NEWS


SKILLS IN HEALTHCARE LAUNCHES FLU VACCINATION SERVICE 2017


Skills in Healthcare UK - the contract sales arm of Alliance Healthcare UK - has launched its flu vaccination service for 2017. The service offers flu vaccination PGD training services to pharmacy teams to ensure they are well-equipped for the approaching flu vaccination season.


Community pharmacy teams administered a 37 per cent increase in flu vaccinations in 2016/17 than in previous years (Primary Care Commissioning, 2017*), and Skills in Healthcare has seen a significant rise in demand and uptake of its flu service proposition.


Skills in Healthcare offers a mix of practical, face-to-face and online training modules, with courses tailored to suit different levels of experience. Practical half-day training is offered on Sundays to reduce costs and the online training modules can be completed at a time that’s convenient for pharmacy teams.


The brands covered in the service include:


Influenza — INTANZA, GENERIC SEASONAL FLU, FLUENZ


Hepatitis B— ENGERIX, generic


Meningitis — MENACWY, MENVEO, generic


‘We’ve developed a service that really helps community pharmacy teams,’ says Sanjay Pathak, National Pharmacy Services Manager at Alliance Healthcare UK. ‘We had excellent uptake on last year’s service and, with even more training opportunities available this year, we’re here to help pharmacy teams with all their flu vaccination training needs.’


The price of the service starts at just £19.99 +VAT, and varies according to the training option required. For more information, or to register, visit alliance-healthcare.co.uk/pharmacies/ flu-vaccination-service.


TRANSFORMATION FOCUS FOR FORUM


REGISTRATION HAS NOW OPENED FOR THE 2017 PHARMACY MANAGEMENT FORUM IN SCOTLAND.


The event, which is free for pharmacists to attend, is being held at the Dunblane Hydro on Wednesday 30 August.


Chaired by NHS Highland Consultant in Pharmaceutical Public Health, Sharon Pfleger, the event will again feature a mix of plenary sessions with


4 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST


speakers, and two sessions where delegates will be able to choose between six parallel satellite seminars.


Pharmacy Management Chief Executive John Stanley says the Forum recognises that the profession is at a time of transformation:


FIVE-YEAR PHARMACY DEGREE


GETS GREEN LIGHT


A FIVE-YEAR INTEGRATED PHARMACY DEGREE IS TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN SCOTLAND FROM 2020, THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT HAS ANNOUNCED.


The government announced last month that an advisory group comprising Strathclyde University, Robert Gordon University, Community Pharmacy Scotland and other stakeholders had recommended progressing from the current four-year degree and one-year pre-registration training to a five-year degree.


In August last year, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) had said that it was considering replacing the four-year degree; a move, which Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Rose Marie Parr, had said would help


‘I think it is fair to say that the pressures and expectations being placed on Scotland’s pharmacists, in every setting, are as great as anyone can remember,’ he told SP. ‘The Forum has been designed to equip each of us to deal a little better with these challenges, and perhaps learn from each other how to create some opportunities from them.’


Keynote speakers include Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Rose Marie Parr, technology in the workplace specialist Professor Patricia Findlay from Strathclyde University, and Inverclyde’s lead clinical pharmacist, Margaret Maskrey, who will talk about Inverclyde’s experience of extending the role of pharmacist independent prescribers.


The satellite sessions cover productivity in hospital pharmacy,


to meet workforce demand.


Following NES’ announcement, the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, through the auspices of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO), established an Advisory Group to explore the evolution of the existing pharmacist four-year undergraduate degree and the one-year pre- registration training scheme into an integrated five-year programme to support the initial education of pharmacists in Scotland.


The Advisory Group said that this new five-year format provided opportunities to better prepare new pharmacists for practice in Scotland and permitted better management of pharmacy trainee numbers to meet workforce demands, both in terms of initial recruitment and on-going progression.


There was, however, some disagreement by the Advisory Group as to the exact format of the five-year integrated MPharm and, for that reason, they did not recommend how this integrated model would be delivered; whether it would be a twelve-month block in year five; two six-month blocks, the latter in the final six months of year five; or a set of dispersed blocks across the first four years and a final six-month block at the end of the fifth year. They agreed, instead, that this aspect was better worked through as part of the implementation arrangements.


transforming community pharmacy, leading pharmacy technicians, communication, and clinical seminars on diabetes and Hepatitis C.


‘The event is funded by the pharmaceutical industry through the purchase of exhibition stands and delegate places,’ John Stanley continues. ‘The companies do not, however, have any input into the design or content of the workshop agenda. We realise how difficult it can be to spend even a single day away from our normal work. However, after every Forum we hear from delegates that the day has given them a chance to pause, reflect and to discuss issues with people in the same boat, and this has been of immense value to them.’


For more information and to register go to www.pharman.co.uk/events


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