The PDA has welcomed the GPhCs commitment to further development of the Standards, however the Union believes that the improvement in drafting has failed to grasp opportunities and to address some fundamental issues. Consequently the PDA response provides a further fourteen recommendations to add to the twelve included in the response to the original standards consultation held in January 2010.
Summary of Recommendations
- The GPhC should carry out further work on standards with a view to facilitating the new roles for pharmacists.
- Standards for the supply of medicines and the delivery of services should be considered separately.
- The GPhC should consider how it will create a regulatory framework that will deliver the standards of patient safety embodied in the European Court of Justice ruling about non pharmacist ownership.
- An urgent professional debate to establish the professions view on supervision needs to be supported by the GPhC and the resulting view needs to be fed into the regulatory frameworks.
- The development of the Supervision regulations must also include a fundamental review of the Responsible Pharmacist regulations and the standards that underpin both.
- Provisions within the RP regulations that allow short absences from the pharmacy should be carefully reconsidered to ensure that they can be operated for the benefit of the public and not for commercial gain.
- Consultation on and development of better standards of Clinical Governance should be initiated.
- The GPhC must ensure that it takes a balanced view on the inputs of all stakeholders; all have a view in the vision for pharmacy but no view should be given disproportionate weighting.
- The GPhC should look towards creating standards that shape a different model of healthcare delivery for pharmacy.
- The GPhC should undertake a fundamental review of how regulation is used, to ensure that it is primarily to promote the interests of patients rather than to protect the profitability of the corporate multiples.
- The GPhC should consider how it could support the development of a pharmaceutical care model to complement the supply model.
- The GPhC should have regard to contractual issues in as much as they impact upon the development of standards and / or the delivery of standards.
- The GPhC must develop standards that unambiguously support pharmacists to enable them to exercise professional independence for the benefit of patients and should consequently issue guidelines to owners and directors of pharmacy companies indicating to them what their responsibilities are in this respect.
- The GPhC should consider the registration of non pharmacist owners and directors in order that they can be required to comply with standards and that people exercising their delegated authority can be held to account.
According to Mark Koziol PDA Chairman;
"Regulatory standards are extremely important statements and if established properly, can be used as the springboard for professional development. Consequently, what we do not want and should not tolerate is simply a re-hash of the old RPSGB standards. It is time that pharmacists were given a new direction through a new, powerful, innovative and inspirational regulatory framework, one that truly supports the development of the profession."
He continues;
" Any new regulatory framework must support pharmacists to enable them to practice with professional independence for the benefit of patients. Sadly, over- protocolisation and employer edict are approaches that have been allowed to flourish because of previous standards. We want pharmacy practice to move on for the benefit of patients and we want the profession and not company shareholders to lead on this move. The new standards must support and underpin that patient centred forward looking approach."
Download the complete response document here
ENDS
Notes for Editors
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) is a not for profit organisation which aims is to act upon and support the needs of individual pharmacists and, when necessary, to defend their reputation. PDA currently has nearly 16,000 members. The PDA Union was inaugurated in May 2008.
The primary aims of the PDA are to;
- Support pharmacists in their legal, practice and employment needs.
- Represent the individual or collective concerns of pharmacists in the most appropriate manner.
- Provide insurance cover to safeguard and defend the reputation of the individual pharmacist.
- Proactively seek to influence the professional, practice and employment agenda to support members.
- Lead and support initiatives designed to improve the knowledge and skills of pharmacists in managing risk and safe practices, so improving patient care.
- Work with like-minded organisations to further improve the membership benefits to individual pharmacists.
Editors requiring further information should contact:
Mark Koziol, Chairman mark.koziol@the-pda.org
John Murphy, Director john.murphy@the-pda.org
Tel: 0121 694 7000
Fax: 0121 694 7001
