NEWS


First Northern Ireland RPS Faculty Fellows


Prof Mike Mawhinney, Prof Colin Adair.


A MESSAGE FROM THE NPA CHAIRMAN TO EVERYONE WORKING IN COMMUNITY PHARMACY: BE


PROUD! I WANT TO ENCOURAGE yOU TO REFLECT WITH PRIDE ON JUST HOW MUCH GOOD COMMUNITy PHARMACy DOES FOR PATIENTS AND COMMUNITIES. WHAT WE MAy SEE AS ROUTINE WE TEND NOT TO CELEBRATE – BUT IN FACT THE PHARMACy ‘DAy JOB’ IS ABSOLUTELy CENTRAL TO THE HEALTH OF THE NATION AND IS ACTUALLy RATHER REMARKABLE.


The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has announced the appointment of the first Faculty Fellows from Northern Ireland. Those appointed are Colin Adair, Fran Lloyd, Mike Mawhinney, Laura O’Loan and Roisin O’Hare, covering the secondary care, medicines regulation and education professional areas.


Last month we reported on how NICPLD is extending its Foundation course to community and primary care practice. This workforce development programme, initially open to hospital pharmacists, has been running for 8 years and is based on the RPS Foundation framework.


Pharmacists, whose career has advanced beyond Foundation, are eligible to apply for membership of the RPS Faculty, which was launched in 2013.


This provides formal professional recognition of advanced practice, and mirrors the established methods adopted by many other professions set against career pathways.


Applicants for Faculty membership are required to submit a portfolio of evidence that reflects their learning, experience and professional


achievements within their area of expertise.


Additionally, evidence from peer assessment and professional practice must also be submitted. An independent panel assesses this evidence in which applicants are required to demonstrate their expertise across six areas:


• Expert professional practice • Collaborative working • Leadership • Management • Developing others • Research and evaluation


Faculty membership may be awarded at one of three levels; Advanced 1 (for those whose practice had progressed beyond Foundation), Advanced 2 (expert practitioner) and Fellow (nationally recognised leader).


In 2015 Faculty membership was opened to overseas members and these five pharmacists are the first to be appointed as Fellows from Northern Ireland.


Further information on the Faculty can be found on the RPS website (http://www.rpharms.com/developmen t/faculty.asp).


Temporary CPD Forms


During the period when the CPD portal is not open, the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland are providing two forms on which CPD cycles can be recorded.


These forms are in Word and details can be recorded and saved on these forms. Once the portal is up and running again, the content of these


forms can be cut and pasted into the CPD system.


Please visit the PSNI website to download the forms at www.psni.org.uk


Please note these forms must be downloaded and saved on your own computer, as these will not be saved in any system of the Pharmaceutical Society NI.


At the end of today, see if you can find five minutes to think about just how much you do for patients, communities and the NHS.


Just this week alone, how many people are in less pain, because of your pharmacy?


How many people have been reassured by your diagnosis of minor ailments or a referral to the GP?


How many people are in a better position to manage long term conditions because of your medicines advice?


How many kids are at school today, who might not have been without your intervention?


How many unnecessary GP and hospital appointments have been avoided?


The community pharmacy network in Northern Ireland provides: significant private investment into the health care estate; a stabilising asset to the community, contributing to social capital; convenient local access to NHS services as well as self care; an unrivalled opportunity for health improvement interventions on a large scale; this is also the one part of the health service that bucks the inverse care law – being accessible to people in poor and under-doctored areas as well as wealthier neighbourhoods; it’s a setting for face-to-face healthcare advice without an appointment; our interventions divert people from unnecessary and more expensive care elsewhere in the system, including general practice


Ian Strachan


and secondary care; last and absolutely not least, community pharmacy is a convenient and cost-effective route for medicines supply.


I love independent community pharmacy, with a passion. There can be huge personal satisfaction from working in a community setting.


Patients build relationships with their pharmacist, valuing and trusting the advice and support given. Community pharmacists get to know whole families and support them through good and bad times


This ‘human’ dimension is one reason why a career in the community pharmacy sector can be so fulfilling.


Think about all this at the end of today and remember that the community pharmacy network is worth shouting about! I urge you to be proud about your role in community pharmacy and confident to talk out loud about the day-to-day benefits you deliver.


(By the way, Ask your Pharmacist Week in November is an opportunity for you to promote what you do – find out how to get involved by contacting NI Relationship Manager Victoria Knowles, v.knowles@npa.co.uk ).


Ian Strachan NPA Chairman


pharmacyinfocus.co.uk 7


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64