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Pharmanaut · 22, February 2007, 12:16 AM

Goodbye RPSGB.... Hello PDA?

Originally posted by Jeff View Post

https://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detai...9&NewsAreaID=2

Jeff

I think it is time to sign up to the PDA.
Wait till next payday.
Can you claim on your tax return?

N.T · 22, February 2007, 07:27 PM

This is, of course, excellent new.

Let's hope all goes well, perhaps this will finally be the turning point for this profession.

On another political note, I've signed up for an evening in the House of Commons, courtesy of Sandra Gidley (www.sandragidley.org) as part of the Uni of Bath's centenary celebrations. Maybe I'll meet some big wigs and convince them to change the face of pharmacy in under 2 hours...oh well, i can live in hope

And yes, you will be able to pop the cost of PDA membership on your tax return - saving you about £20.

richtagg · 23, February 2007, 02:01 PM

In the long run it will be good for the profession.

I think the immediate future will look very murky however, as the society hashes out where it's role will be and how retention fees will be paid.

Great news for organisations like the PDA and NPA too, but not so great for those affiliated with the society I fear!

admin · 23, February 2007, 09:01 PM

I personally haven't really ever seen the society do anything for pharmacy, so it must be better then what we currently have.

What's your view on this Jeff?

Pharmanaut · 23, February 2007, 11:30 PM

Behind the scenes.

Originally posted by admin View Post

I personally haven't really ever seen the society do anything for pharmacy, so it must be better then what we currently have.

What's your view on this Jeff?

We are told that much of the work of the Society is behind the scenes.

Guest · 24, February 2007, 01:37 AM

Originally posted by admin View Post

I personally haven't really ever seen the society do anything for pharmacy, so it must be better then what we currently have.

What's your view on this Jeff?

We need a regulatory body capable of and willing to regulate pharmacies as well as pharmacists.
We need a representative body capable of representing both pharmacists and the profession of pharmacy (and very much in that order).

I'd like to see cross professional regulation. Regulating pharmacists in isolation from the events is silly.
"The committee heard that on 22 October 2002 Mr Solola had dispensed 100ml of methadone mixture 1mg/ml against a document purporting to be a prescription issued by the Ripple Project, which offers medical services to drug users. But it was a forgery, and the Ripple Project did not hold details of the person named. Mr Solola did not know the patient or the purported prescriber, whom he had assumed to be a “Dr Ripple”. He had made an entry to that effect in the methadone register."
"It was true that the doctor’s signature was effectively illegible, but that was not an unusual feature of GPs’ prescriptions."
Whatever the rights and wrongs of Mr Solola's actions -failure to address "effectively illegible" signatures and scripts from drug units that fail to identify the prescriber is idiotic.
We need joined up regulation.

Representation seems to have been carried out most effectively by individual pharmacists, that appeared on council and then left so that they could be more effective.

e.g. Claire Mackie for her contributions to the Crown Report on extending prescribing.
http://www.pjonline.com/editorial/20...re_mackie.html
"Professor Clare Mackie is to resign from the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society after its meeting on December 6 - six months before completing a three-year term of office as a Council member. She says that she wishes to continue her commitment to the profession from a different direction.

Mark Koziol for the PDA
Three stand down from Council
"Mr Koziol added that another reason for his decision was that he had volunteered to become involved in a professional project that would take up an enormous amount of his time over the next 12 months. The project was one that would be of benefit to the profession, but it had not yet reached the stage at which details could be made public."

A separate representative organisation allows the representative organisation to disagree with the regulatory organisation.

Jeff

Linnear · 24, February 2007, 09:45 AM

Our first EPB meeting was the day after this white paper came out and sort of threw our schedule into disarray a bit as we HAD to discuss it.

Not a lot being said at the moment as of course it has only just been released.

A few things mentioned were:

It's probably going to take 2-5 years for govt legislation to get the job done so it's not going to happen overnight.

In political/health circles The Soc is respected (even if membership don't think so!) so we need to try to capitalise on that and use it to our advantage.

The working party is to report in March but that is purely a 'first look' response and it's unlikely that major decisions will be made by THIS working party.

