The future of medicines use and access research: using the Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice as a platform for change

Worldwide, a community pharmacy is generally the most common point at which the public accesses medicines, as well as health advice. However, in many countries, community pharmacy is seen as having interests that are oppositional to public health and motivated purely by profit. As a result, community pharmacy as a sector is often marginalised from the health and social care system. It is seen as a rather insular profession, busy with its own concerns, and not engaged with debates and decisions in the wider world of health policy [8]. Medicines use issues at the points of transition between ambulatory and institutional healthcare are also fertile areas for investigation and innovation.

Worldwide, a community pharmacy is generally the most common point at which the public accesses medicines, as well as health advice. However, in many countries, community pharmacy is seen as having interests that are oppositional to public health and motivated purely by profit. As a result, community pharmacy as a sector is often marginalised from the health and social care system. It is seen as a rather insular profession, busy with its own concerns, and not engaged with debates and decisions in the wider world of health policy [8]. Medicines use issues at the points of transition between ambulatory and institutional healthcare are also fertile areas for investigation and innovation.