Pharmacy Dissertation Topics: 60+ MPharm and MSc Ideas for 2026–27

Choosing a pharmacy dissertation topic is harder than it looks. You need a question that interests you, data you can actually get, an approval route that will not stall for months, and a supervisor who can support the method. This list of 60+ pharmacy dissertation topics, prepared by The Academic Papers UK, gives UK-focused ideas for MPharm and MSc students across pharmacy practice, clinical pharmacy, pharmaceutics and pharmacology, sorted by the approval route each project is likely to need.

Pharmacy Dissertation Topics: How to Use This List

Every pharmacy dissertation topic below carries a route label so you can judge feasibility at a glance:

• Route A, university ethics: literature reviews, open prescribing data and surveys of pharmacists outside NHS clinical settings. University ethics approval or other permissions may still apply.
• Route B, HRA or NHS approval: studies involving NHS patients, identifiable patient data or NHS sites, which may need additional approvals.
• [Lab], laboratory research: projects that need lab facilities, equipment, materials and technical supervision.

These routes are indicative, not a ruling. Check your project with the HRA decision tool and your supervisor before you start. Useful UK data sources include OpenPrescribing, the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA), MHRA Yellow Card and NICE.

How Do You Choose a Pharmacy Research Project?

Use these five steps to narrow your pharmacy dissertation ideas to one feasible project.

1. Choose your focus: pharmacy practice, laboratory research or pharmaceutical policy.
2. Check the approval route: decide whether you need university ethics approval, HRA or NHS approval, or other permissions.
3. Identify your data source: published studies, OpenPrescribing, NHS prescribing datasets, pharmacist surveys or lab experiments.
4. Match supervisor expertise: pick a topic your supervisor can support with the right subject knowledge and research methods.
5. Check the timeline: make sure data collection, analysis and writing fit your dissertation period.

Route A vs Route B approval

Use the HRA's "Is my study research?" tool to classify your project, then the HRA student research toolkit to check which approvals apply to you.

Community Pharmacy Dissertation Topics and Pharmacy First Ideas

Pharmacy First, service delivery and access to medicines give MPharm and MSc students practical pharmacy dissertation topics. NHSBSA publishes monthly data on Pharmacy First activity, and pharmacist surveys can explore workload, confidence and funding pressure. Publicly available data may not include every variable you need to study health inequalities, so check before you commit.

1. Pharmacy First two and a half years on: community pharmacists' experiences of the clinical pathways

Route A · Pharmacist survey

Explore pharmacists' experiences of workload, confidence, referral processes and barriers across the seven clinical pathways. Confirm university ethics and recruitment requirements.

2. Does Pharmacy First reach deprived areas? Consultation activity by deprivation decile

Route A · Secondary-data analysis

Compare consultation activity across deprivation deciles in England. NHSBSA contractor data includes Pharmacy First activity, but linking it to deprivation may need pharmacy postcodes and separate deprivation data. See our guide to secondary data collection.

3. Community pharmacy closures and access in England

Route A · Secondary-data analysis

Investigate changes in pharmacy availability and geographical access, comparing areas by deprivation or rurality. Check that historical closure records and location data are consistent before finalising the method.

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4. Blood pressure case-finding in community pharmacy: pharmacist views

Route A · Pharmacist survey

Examine views on patient uptake, referral pathways, training, workload and barriers to delivering the NHS Hypertension Case-Finding Service.

5. Acceptability of pharmacy-based contraception services to users

Route B* · User survey or interviews

Explore users' experiences of access, privacy, convenience and confidence. Approval depends on recruitment setting, participants and design.

6. Contractor perspectives on funding pressure and service sustainability

Route A · Contractor survey or interviews

Investigate how funding, staffing costs and service workload affect a pharmacy's ability to keep delivering NHS services.

7. Sore throat and earache consultations under Pharmacy First: regional uptake

Route A · Secondary-data analysis

Compare how patients use the acute otitis media and acute sore throat pathways across regions. A key check is matching pharmacy postcodes to regions without double-counting contractors.

