The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 276 No 7391 p301
11 March 2006

Society summary

Involving others in what the Society does

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has commissioned three independent consultants to develop a patient and public involvement (PPI) strategy on its behalf (PJ, 25 February, p246). The Society's President, Hemant Patel, provides an update on progress

In recent years, public cases such as the inquiry into the management of care of children receiving complex heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary¹ and the Shipman Inquiry^2–6 have led to growing calls for health care organisations to have closer, more transparent relationships with patients and their carers.

The Health and Social Care Act 2001 went one step further and placed a statutory duty on health authorities, primary care organisations and NHS trusts to ensure that patients and the public are involved in all service planning and decision-making. Specifically, Section 11 of the Act states: “It is the duty of every body to which this section applies to make arrangements with a view to securing, as respects health services for which it is responsible, that persons to whom those services are being or may be provided are, directly or through representatives, involved in and consulted on (a) the planning of the provision of those services, (b) the development and consideration of proposals for changes in the way those services are provided, and (c) decisions to be made by that body affecting the operation of those services.”

In line with these developments the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is now drawing up a patient and public involvement strategy with the help of its three independent consultants — Ros Levenson, Mercy Jeyasingham and Nikki Joule.

Many pharmacists are already active in engaging their patients and the public locally, but the Society’s own patient and public involvement strategy project is taking things a step further and looking at how the Society itself can involve people — making its business more transparent, and achieving a better quality of work by involving people from outside the pharmacy profession wherever it is appropriate and useful to do so.

Our PPI objectives are simple — wherever possible, to involve patients in the policy decisions of the organisation. We want to create a culture of collaboration, participative decision-making and partnership. We want to develop structures in the Society that enable patients and carers to take an active part in both their own care and the development of the organisation at every appropriate level. Finally, we want to develop the profession in a way that reflects the diversity of the communities that pharmacists serve by consulting and building bridges with these communities on an ongoing basis.

Stage One

So how is our strategy coming along? Stage One of the Society’s PPI project, completed in December 2005, scoped the subject, and gathered information from other regulators and professional bodies and a range of other relevant organisations. Information was also gathered from discussions with Society staff and Council sponsors of this project.

A report was submitted to the Council in February 2006, when the Council noted the importance of ensuring that the pharmacy profession and a wide range of external stakeholders have the opportunity to comment on the draft strategy later in the year.

Stage Two

In January 2006, Stage Two of the project commenced. The aims of this part of the project are:

· To draw up detailed proposals for the strategy in consultation with the advisory group, other Society staff, Council sponsors and any other important external contacts.

· To identify possible models for the PPI strategy, and set out how each of them would work in relation to the Society’s major areas of responsibility. The proposals will be discussed by the Council in June 2006.

· To carry out a consultation on these proposals with a wider reference group (including other pharmacy organisations and groups, patient and consumer organisations, other regulatory and professional bodies). This consultation will take place from the beginning of July until early September.

· To analyse and report on the results of this consultation.

· In the light of feedback received from the consultation and any other relevant information, to draw up a set of final recommendations for the PPI strategy, for discussion and decision by the Council in December 2006.

Stage Three

Once the PPI strategy has been agreed, stage Three of the project will focus on implementation, which will be completed by May 2007.

The consultation phase will be particularly useful and the robustness of the new PPI strategy will be greatly enhanced by effective consultation. It is essential that the profession is fully involved in this, as well as enabling a wide range of external stakeholders to have their say. More information about how to become involved in consultation will be made available later in the year.

In addition to formal requests for comments, the project group, led by Eileen Neilson, the Society’s head of policy development, hopes to invite comments through the Society’s website. Local branch meetings may also be used for raising awareness of the draft strategy and encouraging the profession to speak out and influence this important document.

References

1. Report of the public inquiry into children’s heart surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary 1984–1995: learning from Bristol (CM 5207) (The Kennedy report). London: The Stationery Office; 2001.

2. The Shipman Inquiry. First report: Death disguised. London: The Stationery Office; 2002.

3. The Shipman Inquiry. Second report: The police investigation of March 1998 (CM 5853). London: The Stationery Office; 2003.

4. The Shipman Inquiry. Third report: Death certification and the investigation of deaths by coroners (CM 5854). London: The Stationery Office; 2003

5. The Shipman Inquiry. Fourth report: The regulation of Controlled Drugs in the community (CM 6249). London: The Stationery Office; 2004

6. The Shipman Inquiry. Fifth report: Safeguarding patients: lessons from the past – proposals for the future (CM 6394). London: The Stationery Office; 2004