The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's latest "Over to you" roadshow was well received by participants, according to an analysis of feedback. Held in Taunton on the evening of October 20, the fifth roadshow - part of the Society's Pharmacy in a New Age initiative - attracted pharmacists from throughout the Society's Bath and West of England region.
Feedback forms shows that 40 per cent of participants had never previously been to any Society meeting and three-quarters had never attended any meeting connected with the New Age process. Although only 11 per cent had had any previous involvement with the New Age, 63 per cent said that they wanted to become involved as a result of attending the roadshow.
Nearly 70 per cent said that they had learnt something useful from the roadshow and more than three-quarters had enjoyed its format. More than two-thirds said that the roadshow matched or exceeded their expectations.
The Taunton roadshow was chaired by Mr SULTAN DAJANI (a member of the Society's Council), who said that the series of roadshows was designed to help pharmacists locally to think about their professional future and work towards it in a constructive way. Presentations given during the evening would show how individual pharmacists were able to progress the profession.
On a national level, too, the Society was finally starting to see things moving. Perhaps because pharmacy was now shouting with a louder voice, the Government at last seemed to be realising that it was no longer acceptable to overlook pharmacy in health planning. The Society was in discussion with the Government on a number of issues, including the role of community pharmacy, sexual health, mental health and pharmacists' involvement in NHS Direct.
Mr ROGER ODD (the Society's head of professional and scientific support) said that the roadshow had already visited Nottingham, Manchester, Scotland and Wales, attracting a total of nearly 1,200 pharmacists and stimulating positive feedback.
One major spin-off had been the building of a relationship between the Society and the Doctor Patient Partnership. Part of this work had seen pharmacists and doctors getting together to discuss openly the issues that both helped and hindered better communication between the two professions. Further campaigns and initiatives with the DPP were being planned.
Mrs ANNE ADAMS (national co-ordinator, Pharmacy in a New Age) said that as the new National Health Service structures took shape it was more important than ever for pharmacists to work together and in partnership with other health professionals. She described the way in which pharmacy development groups had been set up across the profession in England. They were groups of pharmacists working together within the boundary of a primary care group or health authority to develop the profession locally. They harnessed the enthusiasm and expertise of pharmacists in all areas of the profession to take pharmacy forward, working closely with local pharmaceutical committees, working up bids for new services and getting pharmacy integrated into local strategies (see also p742).
In the first of two short talks by local pharmacists, Mrs SUE KNOX (consultant pharmacist) spoke about her work with South East Gloucester and Severn Valley primary care groups, helping 27 medical practices to achieve savings on their budgets without compromising patient care.
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Sue Knox: achieving savings on general practice budgets |
Mrs Knox said that traditionally GPs had been sceptical about the role community pharmacists had to play in prescribing advice. But things were getting better. More and more pharmacists were obtaining clinical diplomas. As the doctors saw that pharmacists were skilled in clinical pharmacy their perception of pharmacists was changing.
What pharmacists had to understand was that it was up to them, as individuals, to convince doctors of their worth. No one else could do it for them. They had to train themselves and be prepared to push themselves forward with confidence.
They also had to be prepared to change the mind-set that said: "Doctors are here to knock us". Spending time in a GP practice was a real eye-opener and helped provide an understanding of the doctors' issues and aspects of patient care.
Mrs Knox said that her main advice on working with doctors was to go for it - to get out there, make those telephone calls and contact the people who mattered; to prove one could do the job and do it well.
The second local pharmacist was Mr DAVID DONALDSON (dispensary manager, Yeovil district hospital), who has been involved in a pilot project looking at improving discharge prescribing and dispensing on the hospital's medical wards.
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David Donaldson: improving discharge supply of medicines |
The results of the pilot had yet to be analysed, but there were perceived benefits for everyone involved: for discharge patients, who were able to go home earlier; for new patients, who did not wait so long for a bed; for the bed manager, whose job could be carried out more efficiently; for hospital transport, which had fewer delays in transport schedules; for doctors, who welcomed with open arms any procedure that helped reduce their workload; for nurses, who now had less pressure from discharge patients, transport and relatives; and for pharmacists, who felt that the quality and speed of prescribing and dispensing had improved.
The advantages of a pharmacist's visit to the patient on the ward included clearly annotated and complete prescriptions for the dispensary and the discharge letter, a reduction in wastage because of the pharmacist's checks on medicines at home, and more timely receipt of the prescription. There was no need for the inpatient drug chart to leave the ward, and the final prescription check was quicker because it was an "accuracy check" only.