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SUmmaRy what are Ian's plans for the remainder of his two-year stint as NPa chairman?
'Ideally what I'd like to do is to deliver solutions for members to make their lives easier, so that they can spend more time focusing on patient-facing and patient-centred services.
'as I say, I've been especially delighted by what I've seen and heard on this visit to NI. I just don't think pharmacists in NI realise how good
NPa conference
the NPa conference, which took place at the end of September at the dunadry hotel, provided local contractors with an opportunity to hear about what the association has planned for its NI members.
the proceedings were opened by NPa chairman, Ian Strachan, who was followed by gareth jones, Public affairs manager at the association. gareth talked to delegates about the nuances and fallout from the falsified medicines directive.
Pharmacists, gareth said, have never had anything so big or so specific to deal with, but highlighted that many still haven't fully engaged with it due to the fact that it won't be 'live' until 2019.
following gareth's talk on fmd, it was time for the breakout sessions, which took the form of workshops. jennifer Ormond, Partnerships team manager at Ellis whittam talked about saving costs and managing
they are. they really are at the sharp end of it and yet they're totally motivated. I've seen it in every pharmacy I've gone
into....that sense of
community...and that's so indicative of the way life is here. I read that poll not long ago about how NI people are the happiest in the Uk and that is reflected in community. where opportunities are less, the social connectivity is at its highest and that's what makes people more buoyant. Pharmacists should be very proud of the role they play.' •
staff based on the life cycle of an employee, while damian donnelly from ad-man creative marketing Insight and Strategy looked at how social media could offer many opportunities to pharmacists, whether through communicating clinical messages or supporting retail promotions. the session covered practical issues such as when to post and how often, and the 'buzzword' in social media at the moment - content - creating it, finding it and sharing it. delegates came away from this session with lots of ideas and 'tricks of the trade'.
In the gallery, meanwhile, mark Nelson from Business Services Organisation was talking to pharmacists about the drug tariff and the increasing accuracy of payments.
mark's work within the Board includes providing professional management support to pharmaceutical payment function, medicines management advice, management of the pharmaceutical list including control of entry issues, providing support to the drug tariff and master file teams, and carrying out drug & appliance testing
scheme, so his advice and guidance was more than welcome to the ears of those assembled!
the fourth breakout session was provided by michael jackson from the Belfast health and Social care trust. mike provided a practical workshop for the pharmacists on key counselling, dosage and patient support on use of anticoagulants and direct oral anti-coagulant (dOac) safety issues.
Once the delegates were gathered together again, kathy martin from community development health Network (cdhN) talked to them about delivering Building community Pharmacy Partnerships (BcPP) effectively.
after dinner, leyla hannbeck, chief Pharmacist at NPa presented a keynote speech on dispensing errors and patient safety incidents, and provided top tips on how to minimise these.
leyla is the medicines Safety Officer for all community pharmacies in England with fewer than 50 branchesand receives Patient Safety Incident Report forms submitted by pharmacies in England to the NPa.
In her session she presented an update of the latest findings from submitted report forms, and how pharmacy teams can learn from these errors. this data was presented alongside lessons learned from indemnity claims handled by the NPa, and what pharmacists should do in the event of an error.
30 - PhaRmacy IN fOcUS
at this point, leyla also launched an NPa business support pack, 'Business Efficiency Solutions' to NPa’s Northern Ireland members. the pack includes resources to allow members make sure that all parts of their business are robust, from examining the external environment to identify opportunities and resources, to helping analyse internal business processes.
the event concluded with a presentation on thecommunity Pharmacy assurance framework from kathryn turner andgillian Plant, hScB.
the steps in the assurance framework were discussed and the hScB team answered member’s questions and responded to concerns that the assurance framework may present a duplication in oversight sought from hScB and Pharmacy Inspectors.
kathryn and gillian encouraged members to be familiar with the framework’s requirements and to use available support in achieving standards.
to this end anne mcalister gave an overview of the NPa’s toolkit to support members in delivering the assurance framework.
the toolkit provides a summary of resources available from the NPa and other stakeholders to achieve each standard, and is available from
www.npa.co.uk/information-and- guidance/community- pharmacy-assurance-framework- northern-ireland/
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