The president of the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists (Mrs Helen Remington)
has welcomed the National Health Service’s new staff performance framework,
but she is concerned that there might not be enough money to satisfy the expectations
it might create in the minds of professional staff.
The NHS human resources performance framework suggests that most health professional
staff working in the NHS should have agreed training and development plans with
their employers by April, 2001.
The framework (available on the internet at www.doh.gov.uk/hrstrat.htm) adds
that by that time employers should have also set deadlines for all health professional
staff to have training and development plans which are linked to agreed appraisal
systems.
Although the guild has yet to consider the matter, Mrs Remington welcomed the
framework as representing good human resources practice.
“We would support it as good practice,” she told The Journal on October
16. “However, it is a two-way street. Individual pharmacists would discuss
with their managers their needs for continuing professional development. A concern
would be whether there are the resources available to enable it to happen. There
is a risk that this could create an expectation in staff that could not be delivered
on.”