Dr. (Pharm.) Harry Amoaning Okyere, during the Business Session presenting the Society’s Strategic Plan 

Pharmacists want the next strategic plan of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) to move beyond building professional competence to tackling the everyday realities of their careers: better conditions of service, clearer progression pathways, stronger welfare and greater opportunities to practise at the full extent of their training. That message emerged strongly from the PSGH Strategic Plan Review Survey, findings of which were presented by the Society’s Strategic Plan Manager, Dr. (Pharm.) Harry Amoaning Okyere, during the Business Session of the just-ended 90th Anniversary Annual General Meeting and Scientific Conference in Accra.

The presentation formed part of a wider review of PSGH’s 2016–2025 Strategic Plan, which examined almost a decade of implementation and sought members’ own assessment of what had worked, what had not, and what they wanted the Society to prioritise next.

And on that final question, members were emphatic.

Conditions of service and career progression emerged as the leading priority for the next strategic cycle, selected by 68.4% of the 456 survey respondents. It was followed by specialist training and continuing professional development at 60.5%, patient safety and quality standards at 55.3%, member welfare and pension-related support at 47.4%, and business finance and entrepreneurship support at 42.1%.

The results suggest an important shift in member expectations.

For years, much of the profession’s development agenda has understandably focused on competence, training and expanded clinical roles. Members still value those strongly. But the survey suggests that pharmacists increasingly want those investments to translate into tangible career outcomes; better remuneration, clearer progression, stronger welfare protection and opportunities to apply their skills meaningfully.

In effect, the message from members was simple: train us, yes — but create the conditions for us to thrive. That demand comes against a backdrop of significant achievements under the outgoing strategic plan. The broader implementation review presented at the AGM found that PSGH had made substantial gains in professional training, member welfare, digital communication, grant mobilisation, pharmacy-business support and institutional development. Membership in good standing rose markedly over the review period, professional development programmes expanded, and welfare interventions such as the PSGH-GLICO insurance scheme became increasingly institutionalised.

Members themselves recognised some of those gains.

The survey recorded particularly strong positive assessments for the relevance and accessibility of continuing professional development, the availability and reliability of essential medicines, and the increasing involvement of pharmacists in direct patient care.

But the survey also exposed a gap between institutional progress and members’ lived experience.

Only 37.8% of respondents indicated that they had personally benefited from implementation of the strategic plan, while just 27.0% believed the benefits had been fairly distributed. Perceptions of member influence over implementation and transparency in communicating progress and setbacks were also comparatively modest.

Those findings gave an added dimension to the Strategic Plan Manager’s presentation: the next strategy cannot simply be a catalogue of programmes and activities. It must be designed so that pharmacists can more clearly see, experience and measure its benefits.

That conclusion closely mirrors the wider retrospective review of the 2016–2025 Plan, which found that PSGH had become larger, more digital, more programme-oriented and more visible in national policy discussions, but that the original strategy was less effective as a performance-management tool because many objectives lacked baselines, measurable targets and clearly defined outcome indicators.  The review has consequently recommended a stronger results architecture for the next strategic cycle, including clear baselines and annual targets, standardised reporting, a digital performance dashboard and an annual strategic scorecard that distinguishes activities from measurable outcomes.