statements that are most relevant to the organisations that regulate or provide quality accreditation for hospitals or who regulate the healthcare professionals who work within the hospitals a good starting point would be to check the patient Stakeholder pages as what you will find here is what patients said they wanted from a hospital pharmacy along with what healthcare professionals believed was needed, doctors and nurses.

Section 5, dealing with patient safety and quality assurance  is one part of ensuring a ‘quality’ service for the patient. Other key elements of the quality agenda include working to the optimal outcome for the patient and ensuring the patient is well informed about the treatment they are being offered.

Hospitals should have standards of practice for their hospital pharmacy  and where the hospital does not have their own hospital pharmacy they should be able to demonstrate that they have access to a hospital pharmacist for advice.

For those regulators with a remit for healthcare professionals they should be aware of the need to train staff in managing the risk posed by parenteral medicines  and for hospital pharmacists that the baseline training as a pharmacist recognises the higher risks posed by the medicines used within hospitals and the level of acuity of the patients receiving those medicines. Additionally, such regulators should determine whether there is a need for hospital pharmacists to be recognised as a specialty, as is the case already in some European countries.

Finally, given the increasing concern over antimicrobial resistance regulators and accreditors of hospital services should consider checking how well the antimicrobial stewardship agenda is being delivered. Within hospitals this is best achieved through a well-functioning Drug & Therapeutics Committee and a formulary that has representation from medical specialists in the field and hospital pharmacists

The 44 European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy cover the full range of services provided from hospital pharmacies across Europe. However, not all hospital pharmacies provide all the services covered by the Statements. This does mean that some Statements have greater importance than others for some hospital pharmacies.

The same is true for Stakeholders, some Statements will appear to have greater relevance than others. Stakeholders are encouraged to examine all the Statements for relevance to them. However, what is provided below are links to either sections of the Statements or the individual Statements where there is believed to be greater relevance. The choices have been driven through comments received from the various Stakeholders.