On the occasion of World Cancer Day, February 4, the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) and the European Society of Oncology Pharmacy (ESOP) jointly issued a call for hospital pharmacist development by presenting a five point recommendations to the national and international health policy makers in order to further advance cancer patient care and outcomes.

EAHP and ESOP’s a five point plan provides a framework that urges health policy makers to give thought to on World Cancer Day as they consider how to improve cancer care in their jurisdiction. Both the associations have issued a short five point summary of recommendations to national and international health policy makers urging them to recognise the need to encourage the role of the pharmacist in multi-professional cancer care teams so that it will help to ensure flexibility of service, best use of workforce skills and best outcomes for patients.

It further requested them to promote the concept of having a lead oncology pharmacist in cancer centres to manage and organise pharmaceutical care and develop and implement clear standards in the management and assessment of chemotherapy treatment and the quality of oncology clinical pharmacy service provision.

In its representation it appreciated the specialised nature of hospital pharmacy, and the hospital pharmacist’s particular expertise in working with specialised and novel medications; and urged to support high standards in hospital pharmacy service through the development of accredited and certified hospital pharmacy qualifications, including oncology.

Dr Roberto Frontini, president of the EAHP said, “Every one of us is affected by cancer and all of us will know someone taken by this prevalent class of disease. We all therefore have a direct stake in seeing continuous improvement of cancer care across Europe. Central to achieving that is advancing the role of the hospital pharmacist in the treatment pathway.”

Klaus Meier, president of ESOP said, “Improving the standard of cancer care in Europe requires close collaboration across professions, health systems and countries. ESOP and EAHP are working together to raise educational and service standards in hospital and oncology pharmacy across all our member countries. However, to achieve this in full we need the support of health policy planners at all levels. We hope this five point plan can form a basis for securing greater levels of practical support.”

Pharmacists play a key part in cancer care in such roles as medical oncology, haematology, palliative care and chemotherapy preparation services. Appropriately trained and competent pharmacists are responsible for accurate preparation, dispensing and clinical verification of patients’ chemotherapy, targeted therapy and supportive medication orders.

However both EAHP and ESOP are ambitious to see further development of the pharmacist’s role in cancer treatment and see unrealised opportunities at the European and national level for increasing the input of pharmacist expertise to treatment decisions and the patient experience.

The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) is a working community of national associations of hospital pharmacists. Its membership includes representatives of national hospital pharmacy associations in almost all the European Union (EU) member states, in addition to Switzerland, Norway, Serbia, Turkey, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia (FYROM) and Bosnia Herzegovina .

The European Society of Oncology Pharmacy (ESOP) is constituted of 31 member countries and has 2,600 members. The Society’s primary aim is to support the optimal treatment for cancer patients. It does this by developing and promoting clinical and oncology pharmacy practice and making information on knowledge and achievements in cancer treatment and activities available to the public.