PROFILE
WHAT DO I BRING TO THE
TABLE? COMMITMENT TO THE PROFESSION, COMMITMENT TO MEMBERS, AND A STRONG FOCUS ON ENGAGEMENT WITH THE PROFESSIONS, PATIENTS AND THE PUBLIC
inordinate amounts of pressure on community pharmacists to deliver the service they want to deliver for their patients.
“The biggest obstacle for community pharmacists in the future is going to be the continued rise in the number of elderly people living in our communities, set against a reducing capacity to deliver the same level of quality pharmaceutical care to them all. Also, fewer people are choosing to enter the health professions in general so this problem may not be an easy one to solve.”
And what does he hope to bring to the table?
“Balancing the day job with my RPS commitments, and making sure the RPS gets the amount of time it deserves, will be a key challenge for me in the role of Chair. It is my first time in a GB-wide role so this is quite new. I will need to learn how to work across the three countries and make sure I influence and contribute to the right things.
“These are the professional challenges, trying to make sure GB-wide work and publications are relevant to Scotland, and that Scottish members see the RPS in Scotland working for them and supporting their professional practice and development.
“What do I bring to the table? Commitment to the profession, commitment to members, and a strong focus on engagement with the professions, patients and the public.”
The biggest challenge for the Scottish Pharmacy Board moving forward, he reflects, will be that the age of the body.
“The Board in Scotland is still a relatively young organisation, and is
still developing. We need to continue to build confidence in RPS in Scotland as the professional body, ensuring that a strong Scottish identity exists within the GB environment and is one that our members here in Scotland can identify with this.
“Additional funding is always welcome and the commitment of £16.2m is a significant sum to invest in this area demonstrating a clear commitment to the development of the role pharmacists can play in delivering patient care.
“I see independent prescribing as one 'tool' in the box for pharmacists and a very useful one to be used where appropriate to improve the patient journey and experience. However, we need to use the current group of qualified prescribers better and ensure their skills are put to best use; only then can patients benefit more widely from having access to a pharmacist with this extra skill.
“There will still be a number of pharmacists who are not prescribers and they will also continue to provide a very high level of pharmaceutical care through the current pharmacy contract and other agreed services. When additional funding becomes available it will be important to make sure the development of other aspects of pharmacy practice are kept in scope alongside independent prescribing.”
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society in Scotland recently published its position statement on pharmacists working in GP practices. This statement was discussed and agreed at the recent meeting of the Scottish Pharmacy Board on 17 June 2015 and follows consultation with and input from members and the specialist primary care and prescribing advisor groups.
“Our driving principle is that all patients should have access to pharmaceutical care,” he says. “Equally we believe that GP practices, including dispensing practices, should have access to the expertise of a pharmacist. The pharmacist should be patient facing in their role first and foremost, and included in both the decisions and governance of practice prescribing to improve patient care,” said the statement.
“We fully support more pharmacists working in GP practices as part of the multidisciplinary primary care team as one of the models to strengthen patient care and collaboration,
recognising the need for flexibility to accommodate different local situations, including specific remote and rural issues. Pharmacist input could be sessional or full time and could be achieved with both generalist and specialist input using primary, community or secondary care pharmacists working in/with the practice, according to local needs.”
Dr McAnaw adds, “Provided that certain conditions and expectations are delivered through the pharmacists working in that role, I would see it as a positive development.
“We need to be clear that the pharmacist has a patient-facing role in the practice, not administrative, with autonomy in deciding the focus of their clinical work. Integration into the wider multidisciplinary GP practice team as a clinician will be a real advantage, but they need to use that position to engage local community pharmacists and work with them, as they have a key role to play in care planning and the follow-up of patients. GP practice pharmacists can be the catalyst to facilitate more effective working across our own profession to improve continuity of care for patients.”
Dr McAnaw believes that the Rebalancing Medicines Legislation has potential to provide an ideal platform from which to shape future protocols.
“I think this is a great opportunity for us to influence and shape medicines legislation, particularly those parts that are out-dated and currently restrict the future development and practice of pharmacy,” he says.
“This kind of opportunity doesn't come along very often, maybe once every twenty or thirty years, so we need to make the legislation 'fit for purpose' with some degree of future- proofing. The use of technologies such as video conferencing from mobile devices have great potential to support the delivery of pharmacy services in new ways, so we need to have a legislative framework that can support this approach and enable pharmacists to deliver more care to those people who perhaps cannot readily access the pharmacy.
“It is important for the Board to keep up to speed with changes and issues affecting patient care and professional practice as community pharmacy practice continues to feel the strain. For issues we have an opportunity
WE NEED TO BE CLEAR
THAT THE PHARMACIST HAS A PATIENT-FACING ROLE IN THE PRACTICE, NOT ADMINISTRATIVE, WITH AUTONOMY IN DECIDING THE FOCUS OF THEIR CLINICAL WORK. INTEGRATION INTO THE WIDER MULTIDISCIPLINARY GP PRACTICE TEAM AS A CLINICIAN WILL BE A REAL ADVANTAGE, BUT THEY NEED TO USE THAT POSITION TO ENGAGE LOCAL COMMUNITY PHARMACISTS AND WORK WITH THEM
to influence e.g. Primary Care Out of Hours Review, we will continue to lobby on their behalf to support the development of the profession, whilst at the same time be sighted on the issues of capacity and funding which are limiting factors.
“We will continue to provide professional guidance and support to members, and provide as far as possible the service they expect from their professional body. In this respect, we will look to solicit their views on being a member, and find out whether we are delivering the right things for them during this time.
“My priority this year as Board Chair is to further develop how we engage with our members, and I am especially keen to get their involvement in the development of our manifesto ahead of the Scottish Parliamentary elections.
“This will help give the RPS in Scotland a mandate to lobby with confidence on those issues that are most important to members, with a view to influencing government policy and helping to further enable pharmacists to deliver safe and effective care to patients.” •
SCOTTISH PHARMACIST - 11
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