White Paper
Protect funding to realise the potential
From Professor N. D. Barber, MRPharmS
I welcome the findings of the Clarke Inquiry and the contents of the
White Paper. The Clarke Inquiry team are to be congratulated on drawing
together a wide range of views into a promising way forward.
My views (I wrote the School of Pharmacy submission to the inquiry) were a
bit more radical, but I recognise the pragmatism of the inquiry solution. The
professional leadership element of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s
role may need to continue to maintain the important “Royal” title
and to deal with assets.
However, to survive it will need to create a true
partnership with the other leadership bodies. It will have to restructure
and develop significantly if it is to hold the trust of members and be
able to
offer an acceptable membership fee.
The White Paper has been cannily written and bears close reading, as it contains
a number of useful levers as well as future roles. Providing commissioners
are effective, it should mark a significant development in community pharmacy’s
clinical role.
The schools of pharmacy are recognised as being key to the development of
the profession in both the Clarke Inquiry and the White Paper. It is pleasing
to
see from the Department of Health impact assessments that underpin the White
Paper that research from my department and other schools has been used to
vindicate some of the roles suggested; pharmacy practice has developed rapidly
as an
academic discipline since it started in the early 1990s.
The schools of pharmacy can form the basis of a network of education, communication
and leadership round the countries. I, with Peter Noyce at the University
of Manchester, have been in communication with colleagues in other schools
and
there is an appetite among them for a network of practice leads. I have had
a verbal offer of funding to support a national meeting, and I am just waiting
for confirmation of this before seeking dates.
Pharmacy suffers from underfunding of practice research when compared with
other professions. In a climate of evidence-based health policy-making, this
disadvantages us significantly. This is recognised in the White Paper and
this week I will meet Sally Davies, director general of research and development
for the DoH, to argue our case for ring-fenced funding.
The White Paper will stand a far greater chance of being effective if we
have a vigorous leadership body; let us hope we can create one. Nick Barber
Professor of the Practice of Pharmacy
The School of Pharmacy, London
Council Election Candidate
Call for pharmacy to expand clinical practice
From Dr C. A. Duggan, MRPharmS
Opportunities abound for us as a profession. The White Paper, “Pharmacy
in England — building on strengths, delivering the future”,
sets out a vision for our profession to meet health and social challenges
with innovative, evidence-based services.
At the heart of the paper is a call for increased provision of clinical services
across all sectors and specialisms in pharmacy. Dawn Primarolo states: “We
need to ensure that pharmacists’ clinical skills and expertise are an
integral part of delivering patient services and to tackle health inequalities
and promote healthier lifestyles.”
Newly qualified pharmacists will be better able to apply pharmacy science in
the practice of pharmacy at the point of registering through the move towards
integrating clinical practice into the undergraduate degree.
Pharmacists will
be able to deliver an appropriate level of care to patients regardless of
sector of practice and be able to demonstrate their knowledge and skills,
facilitated
by integrated postgraduate programmes.
In addition, many of the specialist groups in our profession have been providing
education and training study days and conferences for many years — the
UK Clinical Pharmacy Association being a key example.
What we need now is
to join forces through an effective leadership body to ensure all these
efforts are combined and that the entire pharmacy workforce is enabled,
equipped
and
supported to deliver general and advanced practice in all healthcare sectors,
to meet the challenges laid out in the White Paper.
We need to harness the breadth of specialties in pharmacy across all sectors,
together with a broad vision for our profession from a leadership body,
a body that seeks to break down sectors and tribes so that we all work
together
for
patients and the public.
We now have an opportunity to develop the recommendations
of the Clarke Inquiry to develop the cornerstone of our leadership body.
Let the profession work together to make the leadership body one that
we want to
join. Catherine Duggan
Chairman, UKCPA
Council Election Candidate |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal