The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 271 No 7261 p187-189
9 August 2003

Society summary

From the President

What the Society does for its members

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's consultation on a new Royal Charter has highlighted the importance of its role as a professional leadership and development body. The Society's President, Dr Gill Hawksworth, takes a look at what the Society delivers for its members in England and within Britain generally. Further articles will examine the Society's activities on behalf of its members in Scotland and Wales

Over the past 18 months, there has been much debate on how the Society can best fulfil its role as a modern regulator. There has perhaps not been the same amount of opportunity to discuss the Society's activities that help promote pharmacy and develop the profession's future while building on its heritage.

Pharmacists know only too well the pressures that come from the relentless pace of change in today's health care arena. Keeping up with new developments, challenges and demands means that, all too often, health professionals have little time for reflection on the outcomes of their effort and activity before it is time to move on to the next pressing priority.

The pace of this change facing pharmacists is, naturally enough, reflected in the work being undertaken by the Society. The sheer volume and range of this work create a significant communications challenge. It is important to help members maintain an overview of the Society's work in this area and its real positive impact on their working lives. In order to reassure members that the Society has been investing significant resources in membership, representational and professional leadership and development activities, I reflected on some valuable areas of work being undertaken at the Society.

I asked a cross-section of the Society's staff working in various areas of policy implementation to highlight some of the work that they believe has been most influential or important in this context. Here are some key points from their many responses.

Influencing government and NHS policy

The pharmacy plans In 1995 the Society embarked on its future planning programme "Pharmacy in a new age", in which it set out its vision for the future of pharmacy practice. It expressed the need for a more integrated and wider role for pharmacists, it introduced the concept of medicines management and, of course, it raised the issue of pharmacist prescribing.

In 2000, the Government produced its strategy for pharmacy in England, "Pharmacy in the future", which took forward the key elements of the Society's ideas. Only last month, a follow-up document, "A vision for pharmacy in the new NHS", set out the progress made and signalled future priorities.

Many of the programmes of work being taken forward by the Department of Health in England build on original work by the Society that has been adopted as the part of the Government's agenda. Still more programmes of work to further the role of pharmacists are being developed and implemented with the Society's continuing input and involvement.

Devolution In Scotland and Wales, pharmacy plans have been published that also reflect the Society's vision for the profession, while being based on the different approaches in those countries. The Society is working to meet the challenges of devolution through inputs to those countries' policy planning and implementation. The Society works through its executives in Scotland and Wales to ensure that the profession's voice is heard on all key issues.

Developing the evidence and policy base The Society has recognised and invested in research to take the profession forward. The Society is able to influence research policy through its places on committees at the Department of Health and the Medical Research Council. The Society systematically scrutinises national health and social care policy so that the profession's policy can be framed and promoted to best effect.

National service frameworks The Society was concerned that the original development process for national service frameworks did not include pharmacy input. Successful lobbying by the Society has led recently to key roles for pharmacy and medicines management in the Children's NSF and the Renal NSF. Now, a medicines management module is being developed by the Department of Health to deal with medicines management issues wherever they arise in NSFs.

Public affairs In 1999, the Society established a public affairs function to develop its role as an advocate for the profession with those who influence and make political decisions. The Society now has a profile as a credible, authoritative voice with ministers, parliamentarians, officials, advisers and think tanks. The Society has lobbied on individual issues arising out of legislation, it has made representations to select committees in both Houses of Parliament and it maintains an ongoing contact and briefing programme with parliamentarians of all parties. The Society helped found and supports Parliament's All-Party Pharmacy Group, which has proved an effective platform for pharmacy matters in the Palace of Westminster.

The Society has invested in ensuring that pharmacy's voice is heard in the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales. The Society has built sound working relationships with the Scottish Parliament and Executive and the Welsh Assembly Government. Health care in these countries is developing according to differing priorities and plans and the Society's executives in Scotland and Wales ensure that the profession is involved in this development.

Every year, the Society is invited to respond to hundreds of consultation documents that ultimately affect the environment in which pharmacists practise.

The Society is undertaking a major lobby in Europe over the issue of the free movement of professionals and its potential impact on patient safety.