It was thought that it would be a good idea to look at other groups that have gone through similar things and learn from their mistakes.

The thought was that the EPB should push to make its presence felt. So we are planning to get our voices heard so PLEASE TELL US what you think.

[email protected]

The thing I asked was about the mention of revalidation every 5 years. I thought this meant exams and asked where this left CPD. But GP revalidation would involve a review of their work and capabilities and wouldn't involve an exam so we could go for the same sort of thing so our PCD records could be used to revalidate us every 5 years.

One thing I am going to keep bringing up is the need for Protected Learning Time so that we don't have to do CPD in our time off.

Will try to keep you posted as I get more info.

admin · 24, February 2007, 11:42 AM

Splitting the Pharmaceutical Society

Thanks to Jeff and Linnear for the posts on this subject.

Personally, I agree with most of what Jeff says.

It's interesting to hear what the EPB discuss, so thanks Linnear for putting a time frame on this.

Pharmanaut · 24, February 2007, 08:35 PM

Why Why Why...

Originally posted by admin View Post

Thanks to Jeff and Linnear for the posts on this subject.

Personally, I agree with most of what Jeff says.

It's interesting to hear what the EPB discuss, so thanks Linnear for putting a time frame on this.

Why is so much of the CPD stuff either loads of reading or role playing? For those of you who remember the cassette tapes called "Talking Pharmacy" presented by Bernard Hardisty, they were great. The format of two people discussing a topic intelligently worked for me, I can still remember the material 10 years on. Now that we all have MP3 players and PCs lets get more stuff like this out there. Some of the written material in the PJ is really difficult to concentrate on after a day at work.

Linnear - if you can get the profession some protected CPD time - you will get the pharmanaut medal.

Zoggite · 24, February 2007, 09:53 PM

What about getting CPD "audiobooks"?
A lot of us spend quite a bit of time every day sitting in our cars getting to work and back, we could put that time to good use by getting CPD modules on CDs to listen to in the car...

Guest · 24, February 2007, 10:00 PM

Originally posted by Linnear View Post

In political/health circles The Soc is respected (even if membership don't think so!) so we need to try to capitalise on that and use it to our advantage.

Have you read what Sandra Gidley says about our respected society on PrivateRx - and also in the PJ http://www.pjonline.com/pdf/spectrum...calcolours.pdf

Jeff

Linnear · 25, February 2007, 11:38 AM

Good point Jeff.

I think the point is if a pharmacist from the Soc DOES turn up somewhere then they are respected.

What we've obviously got to work on is getting pharmacists out there. We had a talk from the Soc PR people (Sorry, apparently it's Public Affairs now not relations!) and Sid Dajani asked why we don't see more pharmacists on TV etc. The stock answer was "If a pharmacist was on Eastenders then they'd end up killing someone."

Sid then said that Hilary Jones hasn't killed anyone. Got us all thinking and we are expected to give input to PR, sorry PA. So will see what can be done.

Pharmanaut: Will try my best. It will be brought up repeatedly if I think it's necessary.

Pharmanaut · 25, February 2007, 06:58 PM

Pharmacists on the media...

Most of the time we are shown in a bad light.
Anyone remember Benoxaprofen? It went to named patient. So one of the tabloids sent someone out with a private script and got it dispensed. Headline 'Killer Drug Still On Sale'.

I remember 'Peak Practice' - shown in a bad light - fiddling the NHS.

Next thing you know we will be accused of costing the nation millions because we are dispensing too many prescriptions.

Pharmanaut · 25, February 2007, 07:02 PM

Audio Books.

Originally posted by Zoggite View Post

What about getting CPD "audiobooks"?
A lot of us spend quite a bit of time every day sitting in our cars getting to work and back, we could put that time to good use by getting CPD modules on CDs to listen to in the car...

Spot on - if they are put on the internet you can download them and play by whatever means you have, including making an audio cd if you want to.

...How about a 'pharmacy forum' venture to make some and start the ball rolling?
We need a script and someone with good diction.

The person who writes the script gets CPD time for doing just that - everyone wins.

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