The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7208 p133-134
27 July 2002

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Letters to the Editor

Support staff

Consultation period too short

From Professor H. McNulty, FRPharmS

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's paper (PDF*, 60K) on regulating support staff (PJ, 22 June, p888) has only a three-week consultation period when usually two or three months are allowed. There are several consultation processes ongoing to dilute the time available and the holiday season is here. Many with knowledge and expertise will be unable to contribute on this important topic for pharmacy.

If we are to guarantee quality of pharmacy services we must establish professional regulation of support staff and many of the proposals are sensible. However, some questions asked (5,6 and 7) need background knowledge and information on the various qualification systems that few pharmacists have or can access. Other questions are missing such as: What standards are needed for experience and knowledge? What are the employer implications of the proposals? Can educational systems be in place to meet the Society's 2005 deadline? Is this a devolved issue?

We need a more reasonable consultation period and provision of further background information on the S/NVQ system and new level 2 and 3 course content for effective debate, to ensure that Helen Remington's group starts with useful comments and can progress quickly. I hope national interests will also be adequately represented round the group table — Scotland has much to offer the debate.

H McNulty
Bearsden, Glasgow

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