Clinical Pharmacy Congress 2025
Year 2 of bringing AI to the CPC agenda
How could AI be used in Pharmacy?
“It’s natural to wonder if there will be a jobless future or not. What we’ve concluded, based on much research, is that there will be jobs lost, but also gained and changed. The number of jobs gained and changed is going to be a much larger number, so if you ask me if I worry about a jobless future, I actually don’t. That’s the least of my worries.” [watch video]
— James Manyika, senior vice president of research, technology and society, Google
Last Friday I was part of a panel discussion at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress discussing this exact point. With a megastar cast of Adam Khimji (Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust as the chair, the other megastar panelists were Stephanie Lurshay (Guys & St Thomas'), Claire Harrison (MHRA) and Rahul Singal (NHSE).
The reception we had was incredible. The discussion was one of the most attended I'd seen at CPC and shows how important a topic AI is to the profession. The three key takeaways are:
1. Embrace change but be sceptical and inquisitive
2. We need a culture of innovation where education of AI, and the opportunity to try new things are encouraged. Without education, it's tricky for innovators and adopters to understand one another clearly.
3. Safety is important in using AI. Ensuring technologies have undergone appropriate regulatory scrutiny and are compliant with the right standards is key for security and patient safety.
I'd like to thank Adam and my fellow panellists for their time and the audience for being such good listeners. Thank you to Julia Dowden for her support in setting up the panel. Look out for more at a future CPC.