NEWS
RGU STRENGTHENS TIES WITH AUSTRIAN PHARMACISTS
NPA IN FOCUS Janice Oman
Scotland Representation Manager
Achieving excellence surely is an ambition for all of us, in everything we do, but how realistic and achievable is excellence for all of us?
Pharmacy organisations have welcomed the new five-year Scottish government strategy entitled ‘Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care’.
The strategy sets out the government’s nine commitments and their associated actions, which they believe will improve and integrate pharmacy services and strengthen the role of pharmacy across all sectors.
Anita Weidmann
Robert Gordon University (RGU) is building on its overseas links and international reputation as it forms a strategic partnership with a leading Austrian pharmacy association.
The university has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Apotheker Fortbildungs Akademie (AFA), the postgraduate education arm of the Austrian Association of Employed Pharmacists (VAAÖ).
The agreement will see the two organisations work on a collaborative project, with AFA arranging for all of their registered pharmacists to study towards an MSc Clinical Pharmacy Practice at RGU, while the university provides a supporting workshop structure in Austria.
These workshops will be uniquely tailored to the Austrian pharmacy sector and will be delivered by German speaking RGU staff, as well as qualified Austrian clinical pharmacists.
Dr Anita Weidmann, senior lecturer at RGU’s School of Pharmacy and
44 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST
Life Sciences, worked with European colleagues to develop the arrangement, which is the first of its kind within Austria.
‘I am delighted that RGU will be collaborating with AFA and on this educational programme and improving the standards of clinical pharmacy in Austria,’ Dr Weidmann told SP.
‘Clinical pharmacy is a fast-growing specialist sector in the country and I believe that it speaks volumes about RGU’s ever-growing reputation for world class pharmacy education that AFA chose to partner with us.
‘International relations are very important for universities and my colleagues and I look forward to strengthening our relationships within Austria, which will benefit RGU academically while we support the development of Austrian pharmacists.’
The first cohort of Austrian pharmacists to study at RGU though this agreement will begin in January 2018.
Community pharmacy is the focus of the first of those nine commitments and it promises to expand advanced clinical skills within the sector, including independent prescribing, and build capacity for extended Minor Ailment and Chronic Medication services. It also includes a pledge to support GP and community pharmacist engagement and to expand the public health role of community pharmacy.
Community pharmacists are integral to the majority of the nine commitments which include supporting pharmaceutical care in remote and rural communities, care homes and with care at home. I visit independent pharmacies across Scotland that provide pharmacy services using various business models and in hugely varying types of communities.
However, the common theme is that the community pharmacy team is integral to supporting the health of their patients and is already in many ways providing excellent pharmaceutical care.
This strategy will provide the tools to gather the evidence of this
care and to integrate community pharmacists fully within the NHS team. Which, in turn, will enable pharmacy owners to support their pharmacists to further develop and expand excellent pharmaceutical care in the community.
NPA chairman, Ian Strachan, believes the government strategy recognises role community pharmacy can play.
‘Local pharmacies should be people’s first port of call for the vast majority of their health concerns, which is clearly acknowledged in this strategy,’ he said. ‘Community pharmacy teams working in greater collaborative partnerships will free capacity in general practice.’
Achieving Excellence was discussed at the September Scottish member forum and will be a plenary topic at the Scottish NPA conference, in Glasgow, on 5 November 5.
I am sure in the coming months we will all have ample opportunities to look at the detail of the strategy. Five years is not a great deal of time but, from what I hear from NPA members, they are ready to embrace the developments promised that will enable the actions in the strategy to be taken forward.
The NPA will continue to develop resources as Patient Safety Quality improvement tools to support excellent pharmaceutical care. The latest NPA Scotland Patient Safety Incident Report is now available to use as a discussion tool with pharmacy teams to minimise dispensing errors.
Many Scottish NPA members are now also using the NPA Local Market Insight service to understand their local NHS service activity. More information is available at
www.npa.co.uk.
Please do not hesitate to contact Janice on
j.oman@
npa.co.uk if you have any issues you would like to raise.
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