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More meetings to explore local challenges
Update for practice guidelines on diabetes care
Society offers extra practice research award
Society at Scottish Labour Party conference

More meetings to explore local challenges

More than half the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's regions in England have now set dates for meetings to explore how the Society's local network can meet the challenges of the future, including those arising from the Government's modernisation programme for the National Health Service.

Following the success of the Wessex region meeting (PJ, February 17, p219), the next “Shaping up for the future” meeting is to take place in the Chiltern region on April 1. The other regions that have set dates will all hold their meetings before the end of June. Among them is the Anglia region, which has been dormant for some years but is being revived for the purpose by branch secretaries.

The meetings are designed to bring together representatives of the Society's branches, local pharmaceutical committees, pharmacy development groups and other local pharmacy organisations. They are being facilitated by the Society's membership services team and are sponsored by Council members Nicola Gray and Alan Nathan.

Dr Gray and Mr Nathan told The Journal: “The aim of this process is to encourage branches and regions to engage with the modernisation programme and support pharmacists to respond to local challenges. “We hope that this will also help to promote communication between pharmacists in different local organisations, so that one strong voice will be able to influence local policy-makers.”

Dr Gray and Mr Nathan ask those who receive invitations to make every effort to attend or to nominate a deputy from their organisation. “This is a unique opportunity to talk about innovative ideas to facilitate better networking, educational activities and service development. Different regions may well want an individual approach; we want to build on current strengths, and identify where systems have been breaking down in localities.”

The Society also intends to survey a random sample of 500 members of the Society to identify barriers to participation in local activities. Dr Gray and Mr Nathan say: “If you receive a survey over the next few weeks, please devote some time to completing it and returning it to us.

“We want more pharmacists to use branches and regions as resources for their everyday work. So between now and the summer we have a unique opportunity to draw a variety of blueprints for the future of local Society activities. Please help us to create an environment where pharmacists are properly supported to respond quickly, effectively, and with a united front, to local opportunities.”

In addition to the regional meetings in England, a parallel meeting will be held in Wales. In Scotland, membership team members recently attended a branch officers' planning meeting that has resulted in submission of a position paper to the Society's headquarters.

Update for practice guidelines on diabetes care

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has updated its practice guidance for pharmacists who wish to become more involved in diabetes care.

Major changes from the original 1999 guidance include the addition of information on the national diabetes care policies for England, Scotland and Wales, a revision of the diagnostic criteria for diabetes, as recommended by the World Health Organisation in 2000, and the inclusion of advice on dealing with teenagers and young people. Information is also provided on the importance of the prevention of obesity, smoking cessation and physical activity.

A reference section gives advice on further reading and details of courses in diabetes care available to pharmacists and the services available from Diabetes UK (formerly the British Diabetic Association).

The revised guidance has been prepared by the Society's diabetes task force with input from the National Pharmaceutical Association and Diabetes UK. Comments from users of the 1999 edition have been taken on board.

The task force says that pharmacists with an interest in becoming involved in diabetes screening should await the national guidance on targeted screening in community pharmacies, currently under consideration by Diabetes UK, has been approved.

Copies of the Society's guidance can be obtained free of charge from
Ms Angela Canning
Practice Division, Royal Pharmaceutical Society
1 Lambeth High Street, London SE1 7JN
fax 020 7582 3401
e-mail acanning@rpsgb.org.uk

Alternatively, the guidance can be downloaded as a PDF file from the practice section of the Society's website (www.rpsgb.org.uk/practice/index.html).

Also available from the same source are two further sets of practice guidance for pharmacists on the management of long-term conditions. One covers mental health and the other asthma and chronic obstructive airways disease. Both were published last year (PJ, September 16, 2000, p390).

Society offers extra practice research award

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has obtained additional funding to allow it to offer an additional practice research award in 2001.

For the first time, the Society is offering a second Sir Hugh Linstead fellowship. Each fellowship, worth up to £15,000, will be awarded to support a project for developing some aspect of community pharmacy services. The Society is also continuing to offer its annual Galen award, worth up to £10,000, to support projects or investigations into any aspect of pharmacy practice (PJ, January 20, p96). Applications are invited from both new and experienced researchers, and particularly from pharmacists in practice. Any pharmacist whose name appears on the Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists is eligible to apply. The closing date for applications is June 29 and interviews will be held on August 15.

Further details, including application forms and notes for guidance, are available from Ms Zoë Whittington, practice research manager, at the Society's headquarters (tel 020 7735 9141 ext 406; e-mail zwhittington@rpsgb.org.uk).

Society at Scottish Labour Party conference

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's first attendance at a Scottish political party conference has been a success, according to the secretary of the Society's Scottish Department, Dr Sheila Stevens.

The Scottish First Minister (Mr Henry McLeish) and the Scottish Minister for Health and Community Care (Ms Susan Deacon) were among the visitors to an exhibition stand mounted by the Royal Pharmaceutical in Scotland at the Scottish Labour Party conference, held in Inverness from March 9 to 11. The stand was manned by Dr Stevens and her deputy, Mr Findlay Hickey, assisted by local pharmacists.

During a brief visit to the exhibition, Ms Deacon took 20 minutes out of her schedule to discuss pharmaceutical issues with Miss Jackie Agnew (trust chief pharmacist, Highland Primary Care Trust), Mr Peter Mutton (interim deputy trust chief pharmacist, Highland Acute Hospitals NHS Trust) and Dr Stevens. “The pharmacists took the opportunity of raising contentious issues, which were well received by the Minister in the relaxed atmosphere of the exhibition,” Dr Stevens told The Journal.

Other MSPs who visited the stand included the Minister for Social Justice (Ms Jackie Baillie), the Deputy Minister for Justice (Mr Iain Gray), who has responsibility for executive policy in relation to drugs, and the Deputy Minister for Health and Community Care (Mr Malcolm Chisholm).