Health Services Research and Pharmacy Practice (HSRPP) 2026 conference
PCRNI Research Nurses attended the Health Services Research and Pharmacy Practice (HSRPP) 2026 conference on 23rd -24th of April hosted by Queen’s University Belfast. The conference showcased the power of research in pharmacy with attendee representation from across the globe.
Prof. Carmel Hughes and Dr. Heather Barry opened the conference with a recognition of the importance of research in healthcare improvements and the future of clinical care, with a running theme of “following the science” guiding the presentations over the two days. We were reminded by Prof. Mike Clarke of NICTU how patients in research-active settings have better outcomes than those in non-research active settings. Following on was a series of rapid fire 1-minute presentations from researchers explaining their recent research which attendees were invited to visit their poster stands displayed in the Isdell Courtyard in Riddel Hall.
Collaboration in research was recognised as a vital component for research success, with communication skills featuring in two of the four workshops. There were sessions on pharmacy in Primary Care which show cased research on ‘addressing the needs of ethnic minority populations with common mental health conditions in UK primary care settings’, ‘prescribing trends in treating helicobacter pylori in Ireland 2012-2022’, and a qualitative study to ‘understand pharmacists’ application of prescribing Scope of Practice when working in generalist roles in primary care’, which led to interesting discussions about the variance experienced and practice by the attending audience.
Sessions on Secondary Care research looked at ‘transitions of care for patients taking anticoagulants’, ‘inappropriate prescribing for heart failure’ and also research on the theme of polypharmacy and pharmacy-led prescribing interventions.
Other session categories included Optimising Medication Use with research on ‘digital prescribing and dispensing’, ‘managing uncertainty when reviewing polypharmacy’ and ‘supporting informal carers in medication management’.
The sessions on Older People related mainly to research on dementia.
The sessions on the Education of pharmacy students showed research on ‘peer-involved objective structured clinical examination’, with other research on ‘longitudinal primary care placements’ the impact of a ‘digital diagnostics webinar’ and ‘simulation’ on student education.
The Primary Care Research Nursing team were grateful for this opportunity to engage with the researchers, to learn from the vast amount of experience present and identify areas for collaboration across the Primary Care field.
We are very grateful to have shared in many insightful and hopeful conversations and look forward to collaborating for a future of greater understanding and progression towards better health outcomes.
The Organisers of the HSRPP 2026 conference concluded ‘Thank you to everyone who presented, chaired, moderated, poster-walked, networked, and simply turned up – you made the two days what they were. See you next year HSRPP 2027 hosted by the University of Manchester’.