8. GP practice to community pharmacy referrals: where do patients drop out?

Route A · Secondary-data analysis or staff survey

Track what happens when a GP practice refers a patient to Pharmacy First for a minor illness. Some patients never arrive and others are sent back. Use published activity data, or ask pharmacy teams why referred consultations do not complete.

9. Independent pharmacies versus large chains: delivering advanced NHS clinical services

Route A · Contractor survey or open-data review

Compare who carries the heaviest load of clinical services such as blood pressure checks and Pharmacy First, and account for head-office support available to chain branches.

10. Managing patient expectations when antibiotics are declined under Pharmacy First

Route B · Pharmacist interviews or user survey

Explore how pharmacists handle disappointed patients while keeping care safe. Research inside pharmacy premises or with patients may need more than university approval, so check early.

Pharmacy Dissertation Topics on Prescribing, Deprescribing and Polypharmacy

Prescribing safety, medicines optimisation and deprescribing offer strong options for a pharmacy dissertation. From September 2026, newly qualified pharmacists in England join the GPhC register as independent prescribers, which opens fresh questions about confidence, competence and supervision.

11. Ready to prescribe? Foundation trainees' confidence ahead of independent prescribing at registration

Route A · Trainee survey

Explore trainees' confidence in clinical decisions, prescribing safety, supervision and accountability.

12. Anticholinergic burden prescribing trends in England, 2019–2026

Route A · Open-data analysis

Analyse trends for selected anticholinergic medicines using OpenPrescribing. Define your medicine list and burden measure before you start.

13. Gabapentinoid prescribing before and after reclassification in April 2019

Route A · Interrupted time-series or trend analysis

Examine changes in gabapentin and pregabalin prescribing after they became Class C, Schedule 3 controlled drugs on 1 April 2019. Trends alone cannot prove the reclassification caused any change.

14. Opioid prescribing variation across integrated care boards in England

Route A · Secondary-data analysis

Compare opioid prescribing across ICBs, adjusting for population and, where possible, deprivation. Do not assume higher prescribing means poorer practice.

15. Structured medication reviews in care homes: pharmacist perspectives

Route A/B · Survey or interviews

Explore how pharmacists identify inappropriate medicines, work with care-home staff and deprescribe. Approval depends on recruitment and setting.

16. Valproate safety measures and prescribing patterns in England

Route A · Open-data analysis or literature review

Investigate prescribing around the MHRA measures introduced on 31 January 2024, including restrictions on starting valproate in new patients under 55, subject to exceptions.

17. Proton pump inhibitor overuse in older patients

Route A · Open-data analysis

Track long-term primary care PPI volumes across ICBs using OpenPrescribing. It shows practice-level trends, not individual discharge letters, so frame the question around volumes.

18. SGLT2 inhibitor uptake across English ICBs: equity in chronic kidney disease

Route A · Secondary-data analysis

NICE now recommends drugs such as dapagliflozin for chronic kidney disease and heart failure, not just type 2 diabetes. Explore whether more deprived areas get equal access.

19. Sedating antihistamines with strong opioids: hidden polypharmacy risk

Route A · OpenPrescribing trend study

Sedatives alongside long-term opioids raise the risk of respiratory depression. Measure how often these drug classes are prescribed in the same practices, including seasonal allergy peaks.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacy Dissertation Topics

Stewardship research looks at how antibiotics are prescribed, used and reviewed to cut inappropriate treatment and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The UK's national action plan for 2024 to 2029 gives these pharmacy dissertation topics a clear policy anchor.

20. The Pharmacy First uncomplicated UTI pathway and antibiotic stewardship

Route A · Literature review or open-data analysis

Assess how the UTI pathway supports appropriate antibiotic use, considering eligibility, treatment guidance and stewardship principles.

21. Penicillin allergy de-labelling: pharmacist-led models

Route A · Systematic review

Compare pharmacist-led approaches to penicillin allergy assessment and de-labelling for safety, effectiveness and barriers.

