Society Marks 100th Day Of Its Commitment To The Profession - Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 16 Dec 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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Tomorrow will mark 100 days since the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPSGB) announced its vision for the profession's new leadership body (PLB) by launching a series of commitments to its members.

Seven commitments were developed in consultation with the existing membership to demonstrate to pharmacists what the new body will represent and what services, products and support they can expect.

During the past four months a huge amount of work has taken place and most of the ambitious list of tasks has been done. Members have worked with the Society throughout, testing and piloting new services and providing feedback and support on a number of issues.

Some of the key activities which have been completed include:

- The online CPD recording system has been upgraded and simplified. Online practical support has also been run through webinar events along with provision for 8,000 pharmacists to attend training events in partnership with CPPE, WCPPE and NES.

- A new milestone was reached after it was announced that the Crown Prosecution Service would produce guidelines in early January to stop the automatic criminalisation of single dispensing errors.

- Nearly 50 Local Practice Forum events have been held throughout England, Scotland and Wales to promote the new forums and this work will continue to ensure members have access to an active or virtual LPF by April 2010.

- Great progress has been made in developing nationally recognised awards for advanced and specialist levels of practice with the first phase of the project completed.

- Two successful media campaigns have been run to highlight the role of pharmacy on counterfeit medicines and the free chlamydia screening services available in many pharmacies. These were picked up by national media such as BBC Radio 4's You and Yours programme, BBC 1's The One Show, Metro and The Independent.

Steve Churton, RPSGB President said, "Our commitments reflect the way forward for the new membership organisation and although we set ourselves some very stretching tasks, we are pleased with our achievements to date. There are some activities which we will continue to work on in the New Year but we have made some excellent headway with only three which aren't near completion. I am grateful for the way that members have engaged with various projects to ensure what we are delivering is right for our profession."

Activities which will continue in January include more work to be finalised on building a database of pharmaceutical science experts willing to contribute their work and a review of feedback on the Society's Information and Advisory Service. New goals will also be developed to ensure the professional body is constantly adapting to show scope and vision for the future which matches the ambitions of modern pharmacists across all areas of practice. For a full list of commitments and the actions being delivered to demonstrate each commitment, please visit http://www.pharmacyplb.com.

Source
Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

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