Pharmacy Professional - Royal Pharmaceutical Society

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n e w s r o u n d u p m e d i a v i e w Last call for National Pharmacy Board election candidates Members who are passionate about the future of the pharmacy profession are being called on to stand for the National Pharmacy Board elections next month. Just days remain for candidates to get their nominations in to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society by the November 23 closing date. National Boards for England, Scotland and Wales will form the backbone of the new Professional Body and for the first time since the 1840’s there will be no Council next year. The increased role of the boards recognises that health policy is different in each country. Members of the boards will be directly elected with some seats allocated by sector of practice. Each Board has a different composition in line with devolution and the needs of each country. England and Wales will each have 11 places and there will be 12 places on the Scottish Board. “These elections are particularly significant as the National Boards will be crucial to ensuring that the support and decisions of the professional leadership body are what the profession wants,” says the Society’s Chief Executive and Registrar, Jeremy Holmes. “All the elected places for each Pharmacy Board are vacant in this first election, so this really is your chance to shape your profession. I’d like to encourage those who are enthusiastic and committed to creating our new body to stand. Just as importantly, we would like a strong voter turnout so that the elected candidates represent our diverse membership.” Voting can be by post or online from December 12 to January 22, 2010. The elections are being held earlier than in previous years to allow the new board members time to be inducted before the Society’s scheduled separation in April next year. All current Society members in England, Scotland and Wales are eligible to vote. Although there will not be a Council election next year, there will be an Assembly. It will meet less often than the boards and will look after overall strategic direction as well as maintaining responsibility for the financial and governance aspects of the organisation. The Assembly will be made up of members from the English, Scottish and Welsh Pharmacy Boards plus a pharmaceutical scientist, an academic and a lay member to provide an external perspective. More information on how to stand for the election can be found at www.rpsgb.org by clicking ‘Board Elections’ on the right hand side. n Pharmacy Support strikes new partners with action on addiction The UK’s leading independent welfare charity for pharmacists and their families, Pharmacy Support, has agreed a new partnership with Action on Addiction, the only UK charity working across the addiction field in research, prevention, treatment, professional education and family support. The pharmacists’ welfare charity is building on its existing Health Support Programme, a confidential specialist service which exists to help those who experience problems with alcohol, drug, or other types of dependency. The charity made an informed decision to join forces with Action on Addiction whose specialist services will enhance the support it is able to provide to those in need. The dedicated Health Support Programme freephone number, 0808 168 5132, will be managed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by Action on Addiction, where a team of experts will be on hand to assist those experiencing addiction and dependency issues. “This specialist service is critical to our clients who have issues with dependency. Confidential assistance through the Health Support Programme in the past has prevented marriage breakdown, fitness to practice proceedings and has led to a return to full-time work for the people involved. “To ensure that the Charity can fully meet our clients’ needs, we feel the time is right to join forces with Action on Addiction, a specialist support provider whose holistic approach mirrors that of Pharmacist Support. We look forward to this being a long and fruitful relationship for both parties,” says Pharmacist Support charity manager, Diane Leicester. Meanwhile Nick Barton, chief executive of Action on Addiction says: “Action on Addiction is delighted to have been chosen to provide a specialist service to the nation’s pharmacists and their families. It is only sensible to provide support to those who play such an important part in the nation’s healthcare. Professionals are not immune to the problems that affect society as a whole. The charity looks forward to a productive relationship with Pharmacist Support that results in pharmacists and their families receiving the help they need.” The volatile economic climate has seen demand for Pharmacist Support’s services rise across the board during the past year. Funded entirely by donations from pharmacists, the charity relies on their generosity to continue to help people in need. Pharmacist Support provides a range of other confidential services including a stress helpline, financial assistance, debt, benefits and employment advice to any member or former member of the profession and their dependents, as well as to pharmacy students. To find out more about the services Pharmacist Support provides and to donate online please visit www.pharmacistsupport. org. For