Corporate Strategy 2025-2028
This strategy sets out our priorities in our mission, vision and objectives for these four years.
Our mission centres on a commitment to assuring patient safety and public trust in pharmacy through effective regulation. Our aim with this strategy is to deliver on our remit in the best way possible and by doing so we support the provision of safe, patient-focused pharmacy services.
This strategy begins a new chapter in our organisation’s development and business transformation journey. We are also in a period of expected significant change in the pharmacy and healthcare landscape in Ireland, and the objectives we have set in this strategy outline:
- how we will approach the changes expected for pharmacy and the broader health landscape
- our proposals for continued regulatory change and advancement
- our plans for internal improvement.


Our objectives and our mission
Overview of the Strategy
We developed our Corporate Strategy 2025-2028 in consultation and collaboration with many others. We appreciate and value all who contributed to the process. We hope we have captured the key matters and concerns across our objectives and actions.
Our three objectives outline how we will deliver on our mission. We have provided the actions we will take and the outcomes we aim to achieve if we are successful.
Actions
How we will deliver this objective
- Implement the recommendations of the Expert Taskforce to support the expansion of the scope of pharmacy that fall within our regulatory remit.
- Propose and implement policy changes agreed with the Department of Health that relate to pharmacists and pharmacy services.
- Deliver the regulatory supports to enable pharmacists and pharmacies to implement the expected outputs associated with advances in digital health.
- Proactively engage with and support higher education providers to deliver and enhance pharmacy education in the State.
- Continue our own work and our collaboration with others in delivering the recommendations of our Workforce Intelligence Report 2023.
Intended Outcomes
How will we know if we are successful
- We have fulfilled our particular role in implementing the recommendations of the Expert Taskforce to support the expansion of the role of pharmacy to meet patient and public health needs.
- Policy changes relating to pharmacy have been implemented by way of continuous, effective engagement with the Department of Health.
- Pharmacists and pharmacies can effectively utilise and access advances in digital health to provide safe pharmacy services and improved patient health and experience.
- We have managed and progressed all applications for the accreditation of new and existing pharmacy training programmes in the State, in line with our accreditation policy.
- We have executed both the short and medium-term PSI actions outlined in the Workforce Intelligence Report 2023, as well as laying the groundwork for the essential long-term actions.
Actions
How we will deliver this objective
- Develop a standards-based regulatory model for community pharmacies to effectively oversee pharmacy services while supporting the evolving needs of both the public and pharmacists.
- Practice a more risk-based approach to the regulation of pharmacists and pharmacies that is increasingly driven by intelligence, data, and strategic learning.
- Embed a person-centred approach across our regulatory processes, commencing with the reform of our Fitness to Practise processes to support enhanced communication, transparency, and efficiencies in our processes.
- Collaborate with the Department of Health to develop a programme of reform of the Pharmacy Act to support the new strategic approach to our regulatory role.
- Collaborate with patients and the public to identify effective engagement methods that support a patient-centred approach and make certain the patient’s voice is heard.
Intended Outcomes
How will we know if we are successful
- We have designed and implemented standards to enhance the safety, effectiveness and quality of pharmacy practice. These standards are understood and supported by patients, the public, pharmacists, and pharmacy owners. They operate on a statutory basis and are reinforced by revised legislation.
- Our regulatory activities are risk-based and guided by data-driven insights, and our responses are increasingly tailored and coordinated based on issues and context.
- We have reformed our Fitness to Practise approach to be more person-centred, ensuring our processes and decisions are understood by the public, registrants, and all stakeholders. Legislative reform of the Pharmacy Act has evolved this process, ensuring our actions and outcomes are proportionate.
- Patients and the public are active partners in our regulatory model.
- Implement, monitor and review the recommendations of the organisational and strategic workforce review commenced in 2024.
- Implement our ICT strategy, ensuring agility and innovation in the use of technology and integration of services and data to increase efficiency, provide a better user experience, and improve the quality of service.
- Complete our current programme of Business Transformation.
- Complete and implement the findings of our Strategic Financing Review Project.
- Develop and implement a new HR People Strategy to attract, retain, organise, align and develop our people.
- Set out the policies, plans, and actions to address the human rights and equality issues relevant to our functions and purpose, as required under Section 42 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act 2014.
- Proactively implement our Climate Action Roadmap, aligned to the Government’s Climate Action Plan and the Public Sector Climate Action Mandate.
Intended Outcomes
How we will know if we are successful
- We are organised for success. The right people, skills, culture and sustainable structures are in place to support the delivery of our strategic goals.
- We are a digital-first regulator with a single customer view, make decisions based on data insights and offer enhanced services that support our corporate objectives.
- Our financial position is sustainable, and we are appropriately funded.
- We are a workplace of choice, evidenced by our ability to retain and attract a skilled, diverse, and competent workforce to deliver on our strategic priorities.
- We have implemented our public sector duty action plan and embedded an equality and human rights focus in our work.
- We have met our targets in line with our Climate Action Roadmap.
Our Mission, Vision and Values
Our mission and vision are our purpose and focus. Our values underpin how we deliver on our mission, guiding our behaviour, the expectations we set ourselves, and the experience of others who engage with us. As we developed this strategy and reflected on our direction for these four years, we also updated our vision and mission statements and our values.
Throughout the development of this strategy, we have been mindful of our statutory duty to equality and human rights. Aligning to our values, we will continue in our commitment to assess, respect, and promote equality and human rights issues as we carry out our core functions and strategic activities. Some of our work in this area can be read under our commitment to equality and human rights.
Implementing the Strategy and Monitoring Progress
This strategy will be implemented over four years, from January 2025 to December 2028. We will set out the actions to be progressed each year with more detail in our annual Service Plans. As the Strategy represents an integrated four-year programme, some actions will be implemented over more than a single year.
Progress is monitored on an ongoing basis through the oversight and reporting arrangements with the PSI Advisory Committees and the PSI Council. Yearly progress will be published in our Annual Reports.
This strategy has been informed through consultation with a range of external and internal stakeholders. A Strategy Subgroup of the PSI Council oversaw the development of the strategy, reporting on progress to the Council over the one-year development period.
Our work is influenced and affected by factors in our immediate and wider environment, including political and policy developments, technological changes and the legal landscape. We have considered these along with current and future challenges and opportunities. As expected, we reflected on our core responsibilities, on our mission and values, and on our vision for the years ahead. Our vision and mission statements were updated to reflect the direction of our strategy over the next four years.
Information gathering occurred throughout the development process. We conducted a survey with some stakeholders in Spring 2024 and this was followed by a half-day workshop in Dublin in May 2024 to gain early input and feedback on proposed draft objectives and strategic areas of work. Those who attended included representatives from the Department of Health, HSE, Schools of Pharmacy, Irish Institure of Pharmacy, other regulators, pharmacy representative organisations, pharmacists from our Pharmacist Panel and a pharmacy student. The PSI Council and PSI staff also held workshops at various stages.
There was a public consultation on a draft version of the Corporate Strategy in July 2024. The public consultation report is available.
The strategy was provided to the Minister for Health for consideration in Autumn 2024 and the final draft of the strategy was approved by PSI Council in December 2024.