STALWART
In a nEW SErIES of fEatUrES, PIf SPEakS to SoME of thE ProVIncE’S PharMacY ‘StalWartS’ to aSk thEM What thEY conSIdEr thE MaIn changES thEY’VE WItnESSEd In PharMacY dUrIng thEIr tIME In thE ProfESSIon. In thIS ISSUE, raYMond andErSon tEllS US hoW nI coMMUnItY PharMacY haS BEnEfIttEd froM gloBal InPUt…
global perspective ...local application
W
hen it comes to a ‘wider view’ of international pharmacy, there’s no-one
better placed to speak to than Portadown contractor, raymond anderson. as the Immediate Past- President of the commonwealth Pharmacists’ association (cPa), raymond has a unique and overarching view of the profession: one that he is rightly extremely proud of.
‘there’s no doubt that engaging with the wider pharmacy profession in both Europe and the commonwealth creates a unique opportunity for nI pharmacy. If we had not had our own Professional Body, we would always have received news of innovation and change from our mainland counterparts, but with the establishment of the Pharmaceutical Society of northern Ireland (PSnI) in 1925, this meant that we subsequently were entitled to join other bodies such as the Pharmaceutical group of the European Union (PgEU), as part of the Uk delegation, and the commonwealth Pharmacists association as a full member. this ensured that we were able to take our place in engaging at both European Union and global levels.’
PgEU’s main objective is to advance the contribution of community
58 - PharMacY In focUS
pharmacists to European health systems, society and individual patients. the organisation maintains regular contacts with the European commission, the European Parliament, the committee of Permanent representatives and the Economic and Social committee. Six years ago, raymond was nominated as the northern Ireland representative to the Uk delegation of PgEU and his contribution at the European level was followed up two years ago when he was appointed by the European commission to the European Medicines agency’s (EMa’s) Pharmacovigilance risk assessment committee (Prac).
Prac is the EMa’s committee that is responsible for assessing and monitoring the safety of human medicines in the EU and, as such, raymond sits on the committee as a pharmacist representing healthcare professionals across Europe, reviewing medicines in terms of their benefit/risk to patients. as with his PgEU work, he is heavily involved in engagement with the EU. Prac is responsible for assessing all aspects of risk management of human medicines, including: • the detection, assessment, minimisation and communication of the risk of adverse reactions, while taking the therapeutic effect of the medicine into account;
Raymond visiting the Head of the Pharmacology Department at Bangladesh
• design and evaluation of post- authorisation safety studies; • pharmacovigilance audit.
What does raymond think nI community pharmacy can learn from bodies such as PgEU and Prac?
‘Well, first and foremost, as pharmacists we should all be using our expertise in supporting and managing patients and their medicines. When you consider that more than 75 per cent of medicines are prescribed in the primary care setting – and therefore dispensed by community pharmacists – it is clear that reporting of adrs by community pharmacists is an essential part of our role and, particularly when the aim is to be proactive, ensuring patients get the best from their medicines and minimising medicines safety issues. raymond’s participation at EU and global level means that we are able to benefit from a wealth of experience from pharmacy development across world as well as show case the work we do in nI.
‘In my work at PgEU and the commonwealth I am pleasantly surprised by how the profession has developed and grown in the Uk. We may not always see it but pharmacists in the Uk are leading the way in service development and many
countries look to us when it comes to developing clinical services. It’s not that we always get it right, but the direction of travel is gaining momentum. at the European level it is only a few years ago pharmacy was labelled as a supplier of medicines and little else.
‘there’s no doubt, however, that other countries are gradually catching on to what can be achieved in community pharmacy. In June 2013, the canadian Pharmacists’ association published ‘our way forward: optimizing drug therapy outcomes for canadians through patient-centred care’. this was a follow-on from their ‘Bluprint for Pharmacy’, published in 2005, which was an overarching document for the profession. Each territory then began working on adapting it to suit the needs of each region and to enable its practitioners to move into clinical services.
‘last year, I attended a PgEU conference in london at which canadian pharmacists were talking about their ‘Way forward’ document and how community pharmacists were managing patient hypertension in the community pharmacy setting. they provided evidence of how community pharmacists were achieving better outcomes in
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