NEWS


NEW FUNDING FOR STUDENT PHARMACISTS


The Scottish Government is investing in the next generation of pharmacists, with £2.85m funding now available in 2018-19 to support the current experiential learning (EL) that student pharmacists undertake in community pharmacies and hospitals, expanding this into primary care and other venues.


It is anticipated that this funding will allow student pharmacists to put their learning from university into practice, which will ultimately result in better patient care.


The scheme, called ‘Scottish Pharmacy Experiential Learning’, is being organised in partnership between Robert Gordon University, the University of Strathclyde, NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and other pharmacy stakeholders.


Funding for training providers will help release facilitators to spend dedicated time supporting student pharmacists during experiential learning, while funding for students will cover travel and subsistence, allowing them to experience remote and rural practice.


‘This Experiential Learning scheme


is a prime example of how RGU is working to provide demand-led opportunities for our students to enhance their skills in a professional environment,’ said Dr Brian Addison, MPharm Course Leader at RGU’s School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences. ‘Not only does this work- based learning give them excellent experience putting their knowledge into practice, but it also offers them the chance to build the kinds of contacts which could become invaluable as they head into the workforce as the pharmacists of the future.’


‘This is a hugely exciting development for pharmacy education,’ added Dr Anne Boyter, Director of Teaching and Deputy Head of Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, ‘which will enable us to build on the experiential learning already in our MPharm. It will enhance the professional growth and development of our students and support them as they gain valuable experience where they can integrate classroom learning with real life patient facing pharmacy experience.’


PDA RELEASE THEIR PHARMACY


TECHNICIANS REPORT IN ITS ENTIRETY The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) has released its highly-anticipated Pharmacy Technicians report in its entirety. The 250-page document, which took three years to compile, highlights proposals to develop the roles of community pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, and the skill mix required to meet patients’ needs.


The in-depth report has been developed because the government has been considering the


unexploited possibilities that are available through skill mix and in community pharmacy, and has been placing emphasis on the greater utilisation of pharmacy technicians.


The PDA’s report seeks to set a sensible vision for the future development of pharmacist and pharmacy technician practice in community pharmacy and proposes ways in which this can be done. The full report can be downloaded from the-pda.org/pharmacy-technicians


LAUNCH OF NEW ONLINE DEMENTIA POST-DIAGNOSTIC RESOURCE


NHS Lanarkshire’s mental health and learning disability service has developed a new online dementia post-diagnostic support tool for carers, patients and health practitioners.


The online resource provides people living with dementia, their families and carers with the tools, connections, resources and plans to allow them to live as well as possible with dementia and prepare for the future. The online tool, which has been developed in partnership with a number of agencies including Alzheimer Scotland, also highlights the local supports and resources available in Lanarkshire.


Pictured (L-r): Mary Gilfillan, senior nurse, mental health and learning disability service; Maureen Cossar, practice improvement and development nurse for mental health and learning disabilities and Helen Fox, nurse consultant, old age psychiatry/Alzheimer Scotland.


4 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST


‘The online tool was developed to enhance the post-diagnostic support that is already provided by our service,’ said Maureen


Cossar, practice improvement and development nurse for mental health and learning disabilities. ‘It is full of information to support people through their journey with dementia by providing practical advice and guidance. It also offers information about what support is available in Lanarkshire for people living with dementia and those who care and support them.’


The online post diagnostic dementia support tool is accessible via mobile phone, tablet or computer and has been designed as an alternative method of accessing information.


To access the resource, visit: www.clinicalknowledgepublisher.scot. nhs.uk/Published/pathwayViewer.aspx? fileId=2598&drilldown=2598,2893&no deId=19


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the public interest by setting minimum standards of practice for the professionals it regulates. [21] It may work with the profession to agree and set minimum standards.


Professional and regulatory bodies play three roles:


1. They are set up to safeguard the public interest. This is what gives them their legitimacy. 2. Professional bodies (but not regulatory bodies) also represent the interests of their respective professional practitioners. In this capacity they act as a professional association or trade union (including legitimating restrictive practices), or as a learnèd society contributing to continuous professional development.


3. The professional or regulatory body represents its own self-interest: the organisations act to maintain their own privileged and powerful position as a controlling body. This is where control, legitimated by public interest, sometimes becomes confounded by control based on self-interest. [22]


The professional leadership body for pharmacists – the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) – stated that: “Regulation is effectively a shared responsibility between professional leadership bodies setting standards for professional activity and the enforcement role of the regulator. This approach ensures that the regulator maintains public confidence in the regulatory process and achieves a safe environment for the public to access their pharmaceutical care. The professional leadership body has the role of demonstrating to the public that pharmacy is a trusted profession whose members deliver safe pharmaceutical care.” [23]


Hierarchies in healthcare labour


Hierarchies necessarily exist within the divisions of labour in healthcare. Sociological theory has placed medicine as the dominant healthcare profession, as a result of its autonomy and the formal


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