Over the past year, the Society has spoken for the profession with ministers, parliamentarians and their committees and groups, civil servants, Government agencies, other health professions, think tanks, the media and other commentators. Many of these issues are of relevance to the whole of Britain. Some of the more recent issues raised include:

• The Office of Fair Trading report on community pharmacy

• The need for a more effective community pharmacy contract

• The need for shared patient records

• The impact of workload on pharmacists and their morale

• Pharmacists' roles in creating a safe NHS

• Planning the pharmacy workforce and skill mix

• Pharmacists' role in the new NHS

• Medicines management, including prescribing and managing repeat medication

• Pharmacists supplying emergency hormonal contraception

• The importance of investment in clinical governance in community pharmacy

• The need for pharmacists to be connected to the NHSnet

• Skill mix and technician registration

• The need for patient packs

• The need for reform of drugs misuse regulations

This last campaign involved the Society lobbying both the Department of Health and the Home Office as well as giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee. Last month, the Home Office announced a key reform: pharmacists and others will be able to supply items of equipment to minimise the harm caused by the injecting of illegal drugs.

Promoting awareness of the pharmacy profession

Public relations The Society has a public relations team that handles all media contact, aligning its output with the Council's policy priorities. Some 15 news releases are issued every month to make announcements or comment on issues of the day (most of these are available on the news section of the Society's website). The PR unit maintains good working relationships with national, regional and specialist media. The Society supports the work of the network of branch and regional PR officers who help get the pharmacy message across locally.

Through this work, the profession receives regular national and regional media coverage highlighting pharmacists' expert knowledge of medicines.

Looking after pharmacy's history

Museum The 45,000 items in the museum collections cover all aspects of British pharmacy history. This is a unique resource, tracing the history of pharmacy, primarily over the past 300 years, but with some objects that date back over 2,000 years.

Through its research services, the museum acts as the national point of contact for information about the history of pharmacy, whether for members, the media, other museum professionals, or the general public from students to academic researchers. In addition to the museum's objects, it also cares for both photographic and document archives relating to the Society and the pharmacy profession over the past two centuries.

Through loans and shared exhibitions, the museum works to extend physical access to the collections. Increasingly, information about the collections is being made available on the Society's website, so that it is accessible for enquirers around the world.

Supporting frameworks for professional development

Branches and regions The Society invests some £500,000 a year in supporting the activities and infrastructure of its branch and regional network. In 2002, many members took part in a consultative review to identify how best to equip the network to meet the challenges of the future. The proposals raised by the membership were adopted by the Council and continue to be implemented, with the aim of ensuring a dynamic future for the local network. A key policy decision was to ensure that branches and regions can play a full part in the implementation of continuing professional development within pharmacy.

Pharmacy development groups The Society has encouraged the formation of pharmacy development groups, which provide local, multisectoral platforms for forward thinking. As a result of the Society's continuing efforts, there is now NHS support for PDGs through the establishment of primary care trust competencies.

PCT professional executive committees Because pharmacists are not included as of right on the boards of primary care trusts in England, it is important that they are among those professionals appointed to the PCT professional executive committee (PEC). As well as lobbying PCTs to appoint pharmacists to PECs, the Society provides support for PEC pharmacists through information bulletins, conferences and the provision of a discussion forum. There are now pharmacists on the PECs of about half the PCTs in England and there is recognition of their important role in "A vision for pharmacy in the new NHS".

Developing clinical governance for the profession

Community pharmacy The Society successfully lobbied the Government over the need for funding for community pharmacy clinical governance. Now that this is developing, the Society has undertaken a wide-ranging communications programme on clinical governance, provides a range of support for pharmacists and for clinical governance facilitators and has produced a baseline assessment tool that is now used by most PCTs in England.

Audit There are now over 40 Society audit templates being extensively used by the profession. The Society has been a partner in two national sentinel audits funded by the Department of Health.

Helping pharmacists achieve excellence

CPD The Society has been introducing pharmacists to continuing professional development ahead of it becoming a requirement in 2005. By the end of this year, 15,000 pharmacists will have been included in the roll-out programme. A CPD plan and record has been produced, in both paper and electronic formats.

