The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is increasing its support for pharmacy development groups (PDGs) and similar local bodies by offering financial awards to assist the development of professional services locally.
Professional development awards are to be offered at two levels. At the lower level, awards of up to £500 will be made to assist with developing the PDG infrastructure - for example, to help with administration costs or room hire costs for an initial meeting or to assist with the acquisition of a fax machine or an e-mail address.
At the higher level, awards of up to £3,000 will be made to support activities designed to extend the influence of pharmacy locally. Examples of suitable activities include: promoting the role of the pharmacist in primary care groups (PCGs), local health groups (LHGs) and primary care trusts (PCTs); facilitating pharmacy's inclusion in health improvement programmes (eg, by preparing bids for new and extended services in the five key target areas set out in "Building the future"); facilitating the writing of bids (eg, by paying for the author's time to compile them); releasing pharmacists to attend crucial PCG/LHG meetings in pursuance of the above; conducting audits involving pharmacists in clinical governance and as the basis of a new or extended service; or kick-starting a service that could not be financed in any other way and which the local PCG, LHG or trust agrees would be valuable.
Priority will be given to applications that include aspects of clinical governance, audit and evidence-based practice, or are looking to gather this evidence, and seek to develop the profession and the services it offers. Proposals must contain measurable performance criteria. Each application must name a responsible pharmacist who will act as key contact for the Society and for pharmacists within his or her locality, in all matters relating to this application and, if successful, for the administration of the award.
Applications for awards are welcome from any PDG in England. For Wales, bids are welcome from any pharmacist for an initiative covering a health authority or LHG area and involving all interested pharmacists from all sectors of the profession. Ideally, the application would have the support of the health authority's director of pharmaceutical public health, the LPC and the LHG(s). The Society is looking into how the award scheme might work in Scotland.
Application form are available from Ms Karen Turnham, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, 1 Lambeth High Street, London SE1 7JN. The closing date for applications is January 28, 2000. Bids will be assessed by an adjudicating panel and awards made to successful applicants in early 2000. Successful applicants must submit a progress report to the Society by June 30, 2000, and a further report on completion of the initiative. The Society intends to publicise successfully completed initiatives.
Further information about the award scheme can be obtained from Mrs Anne Adams, the Society's national co-ordinator for the "Building the future" stage of Pharmacy in a New Age. She can be contacted at 12 Pritchard Drive, Stapleford, Nottingham NG9 7GW (tel/fax 0115 9396465; e-mail aadams@rpsgb.org.uk).
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PDG conference The Society is also supporting PDGs by hosting a conference for PDG members to give them the opportunity to learn from other groups' experiences and to discover what can be achieved with a professional development award. The conference is to be held at the Society's headquarters on Monday, November 15, from 10.30am to 4pm. It is open to all PDG members and others interested in the concept. Pharmacists wishing to secure a place should contact the conference secretariat as soon as possible (see Official Notices, p765). There is no charge for attendance, but the number of participants is limited to 120. Internet discussion group Those attending the conference will also be able to sign up to a proposed internet discussion group, which the Society hopes to launch early in 2000 as a further way of improving communication between PDGs. Communication has been handicapped by the different ways in which groups have developed in different areas - some are free-standing, some are subcommittees of LPCs and others associated with the Society's local branch. There is no database of where they all are and the lack of any central co-ordination means that there may be considerable duplication of effort. |
What are PDGs?
Pharmacy development groups are groups of pharmacists established in England to develop the profession locally. The aim is to harness the enthusiasm and expertise of pharmacists in all areas of practice to take the profession forward within a health authority area or primary care group boundary, the Society says.
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