RPS NEWS


ROYAL PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY SCOTLAND ROUND-UP


By Alex MacKinnon, Royal Pharmaceutical Society Director for Scotland


STAY CLOSE TO PHARMACY IN 2019


RPS membership renewals are now underway. If you haven’t already renewed, the deadline is looming, so please get in touch.


With your continued support, we’ll keep on advancing pharmacy. And we’ll find new ways to help your practice. We’ll campaign for recognition of pharmacists’ expertise. In Scotland this year we will be working on highlighting the value of pharmacists in care homes and in treating mental health problems.


When pharmacy is in the media, we’ll make sure a member is there to represent your voice.


We’ll continue to publish the latest


expert guidance, in print and online – including our pharmacy best practice guides and professional standards, the BNF, and MEP 43. In the last two months alone, we have released a comprehensive polypharmacy guidance, as well as our guidance on the safe and secure handling of medicines.


Throughout 2019, we’ll be on hand with new ways to help advance your career, like our professional development programmes. We’ll support your revalidation, with brand new Peer Discussion tools.


RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP NOW at rpharms.com/renewu19 and save five per cent if you pay by direct


SCOTTISH PHARMACY BOARD ELECTIONS


Do you want to have your voice heard and influence change? Join us in our mission to put pharmacy at the forefront of healthcare.


This year we have three vacancies on our Scottish Pharmacy Board and we will be looking for nominations to be submitted between 14 March and 4 April. If you don’t stand, make sure


you vote. Voting is your chance to influence the future of the RPS and the pharmacy profession. Have your say and elect board members that you think will best represent your interests.


The Board meets four times a year in Edinburgh. Look out for more details on our website.


HELP US BUILD PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR COMMUNITY


PHARMACY SERVICES This year, we are developing professional standards for community pharmacy services. They will create a framework which will deliver high- quality, consistent pharmacy services for the people who use them.


We’ll speak to pharmacists, patients and other stakeholders throughout 2019 to help us develop the standards.


Join us on Tuesday 19 March at


our office in Edinburgh to give your feedback on the work that is being done and have your input in developing the standards. Similar events have already been held in Glasgow on 22 February and in Edinburgh on 5 March, and the feedback has been extremely positive.


If you want to learn more about our work on the standards, please email us at support@rpharms.com


NOMINATE AN RPS FELLOW


Being appointed a Fellow of the Society is one of the highest honours that can be bestowed upon our members. If you know someone working in pharmacy in Scotland who you think deserves this honour, please let us know.


Fellowship is an honour, which recognises those individuals who have attained distinction in their pharmacy career. As Fellowships are based on nominations from members, they signify the esteem in


which the individual is held by his or her peers.


Nominations for Fellowship are welcome at any point of the year. The Panel of Fellows will be holding their next meeting in May 2019 and nominations must be received by 17 April to be considered at this meeting.


More details on how to nominate a member are available on our website: rpharms.com/fellows.


RPS SUPPORTS PARLIAMENTARY


REPORT ON HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE The Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group (CPG) on Heart Disease and Stroke launched its report on high blood pressure earlier this year. Up to 1.3 million Scots are believed to have high blood pressure, including many who are unaware they are living with the condition.


The CPG’s inquiry considered the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of


8 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST


the condition and RPS was delighted to support it by getting members to respond to its consultation and by having one of our members involved in the inquiry. The report called for the Scottish Government to create a High Blood Pressure Task Force, to develop community-based detection programmes and education for healthcare professionals.


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