22. Public knowledge and expectations of antibiotics

Route A · Public survey

Investigate public understanding of resistance and expectations of antibiotics for common infections. University ethics approval may be required.

23. Antibiotic prescribing trends and the UK AMR National Action Plan 2024–2029

Route A · Secondary-data analysis

Analyse prescribing against the plan's priorities. Separate changes in prescribing from proof of progress towards national targets.

24. Hospital antimicrobial stewardship ward rounds: pharmacist roles

Route B* · Hospital-based research

Explore pharmacists' contributions to antibiotic review and multidisciplinary decisions. Approval depends on whether you involve NHS staff, patients, records or sites.

25. Nitrofurantoin versus trimethoprim for uncomplicated UTI: guideline adherence

Route A · Secondary-data analysis

National guidance favours nitrofurantoin because of rising trimethoprim resistance. Measure how closely practices follow it using prescribing ratios from open data.

26. Tracking community antibiotic use against the national action plan targets

Route A · Open-data policy evaluation

Compare national prescribing from 2024 to the latest data against the plan's reduction goals. Do not mistake winter peaks for policy failure.

27. Dental antibiotic requests in community pharmacy

Route A · Literature review or survey

Patients with toothache often seek antibiotics from pharmacies instead of dentists. Review what advice, pain relief or referral models reduce unnecessary amoxicillin use.

Pharmacy Dissertation Topics on Education and Workforce

Workforce research examines prescribing readiness, wellbeing, team working and changing roles. Surveys and structured interviews are usually feasible within a short pharmacy dissertation, subject to university ethics approval.

28. Embedding independent prescribing in the MPharm: final-year confidence

Route A · Student survey

Assess students' confidence in clinical assessment, prescribing decisions, consultation skills and medication safety.

29. Foundation training year experiences across community and hospital pharmacy

Route A · Trainee survey or interviews

Compare supervision, workload, learning opportunities and preparation for practice across sectors.

30. Burnout and moral distress among UK community pharmacists

Route A · Cross-sectional survey

Test links between workload, staffing, autonomy and reported burnout using validated measures where possible.

31. Pharmacists in general practice: role clarity and job satisfaction

Route A · Survey or interviews

Explore how role expectations, team integration and management support relate to job satisfaction.

32. Pharmacy technicians and patient group directions

Route A · Policy review or staff survey

Registered pharmacy technicians in England became able to supply or administer medicines under PGDs from 26 June 2024. Examine the effect on training, competence, accountability and service delivery.

33. Designated prescribing practitioners: capacity to supervise trainees

Route A · Survey of pharmacist prescribers

Prescribing-ready foundation trainees need supervision from a designated prescribing practitioner (DPP). Survey prescribers about confidence, time and support for the role.

34. Multi-sector foundation training: do split rotations build confidence?

Route A · Trainee survey or interviews

Ask trainees whether rotations across hospital, GP and community settings broaden skills or fragment learning.

35. Technicians supplying medicines via PGDs: impact on community pharmacy teams

Route A · Team survey

Ask pharmacists and technicians how PGD supply changes workflow, liability concerns and patient safety.

Pharmaceutics and Formulation: Lab-Based Pharmacy Dissertation Topics

Lab-based pharmacy research projects suit students interested in dosage-form design, drug delivery and stability. They depend on lab access, materials, validated methods and supervisor expertise, so confirm all four early.

36. [Lab] 3D-printed personalised tablets for paediatric dosing

Lab project

Investigate how printing parameters affect tablet weight, content uniformity, dissolution and dose accuracy.

37. [Lab] Orodispersible films for children: formulation and acceptability

Lab project

Compare films for disintegration time, mechanical strength, drug release and suitability for children.

38. [Lab] Stability of extemporaneously prepared oral liquids

Lab project

Assess physical, chemical or microbiological stability under defined storage conditions using a validated method.

39. [Lab] Taste masking of bitter paediatric antibiotics

Lab project

Evaluate a taste-masking technique and its effect on release and stability, with sensory testing only where ethics approval allows.

