The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is urging the Government to improve pay and conditions in higher education by providing the funding needed to implement the recommendations of an independent review committee, chaired by Sir Michael Bett.
At its meeting on September 21, the Council's Education Committee agreed that letters would be sent to the Secretary of State for Education (Mr Frank Dobson), and appropriate persons in the executives of the devolved Government in Scotland and Wales, calling for implementation of the Bett report to be funded in full or in very large part by the Government through the higher education funding councils.
The committee noted that the Government minister with responsibility for lifelong learning (Mr George Mudie) had told Parliament that pay and conditions of staff in higher education were a matter for employers, and that it would be for the employers and unions to respond to the Bett report. However, the Bett committee, in the conclusion to its report, had said that some of its recommendations would require a significant increase in public funding, which would be necessary to provide a coherent reward structure, to ensure equal pay for work of equal value, to avoid recruitment problems, and to deliver quality teaching.
Aberdeen school of pharmacy The Education Committee resolved to accredit the MPharm degree of Robert Gordon university, Aberdeen, for a further period until the end of the academic year 2003-04.
Computer system guidelines The Practice Committee agreed to work towards the production of regular updates to the Society's guidelines on pharmacy computer systems (which are published in ‘Medicines, ethics and practice: a guide for pharmacists'). The guidelines would also be extended to address Government policy on information management and the Society's information management and technology strategy. Talks would be held with pharmacy information technology suppliers and others to determine the scope of the guidelines.
Mental health guidelines The Practice Committee agreed that a one-day conference should be held in late spring, 2000, to launch practice guidelines on mental health. The guidelines were currently being developed by the Society's mental health task force.
CHD and stroke guidelines The Practice Committee agreed that the Society should establish a task force to produce guidance on pharmacists' contribution to the treatment and prevention of coronary heart disease and stroke. The work of the task force would begin after the launch of the guidelines produced by the mental health task force.
GSL medicines and children It was reported to the Practice Committee that, in response to an informal consultation on the use of medicines among children, the Society had made a submission to the Medicines Control Agency emphasising the risks associated with the unrestricted availability of general sale list medicines.
The Society's letter suggested that the advice and assistance available from pharmacies would support the development of competence and confidence in the use of medicines among young people and would therefore reduce adverse incidents. Since pharmacies were widely distributed and easily accessible, there was no compelling argument against restricting all medicine sales to pharmacies. The letter also proposed that education on medicines and how to deal with common health problems should form part of the secondary school curriculum.
|
Branch observers The following observers from the Society's branches attended the meetings of the Council committees on September 21: Mrs Jennifer Cuthbert (treasurer of the Society's Bradford branch), Dr Stuart Hesslewood (representative of the Society's Dudley and Stourbridge branch) and Miss J. Hallatt (treasurer of the British Pharmaceutical Students Association). |