The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7483 p711
22/29 December 2007

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

PDF 50K, Acrobat Reader

• WCPPE (3)
• Retention fees (2)
• The Society

Letters to the Editor

Welsh Centre for Postgraduate Pharmacy Education (WCPPE)

Wrong to be concerned about appointment

From Professor S. P. Denyer, MRPharmS

Colin Ranshaw (PJ, 8 December 2007, p655) expresses concern over the appointment of a leading pharmacy technician to the post of director of the Welsh Centre for Postgraduate Pharmacy Education. He is wrong to be concerned.

Mr Ranshaw believes the appointment places at risk support for pharmacists’ continuing professional development. The WCPPE operates in Wales to provide educational and professional support for the pharmacy team. It is commissioned and overseen for much of its activity by the Welsh Committee for the Professional Development of Pharmacy which is accountable to the Welsh Assembly Government.

The membership of the WCPDP is drawn widely and includes pharmacists from all branches of the profession in Wales. This ensures a close connection with the needs of pharmacists which includes CPD support.

In looking to appoint a new director, the possible effect of future substantial changes in the pharmacy profession and its regulation in Great Britain was considered. The director will need to guide the WCPPE through these changes, and the appointment has been made for a fixed term of three years to reflect the special nature of this transition period.

In line with Cardiff University processes, the vacancy was considered for internal advertisement in the first instance. The position was offered to the successful candidate on the basis of a combination of skills, knowledge and experience, and success in the competitive interview. A representative of the WAG was on the appointment panel.

Mr Ranshaw believes a wrong message is sent by this non-pharmacist appointment. I believe otherwise. It sends exactly the right message to all pharmacy practitioners, other health care professions and government: the success of pharmacy is through mutual regard and successful teamwork.

Undergraduate provision in schools of pharmacy is a success despite the fact that not all heads are pharmacists (Mr Ranshaw was wrong on this point); we should be confident enough to extend this to other features of our education provision.

I agree with Mr Ranshaw that this is an important post. I cannot agree with him that it is a post which should be denied to a nationally respected technician member of the pharmacy education team. I am glad to have the opportunity to reaffirm my confidence in this appointment.

Stephen Denyer
Head of the Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University
Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Council

Pharmacists not ready to embrace change

From Mrs C. M. Hunt, RegPharmTech

I want to respond to Colin Ranshaw’s concerns (PJ, 8 December 2007, p655) about the appointment of Lesley Morgan as director of the Welsh Centre for Postgraduate Pharmacy Education. I know both Mr Ranshaw and Ms Morgan, being a past member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Council and would like to say how disappointed I am to read his letter.

Ms Morgan has been the assistant director of the WCPPE for many years. Her appointment is a natural progression and justifiable reward for all her valuable years of service to the pharmacy profession. That Ms Morgan is a technician and proud to be regarded as such does not detract from the fact that she is also a highly qualified and extremely intelligent educationalist.

I know of no one who has done more for the education and development not only of technicians but also of pharmacists, dedicating the whole of her career to this end.

Mr Ranshaw’s last paragraph, that “this is a most unhelpful appointment at a time of radical change in the world of pharmacy”, reflects that many pharmacists are just not ready to embrace any changes in the world of pharmacy that involve removing the stigma attached to being a technician — despite the intellect of the technician concerned.

Corinne Hunt
Nantwich, Cheshire

Technician in charge

From Mr M. A. Walker, MRPharmS

The news that a technician will lead the Welsh Centre for Postgraduate Pharmacy Education rightly disturbed Colin Ranshaw (PJ, 8 December 2007, p655). I asked the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s 2007 annual general meeting to direct the Society’s Council and the Society to discontinue actions that could lead to pharmacy technicians becoming full members of the Society (PJ, 26 May 2007, p625).

Then a member of Council, Mr Ranshaw argued that further discussion of the technician question was required. I did not expect that the motives behind my motion would be vindicated so soon. However, it is now apparent that this subject should have been closed out in May.

Sandra Gidley MP supported my motion and advised the AGM that our professional body should only represent pharmacists. I hope that Mr Ranshaw and pharmacists will now agree with us and push hard for a professional body for pharmacists alone.

Mark Walker
Oxford

Send your letter to The Editor

Next Topic (Retention fees)