40. [Lab] Nanoparticle carriers for topical drug delivery

Lab project

Examine how formulation variables affect particle size, stability, release and skin delivery.

41. [Lab] Dissolution profiles of generic versus branded delayed-release mesalazine

Lab project

Compare release across simulated gastrointestinal pH using dissolution equipment with HPLC or UV analysis.

42. [Lab] Stability of liquid spironolactone stored in domestic fridges

Lab project

Test how stable compounded liquids remain over 30 days in home-like storage, using a validated assay and temperature logging.

43. [Lab] Lipid-based gels for sustained topical delivery

Lab project

Develop simple lipid-based gels or creams and measure release, retention, spreadability and viscosity.

Pharmacy Dissertation Topics in Pharmacology and Medicines Safety

These pharmacy dissertation ideas let you study adverse reactions, shortages, prescribing technology and new regulatory risks. Literature reviews and public-data analyses suit a six-to-nine-month project.

44. Patient versus healthcare professional Yellow Card reporting

Route A · Pharmacovigilance data analysis

Compare reporting patterns using public MHRA Yellow Card data. Differences in reports do not show differences in actual reaction rates.

45. GLP-1 receptor agonists: adverse reaction reports and online supply risks

Route A · Secondary-data analysis or documentary review

The GPhC published updated guidance for pharmacies providing services at a distance in February 2025, adding safeguards for online supply of weight-management medicines. Use it as the policy milestone, and separate licensed products from falsified or illegal supply.

46. Causes of UK medicine shortages: a documentary analysis

Route A · Policy and document analysis

Analyse notices and guidance to identify supply-chain, manufacturing and procurement factors behind shortages.

47. Pharmacogenomics in UK primary care: stakeholder readiness

Route A · Literature review or survey

Explore readiness for pharmacogenomic testing, focusing on training, integration, cost and data governance.

48. Electronic prescribing and medication administration errors: a systematic review

Route A · Systematic review

Assess whether ePMA systems reduce errors, create new risks or shift errors to different stages of medicines use.

49. Did fluoroquinolone safety warnings change GP prescribing?

Route A · Interrupted time-series analysis

The MHRA has repeatedly warned about disabling, long-lasting side effects of ciprofloxacin and related drugs. Test whether prescribing fell after each warning.

50. Valproate pregnancy prevention: completion of annual risk acknowledgement

Route A · Secondary-data review or policy audit

Use published audit data to evaluate how consistently annual risk acknowledgement forms are completed.

51. Yellow Card reporting for biosimilars versus reference biologics

Route A · Yellow Card data analysis

Compare reports for originator monoclonal antibodies and their biosimilars. Higher report counts do not prove greater toxicity.

Digital Pharmacy and Medicines Access Topics

Digital pharmacy is changing how patients get medicines and how pharmacists manage decisions and dispensing. These pharmacy dissertation topics explore safety, workload, regulation and inequality.

52. Online pharmacies and patient safety: identifying regulatory gaps

Route A · Regulatory document analysis

Examine guidance and reports on online consultations, prescription safeguards, medicine authenticity and accountability.

53. AI clinical decision support in hospital pharmacy: trust and adoption

Route A · Literature review or survey

Explore how accuracy, explainability, safety and accountability shape pharmacists' trust in AI-assisted decisions.

54. NHS App repeat prescriptions and community pharmacy workload

Route A · Literature review or staff survey

Investigate effects on workload, communication and prescription readiness between GP practices and pharmacies.

55. Hub-and-spoke dispensing: implications for independent pharmacies

Route A · Policy analysis or interviews

Assess effects on staffing, efficiency, professional roles and the viability of independent pharmacies.

56. Inequalities in access to medicines among ethnic minority groups

Route A/B · Literature review or participant research

Examine how language, health literacy, service access and socioeconomic factors affect access. Participant research needs ethical review and culturally sensitive methods.

57. Distance-selling pharmacies and the 2025 GPhC guidance: a website audit

Route A · Website audit and regulatory analysis

Audit a sample of online pharmacy websites for registration details, identity checks and clinical risk information against the February 2025 guidance.