Information services The Society maintains an invaluable evidence base on the science and practice of pharmacy for use by members, pharmacy students, staff and others. This information resource is used to help support pharmacists with enquiries relating to their day-to-day work but also for many aspects of professional development.

As part of this work, the library and technical information service answer more than 17,000 enquiries a year, mostly from members. The service provides expertise in sourcing and evaluating information held in all formats (including over 70,000 books in the library).

Members benefit from personal or remote access to the resource and its associated services. This includes being able to borrow items, personal use of the reference and database searching facilities.

Website The Society's website, www.rpsgb.org.uk, receives 140,000 visits every month. New online services include a library catalogue, conference booking and Register look-up. The website contains many useful links to other websites and hosts the "Pharmacy in the future" website, a valuable resource for pharmacists in the modernised NHS. A review of the content and design of the website is under way.

BPC The Society runs the annual British Pharmaceutical Conference, an unparalleled opportunity for learning and networking with peers and colleagues. The conference provides both a showcase for pharmaceutical science and practice and includes speakers of national and international standing.

Promoting science The Society has strong working relationships with the science community and works with many groups and organisations to foster close links. Through the Society's support for the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences, there is access to a strong network of scientists in many disciplines. The Society organises a number of science symposia and courses jointly with the academy, with other national and international scientific organisations and with the Society's academic and industry groups.

The Society works to promote pharmacists as "the scientists in the high street". The Society provides a programme for the British Association festival, with the aim of bringing understanding of science to the public. Science fact sheets for pharmacists are distributed on topical issues such as pharmacogenetics, complementary therapies and interactions.

The Society is active in a number of areas of influencing and helping implement national science policy. Recent work in this area include the Society's involvement in securing clinical trials of cannabinoids, the regulation of complementary therapies, the establishment of a forum with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to help overcome barriers to the introduction of new technologies by the pharmaceutical industry, and the establishment of a forum to encourage research on drug delivery systems.

The Society is exploring how the profession needs to develop to meet the opportunities and challenges created by the field of genetics, in particular pharmacogenetics.

Being part of NHS policy implementation

Working for pharmacy's future The Society was instrumental in drawing up guidelines for the Department of Health on the principles for pharmacy support to NHS Direct, something that had largely been overlooked when NHS Direct was first established. This was a key step in enabling other pharmacy bodies and the Society to develop pharmacy's links with NHS Direct.

The Society is working with the Department of Health on skill-mix and technician registration.

Dr June Crown chaired the Society's taskforce on prescribing, which has been preparing the ground for pharmacists to take up roles as supplementary prescribers later this year.

The Society is working with the Department of Health to enable better planning of workforce and workload.

The Society convened an expert reference group to advise the Council on best practice in the supply of emergency hormonal contraception as a pharmacy medicine. Other major pieces of practice guidance have been drawn up in collaboration with external experts include guidance care of people with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and care of people with diabetes.

The Society has been involved in developing national occupational standards for those involved in the provision of mental health services.

The Society is a key partner in three of the national collaborating centres producing clinical guidelines for the National Institute for Clinical Excellence. Pharmacists are now regarded as key members of a number of guideline development groups

The Society has worked with the Commission for Health Improvement on both NHS trust and PCT clinical governance review methodologies. PCT reviews have been adjusted to take account of the Society's suggestions.

A Society representative sits on the National Patient Safety Agency's health care professionals working group, which is looking at how to reduce risks with oral methotrexate.

Along with the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee, the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists and the Primary Care Pharmacists' Association, the Society is developing a toolkit to reduce the risk of problems with medicines at discharge from hospital.

The Society has successfully lobbied the Department of Health for greater recognition of community pharmacy's potential role in smoking cessation. The Society worked with the Pharmacy Healthlink steering group drawing up a patient group direction for nicotine replacement therapy and bupropion.

The Society is involved with the MHRA's programme on the reclassification of medicines from POM to P.

The Society successfully persuaded the Competition Commission of its view on veterinarians' monopoly of supply of veterinary medicines.

Recently, an important development has been through the Practice Research Consortium. A major piece of research was undertaken in 2001 that paved the way for the development of minor ailments schemes. Now a number of PCTs are rolling out similar schemes