| • Retention fees (12)
• CPD (2)
• The profession (2)
• Drug misuse
• Community pharmacy
Letters to the Editor
|
Continuing professional development (CPD)
Cost of updates
From Mr J. P. Smith, MRPharmS
I am pleased to note that the online
continuing professional development page is being updated. It needed to be. I thought the present one “user
unfriendly”.
At a time when we need to consider expenditure it would be interesting
to know how much the various phases have cost to develop (including staff
time and outside experts) and how many more versions will be required?
I await the new version with interest.
Paul Smith
Louth, Lincolnshire
| |
PETER WILSON, head of post- registration at the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society, responds:
The Society has been developing the framework
for recording continuing professional development and helping members
to understand and use it for over six years.
In that time, we have
provided every practising member with a copy of the “Plan
and record” document, developed the online recording system,
trained and deployed 24 branch CPD facilitators, conducted three
pilot studies, trained over 600 “CPD supporters” and
trained 30 reviewers who will take part in the pilot of CPD records
review.
The Society has employed just over three staff for CPD.
Expenditure has varied each year as the emphasis has changed from
rolling out the printed “Plan and record” to amending
the online system in response to the experiences and comments from
members. The average cost of these activities is about £7.50
per member per year.
We are not currently planning to develop any new versions of the
online CPD recording system although there will always be a need
to make changes as CPD practice and
pharmacy practice develop. |
Start the debate for fair payment for training
From Mr S. J. Lawson, MRPharmS
Continuing professional development will soon be made mandatory for all
practising pharmacists. I hope that the powers-to-be are now lobbying hard
on all our behalves for payment for this training. I would suggest that
a payment of £25 per hour for up to 30 hours would be a good starting
point for negotiations, and invite all our negotiators to join the debate.
I am lucky to work for a company that pays me for CPD, but I believe that
this payment should be available to all pharmacists who do the work and
should not be subsidised by employers, because a lot of NHS pharmacists
would probably lose out.
With version 3 of online CPD recording available, verification of training
can be easily achieved by primary care organisations and payment made accordingly.
It is also important that technicians are recognised in the same way for
their CPD and that all groups record, where possible, online.
Let us start the debate for fair payment now.
Simon Lawson
Lincoln Co-Op Chemists,
Waddington |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal