Society's research strategy to focus on leadership and development
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society's research and development investment over the next five years is to provide a greater focus on leadership and development as well as covering the Society's regulatory functions, the Society's Council has decided.
The Council has also agreed that specific research topics should include:
patients, medicines and professionalism in pharmacy; patient safety and
pharmacy practice; and social capital, health inequalities and pharmacy.
At the October
Council meeting, the Council accepted a proposed research
strategy for 2007–11. It agreed in principle that research funding
should be part of the budget of the Corporate and Strategic Development
Directorate. It was also agreed that the annual research budget should
be increased from £200,000 to £250,000 to reflect increased
costs and changes to the basis of costing of R&D by university providers
and to allow commissioning at the same level as in 2002–06.
The Council noted that the Society had invested more than £1m in
research programmes over the past five years. A paper before the Council
reviewed the impact of this investment.
The Council also agreed to recognise “(i) the progress made in
commissioning an integrated strategically sound research programme relating
to pharmacy workforce, education and ethics; (ii) the impact on policy
and reputation from having access to results from timely and rigorously
commissioned and managed research; and (iii) the efficient and effective
methods of project management applied by the R&D team to bring in
projects worth £1m on budget and on time.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal