I’m really excited about the PDA launch of their document “A New Pharmacy Road Map” but was unable to make it to their annual conference last weekend. Does anyone have a copy of the document that I can read?
I’m increasingly coming to the view that the PDA is the most likely organisation to make significant changes that will benefit all pharmacists. Ideally I want a combination of the PDA and the RPS, i.e. has the focus on the individual pharmacist of the PDA and the union status and the CPD and legal support of the RPS (and by the way I know both organisations do much more)
The PDA are about to launch their long term vision “A new pharmacy roadmap” at the upcoming conference which is basically all I have always wanted in the role of a pharmacist. I think all pharmacists should try to attend the meeting and if you can’t like me, spend some time reading through the document after publication.
I believe the RPS is trying to make changes for the benefit of it’s members but I fear that they may be dragged down by the low standing of it’s previous incarnation.
I tell you what. Why don’t they get together to form a British Pharmacist Association!
I think the PDA‘s Annual Conference being held in Birmingham in February could be one of the most important events in pharmacy for many years. Please find a summary of their message below:
“In its most ambitious piece of strategic work to date, this conference will focus on the radical proposals that PDA will put forward to government for a ‘New Pharmacy Road Map’.
The financial pressures occurring on the British economy mean that the time is right for a major rethink in how health services can be delivered more efficiently and effectively. Fiddling around the edges and papering over the cracks of the current systems and processes will not meet these objectives; the PDA proposes that only a redistribution of responsibility for patient care will.
This conference explores the obstacles and forces for change as we put the case for re-engineering pharmacy practice through.
Baring any emergencies or extreme weather events (Look at met office for the end of the week!) today should be my last day working as a locum pharmacist this side of Christmas but does this mean an easy ride to the holiday season? Oh no!
At PL-UK we are working on two exciting improvements to the service we provide both clients and pharmacists/pharmacy staff. One of these improves the service we provide to locum pharmacists and the other will redically change the service we provide to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians looking for new permanent pharmacy jobs.
Watch this space for more information … and I hope the snow stays away!
Some of you may know that in addition to running PL-UK I also locum 1-2 days a week, usually in one of Her Majesty’s Prisons. In prison service pharmacy you have access to patients medical records and can therefore fully support other members of the healthcare team and give patients effective advice.
It came as a shock then when on Wednesday, I volunteered to help out in a busy community pharmacy whose pharmacy manager was ill. The pharmacy is very busy dispensing around 10,000 items a month with lots of walk in business. To suddenly not have access to patients records felt like someone had cut off my right arm. All questions about dosages and queries on prescribing had to be made via the doctors receptionist on one occasion via a patients mother who called her daughter to confirm a dose change! What century are we living in in community pharmacy? Pharmacists will never realise their full clinical potential until they have access to patients records. In addition, the NHS will never benefit from the savings pharmacists could generate without this access.
Doctors and nurses in the NHS and prison service are happy for pharmacists to have access to this information as they see them as fellow clinicians. So what’s the problem for community pharmacy?
It’s quite clear that GP’s don’t community pharmacists in the same way as their secondary care colleagues and I fear the continued expansion of the multiples means they never will. I’m pretty sure that if the pharmacy market in the UK had remained dominated by independent contractors we would have had patient record access by now.
Whether we like it or not, and this is not meant to be disrespectful to individual pharmacists, doctors will never agree to allow access to confidential medical information to large, as they see it, commercial organisations like the big supermarkets. Traditionally pharmacy chains, maybe, but the thought of a persons medical history being stored on loyalty card looms large in the thoughts of medics.
However they may be a way around this that would allow patients to benefit from better pharmaceutical care and pharmacists to support patients and other clinicians much more effectively – an NHS contract for pharmacists.
Just think of it, the NHS could benefit from the business expertise of the multiples and the pharmacist would have complete professional freedom without worrying about commercial priorities or making this Christmas the best Christmas ever! Oh, I can still hear it now from my Boots days!
So in this time of unprecedented change for the NHS, we need our leaders to start thinking outside the box. I know that the PDA are pushing for individual contracts for pharmacists, maybe not in quite the style I envisage, but it’s a start.
What are your thoughts?
Shaun
Agency Workers Regulations – how does it effect me?
The simple answer is it doesn’t. …. in most cases. For more expert guidance than I can supply as a pharmacist rather than a legal bod please click on the link below. http://www.pcg.org.uk/cms/documents/01109%20PCG%20A4%2020PP%20BROCHURE%20SINGLE%20PAGES.pdf
One in a lifetime opportunity – pharmacist required in Tonga
We have been approached by a not for profit pharmacy in the Kingdom of Tonga asking us to recruit a pharmacist to work at one of the health centres in the Kingdom. This opportunity will definately not come up again for if you fancy a complete change of scene and an opportunity to live on [...]
Just a quick post to remind all pharmacist that they need to renew their GPhC registration by the 31st October. So you still have a month to pay but if you are anything like me, if you don’t do it now, there’s a chance you’ll forget!
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