This year’s congress will be an opportunity to share experiences, learn from others and support proposals to ensure that PDA members receive benefits from FIP as a result of the PDA joining this organisation.
Global perspective
FIP is a collaboration of around 150 pharmacy organisations from across the world and its mission is to support global health by advancing practice, science and education. Additionally, FIP is a non-governmental organisation recognised as having official relations with the World Health Organisation (WHO) 1948.
This is of great interest to the PDA since in the UK, there has been a worrying trend for pharmacy practice to slavishly follow government policy and the ambition of NHS commissioners often without too much in the way of challenge, even though some of these proposals might be detrimental.
Examples might include the government policies on PPE in community pharmacy during the Covid-19 pandemic, the idea that pharmacist roles and/or PGDs should simply be passed without question to pharmacy technicians or that a community pharmacy should be operated in the absence of a pharmacist.
It is therefore important for the PDA to establish a direct connection with the WHO, operational channels to leading pharmacy organisations across the world and powerful insights based on research and experience of leading-edge practice.
Mark Koziol, PDA Chairman is the PDA’s representative on the FIP Council. As such, he was the European representative of FIP’s delegation to the World Health Assembly in May and has been appointed to FIP’s Global Pharmaceutical Observatory. These connections provide powerful additional sources of policy direction, which, when required, can be used to challenge the occasionally questionable direction of the UK government for the benefit of pharmacists and patients in the UK.
Annual Congress
While much of FIP’s activity is undertaken online, each year the federation holds a global congress with five days of activity where a range of discussions take place and a number of important decisions are made. The PDA’s objectives for this congress include:
1. Automatic Associate membership of FIP for all PDA members
The materials that FIP generates through its comprehensive international collaborative platform represent a first-class resource that pharmacist practitioners in the UK would find very helpful in their daily activities. Currently, these resources are restricted only to fully paid up FIP members, but the PDA is seeking a change to the constitution of FIP creating an ‘associate membership’ category enabling PDA members to have access to some of FIPs resources at no cost to them.
2. Safer Pharmacies Charter
The PDA’s Safer Pharmacies Charter has been recognised and supported by a number of UK organisations, but sadly, not by all. The PDA is presenting its Safer Pharmacies Charter at FIP and will seek formal recognition and FIP support. Not only will this help with securing a wider uptake of this initiative in the UK by creating an international seal of approval, but it could enable the initiative to be adopted in other countries for the benefit of pharmacist employees.
3. Support of Humanitarian Crises by providing medicines to conflict zones in all parts of the world.
The PDA will be providing an update on the progress of the Medicines to Ukraine programme of humanitarian support.
The system that has been devised is both simple and effective, and has already attracted the interest of the WHO. It relies on the leadership and unique skills of pharmacists to solve the problem of ensuring that the right medicines are delivered in the right way to a conflict zone. Following encouragement and feedback from members, the PDA is now looking to share the framework that was successfully used in Ukraine to enable pharmacy to deliver leadership in humanitarian crises wherever they occur, for whatever reason in any part of the world.
4. Developing pharmaceutical care
Healthcare systems around the world consistently fail to harness the unique pharmacist skills around the safe use and the actions of medicines and this problem occurs in the UK, where the idea of remote supervision has been a long-term government project. The PDA seeks a powerful international focus upon the role of pharmacists in pharmaceutical care. This will help to influence the practice of pharmacy in the UK and to ensure that pharmacists can enjoy professionally fulfilling roles for which they are uniquely qualified.
Over and above these key objectives, the delegation will be participating in discussions on topics such as Anti-microbial resistance, the effect of climate change on healthcare and the possibility for UK pharmacists to participate in Voluntary Service Overseas and much more.
Reporting back
Since joining FIP last October, the PDA has regularly informed members about FIP activity, for example: PDA circulates FIP round table reports to share best practice with members and PDA shares update from FIP Chief Executive.
A detailed report of the FIP congress and the progress made on these important objectives will be shared with PDA members and in the meantime any PDA members who are attending in a personal capacity are invited to let the PDA know so that we can connect.
Learn more
- Why has PDA joined the International Pharmaceutical Federation? (FIP)
- FIP representation at the 76th World Health Assembly
- Global Pharmaceutical Observatory
- PDA’s Safer Pharmacies Survey 2022
- Safer Pharmacies Charter
- PDA take Medicines to Ukraine campaign to British parliaments
- PDA circulates FIP round table reports to share best practice with members
- PDA shares update from FIP Chief Executive
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists, and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.