Celebrating 15 years of the home of clinical pharmacy- Clinical Pharmacy Congress London 2026 advisory board insights

Following a record-breaking 2025 edition that saw the largest attendance in the event’s history, the Clinical Pharmacy Congress London advisory board has set its sights on an even more ambitious programme for next year. As CPC marks its 15th anniversary, the event will celebrate pharmacy’s evolution over the past decade and a half, as well as looking decisively to the next chapter.

Since the publication of the NHS 10-Year Health Plan in the summer, the national conversation has shifted. Clinical pharmacy now needs to be a strategic leader in delivering system-wide transformation. The advisory board reinforced the need for the content programme to reflect the pace of change across pharmacy, the NHS and the wider healthcare landscape.

Across two packed days and 12 theatres, the 2026 agenda will confront the most pressing issues facing pharmacy professionals today, from the realities of medicine shortages and supply chain resilience to the opportunities of digital innovation, independent prescribing reforms and new workforce models.

At the heart of the programme lies the NHS 10-Year Health Plan and its three defining shifts- from treatment to prevention, analogue to digital, and hospital to home. Advisory board members emphasised that pharmacy now sits at the intersection of all three of these, due to its key role in managing medicines across care pathways and unique position in driving the neighbourhood-level integration to improve population health.

When examining these shifts, the advisory board were particularly interested in understanding how hospital pharmacy will intersect with the emerging neighbourhood health model, now being piloted across 43 sites nationwide. To reflect this momentum, the Primary Care Theatre will be positioned as a dedicated theatre to spotlight how pharmacy professionals are embedding themselves within multidisciplinary neighbourhood teams and working across primary, community and hospital settings to deliver more integrated, local, preventative care.

Delegates can also expect practical, forward-looking sessions that go beyond clinical updates to tackle the practicalities of implementing change. A key highlight will be the much-anticipated debate around the Single National Formulary- one of the most consequential policy developments in decades. With early developments expected to crystallise by May, delegates are seeking insights from NHS leaders and policy drivers on what this means for frontline pharmacy practice, commissioning, and clinical decision making.

Within at least 40% of the programme dedicated to clinical content, the therapy areas that continued to dominate the conversation were the long-term conditions, particularly diabetes, cardiovascular, respiratory, mental health and obesity management. These areas are prevalent due to the renewed focus on the prevention focus of the 10-Year Health Plan.

Alongside clinical content, delegates can expect a strong emphasis on topics exploring leadership, education and workforce development. For example, with independent prescribing now embedded in the foundation training year, the programme will include an honest evaluation of its progress, from DPP capacity to workplace readiness. Similarly, the growing autonomy of Pharmacy Technicians and their expanding roles continues to be of interest and CPC provides an excellent showcase for this invaluable audience segment. Across all theatres, expect discussions on empathy, resilience, time management, financial wellbeing, and leadership to drive forward national strategy.

As CPC London 2026 marks a significant anniversary, in May, we will be celebrating 15 years of advancing pharmacy practice with a special retrospective campaign capturing milestones, delegate memories and the profession’s evolution. We are excited to mark the occasion and look forward to the next 15 years of supporting the clinical pharmacy profession.

The Clinical Pharmacy Congress London returns on 8-9 May 2026, with the full programme launching in the early new year. Join us to celebrate 15 years of progress and to be part of the conversation shaping where clinical pharmacy goes next.