further details regarding Action on Addiction please visit www. actiononaddiction.org.uk n Healthcare in the community Pharmacists are at the forefront Are you stressed and overweight? A smoker prone to days off sick? An unhealthy eater who rarely manages much physical exercise? Chances are you might be a health professional. Several audits of health and habits in the NHS workforce have been conducted in recent months, and the conclusions have an alarming irony: the people tasked with guarding the nation’s physical wellbeing are not quite fit for purpose. The Boorman review reported that a third of health workers had poor or moderate mental health, smoking rates were no different from the general public (despite firsthand experience of its effects), many did little or no exercise, and sickness absenteeism was unacceptably high. The problems compromised care, with bad habits setting a poor example to the public at large. Earlier this year, the Department of Health carried out its own assessment of obesity in the health service. The eye-popping finding was that 300,000 of the 1.4million workforce are obese, and a slightly larger number overweight. And when Lord Darzi of Denham stepped down as health minister in July, we discussed what he had achieved with his strategy plans for primary and secondary care, and if he had any unfinished business. His response to the latter point was immediate: health workers need far greater support to ensure they lead Sam Lister, Health Editor, The Times healthy lives, and can act as ambassadors to the rest of the country. Get the workforce on track, and the public health message will be conveyed far more effectively. Pharmacists’ role expanded It is no understatement to say that the country’s 40,000-plus working pharmacists – both hospital-based and in the community – should be central to this mission. As the role of pharmacists is expanded in the push for more healthcare in the community, so their responsibilities as dispensers of lifestyle advice will grow. Advanced services such as smoking cessation and Health Checks for cardiovascular disease risk underline the pharmacist’s position on the Responsibilities as dispensers of lifestyle advice will grow public health frontline, and the shift in services traditionally tied to the GP’s surgery. In his analysis of primary care collaboration, Better Practices, Better Health, Professor David Taylor of University of London’s School of Pharmacy underlines how the different working approaches of GPs and pharmacists can, with closer alignment, further enhance health. He concludes that while pharmacists need to understand the holistic, relationshipbased work of family doctors, “the benefits of community pharmacy’s more customer service oriented approach to meeting public’s health related demands deserves recognition”. This has its advantages in terms of changing people’s behaviour and curbing selfinflicted health problems. The pharmacist can be a good bridge between a person’s medical records and the health peccadilloes of their private lives. People who come to the pharmacist do so because they must — they need medication — but also because they are conscientious about their health. As Prof Taylor puts it: “The strength of the pharmacists’ position is they are used to dealing with consumers — people who are motivated come to you.” A significant number of these consumers are open to health advice beyond “must-have” medicines, and positively seek it. So should the pharmacists be taking on a more proactive, ambassadorial role – and be an exemplar of the lifestyle recommendations they set out? The customer relationship makes it tricky, both because of the GP’s historic position as health arbiter, and because choosing to go into a shop does not mean you are necessarily seeking a sermon. Take my pharmacist in East London. Chris dispenses medicine with great expertise: he is meticulous with his instructions, which are the key message for his customers, many of whom do not have English as a first language. Does he tell people to lose weight or quit the cigarettes? Not that I have seen. There are enough who qualify for such advice, but it would likely irritate, confuse and undermine the relationship he has built with them. It is a delicate line to tread, and one best negotiated by preaching through what you practise. The pharmacist who appears healthy in body and mind will be the better advocate of healthy living, and what applies to the GP should apply to the pharmacist too. That is why all pharmacy employers — be it the NHS, private chains or independent chemists — should be particularly alert to the health and wellbeing of their staff. The Boorman Report for all its admirable recommendations, had no mention of pharmacies in its 100-plus pages. NHS or not, it should be centre stage. The sector is key to expanded “healthy lifestyle” support services of the future, and fat and flagging pharmacists will struggle to carry that torch. n l Sam Lister is Health Editor of The Times. A former news editor and health correspondent, he has covered the health service in times of feast and famine, the medical community through reformation and revolt, and some of the extraordinary advances in clinical practice and disease control in recent years. 6 Pharmacy Professional | November 2009 November 2009 | Pharmacy Professional 7
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