REPRESENtatION PhaRmacISt’S dIaRy by mairead conlon
So kids are back to school and autumn is well and truly here. I don’t know about you, but cough and cold season seemed to arrive in the pharmacy even earlier this year and work has been busier than ever!
as always I’ve been up to lots of things since my last update. we launched the brand new Uca Pre- registration training programme. Starting with an introduction evening for students and tutors - a really worthwhile event for all.
Since then, we have delivered four training days in smaller group sessions. So far we have packed in sessions on clinical governance, the drug tariff and blacklist, customer service, audit, services including an in-depth look at mURs, a dragon’s den session and even a nice wee
selection of open and closed book exam questions!
Suffice to say, any student doing our course will be in a great position going into their exam and well able to hit the ground running when they qualify next summer!
amongst my schedule I attended the RPS conference in Birmingham and the medicines Optimisation Showcase in Riddell hall, hosted by cathy harrison, where I met with Peter armstrong, NI Palliative care Pharmacist co-ordinator.
I have used each of these opportunities to highlight the work going on in community pharmacy and also promote our skills as the medicines experts in our communities.
If you follow the Uca facebook and twitter pages, I’m sure you have seen lots of activity. If you have a health promotion event coming up, let me know and I can help promote it through social media.
Recently we have had world Pharmacist day, know your Numbers week, Palliative care week and migraine awareness week and have had an increasing amount of traffic to our pages, which is great!
through the PPRB group, we provided an article on migraine in the Irish News, written with Raymond anderson. we are now working on a health literacy project, so watch out for more information coming through on that.
hopefully you have noticed an increase in communications from the
fIVE mINUtES wIth... ashley Richardson, Randalstown Pharmacies ltd
Tell us a little about yourself... I currently live in antrim with my husband mark and children Emily (14) and Rebecca (12). In my spare time I'm into running, swimming and spending time with my family.
When did you qualify? I joined the register in 1997.
Career path to date? I did my pre-reg with Boots, before joining tom mcclure on the holywood Road in Belfast. In 2002, I moved to kells and connor Pharmacy, where I stayed for ten years, before joining Randalstown Pharmacies ltd four years ago.
What differences (if any) did you observe between the different pharmacy environments? although tom mcclure's was a city- based pharmacy, it was relatively small and quiet, so you got to know the patients/customers on a first- name basis. this gave me a good grounding in customer-facing pharmacy, which, I'm happy to say, I've continued throughout my career. It was great training, particularly for going to work in a country-based pharmacy like kells, where everybody knows everybody else. as with the holywood Road, kells was also a relatively quiet
32 - PhaRmacy IN fOcUS
pharmacy at that time (although there has been a lot of development since my time there, and the demograph has changed somewhat), but that certainly couldn't be said of Randalstown, which has been a rapidly expanding town for some years now thanks to its close proximity to the motorway. as a result, although the pharmacy is quite small in stature, both locations - main street and health centre - are exceptionally busy. the different locations which I've experienced in my career have allowed me to see the varying aspects of pharmacy in different environments.
How do you think pharmacy has changed as a profession during the years that you've been practising? In the early years - particularly my year with Boots – it was practically exclusively repeat prescribing and dispensing, although, by the time I left, they were trying to get pharmacists moved on to the counter to promote services. the last ten years have, however, seen us move much more out of the dispensary and into patient- facing situations where we are trying to get patients to take ownership of their own health
PHARMACY NEEDS
through counselling on issues such as smoking cessation etc. as part of this pharmacy, I've been involved in various outreach projects through both BcPP and as part of our own pharmacy-driven outreach, and I've also worked with outside agencies, such as the alzheimer's Society and NI chest heart Stroke. I've covered a wide range of subjects - from summer and winter health to eye care.
What's next for pharmacy? I think we're heading very much for increased emphasis on services and on keeping patients in their own home. I also think we'll be increasingly focusing on advising on general health and wellbeing to increase patient participation in keeping themselves well.
YOU
GET INVOLVED IN THE DEBATE AND HELP PROGRESS YOUR PHARMACY PROFESSION
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
MAIREAD@UCA.ORG.UK
Uca office - we are trying to ensure we are getting the right information out to all our members, so you are constantly being kept aware of the latest goings on in NI pharmacy! looking forward to meeting some more of you over the next couple of months.
contact Uca office on 02890656576 or email
mairead@uca.org.uk
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