58. Digital exclusion: can older patients manage electronic repeat dispensing?

Route A/B · Survey or interviews

Investigate whether moving repeats online leaves older or vulnerable patients behind.

59. Alert fatigue in dispensing software

Route A · Survey of pharmacy staff

Find out which interaction alerts staff override and why, and what that means for safety.

Devolved Nations: Comparative Pharmacy Dissertation Topics

Pharmacy policy differs across the UK. England launched Pharmacy First in January 2024, Scotland has run NHS Pharmacy First Scotland since 2020, and Wales delivers its Common Ailments Service through community pharmacy. These differences support comparative projects that rarely need NHS ethics approval.

60. Pharmacy First in England versus NHS Pharmacy First Scotland

Route A · Comparative policy and open-data review

Compare scope, funding rules and uptake using published data from both countries.

61. The Welsh Common Ailments Service: lessons for English ICBs

Route A · Literature and activity review

Review published evaluations and ask whether a wider condition list in England could shift more consultations from GP practices.

UK Data Sources for Pharmacy Dissertations

Open data does not remove the university ethics, data-governance or other approval requirements that apply to your pharmacy dissertation.

Which Method Fits Your Pharmacy Dissertation?

For help turning a topic into a question, design and plan, see our dissertation proposal support.

Pharmacy Dissertation FAQs

What are good pharmacy dissertation topics?

Good topics answer one focused question in clinical pharmacy, community pharmacy, pharmaceutics, pharmacology or medicines safety, and are feasible with the data and time you have.

Do MPharm research projects need NHS ethics approval?

Not always. It depends on the design, participants, setting and data. Check with your university and the HRA decision tools.

Can I do a systematic review for my pharmacy dissertation?

Yes, if your university allows it and you use a focused question, a reproducible search, clear selection criteria and proper appraisal.

What data can I use without contacting patients?

OpenPrescribing, NHSBSA open datasets, published studies, Yellow Card profiles and public regulatory documents, subject to their access conditions.

What is Pharmacy First?

An NHS England service launched on 31 January 2024 that lets community pharmacists advise on and, where appropriate, treat seven common conditions under set clinical pathways.

Which pharmacy topics are most current for 2026–27?

Pharmacy First, independent prescribing at registration, antimicrobial stewardship, deprescribing, medicines safety and digital pharmacy.

How long is an MPharm research project?

Many run for about six to nine months, but length and requirements depend on your university.

Can I research my placement pharmacy?

Possibly, but you may need university ethics approval, site permission and consent, especially if your pharmacy dissertation recruits staff or patients or uses confidential information.

Conclusion: Choose a Pharmacy Dissertation Topic You Can Finish

The best pharmacy dissertation topics combine current relevance with a clear question and a realistic method. For 2026–27, Pharmacy First, prescribing, stewardship and medicines safety offer timely UK options, and open datasets or systematic reviews cut the approval and recruitment risk. Shortlist three pharmacy dissertation ideas, test each against the feasibility check above, then take the strongest to your supervisor.

References

Community Pharmacy England (2024) Legislation paves way for pharmacy technicians to supply medicines under PGDs. Available at: https://cpe.org.uk/our-news/legislation-paves-way-for-pharmacy-technicians-to-dispense-medicines-under-pgds/

Department of Health and Social Care (2024) Confronting antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-5-year-action-plan-for-antimicrobial-resistance-2024-to-2029

General Pharmaceutical Council (2025) Guidance for registered pharmacies providing pharmacy services at a distance, including on the internet. Available at: https://www.pharmacyregulation.org/

Health Research Authority (2026) Is my study research? Available at: https://www.hra-decisiontools.org.uk/research/

NHS Business Services Authority (2026) NHS Pharmacy First Service (PFS). Available at: https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/

NHS Business Services Authority (2026) Pharmacy and appliance contractor dispensing data. Available at: https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/pharmacy-and-appliance-contractor-dispensing-data

This list was prepared by the academic team at The Academic Papers UK.

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