Hospital
From Miss C. Grout
Thank you for publishing the article by Debbie Andalo in the June 2003
edition of Hospital Pharmacist (pp 263), regarding the initiative led
by Joanne McLaughlin to review pharmacy technician qualifications and
develop a bridging programme for technicians moving from community to
hospital practice.
We would really like to acknowledge the excellent work done
by City College, Manchester who collaborated with Joanne in developing the
programme, and ran the course on our behalf. Joanie Yoffe and Frank Rooney
at City College have been key
players in the development, implementation and review of the course.
I am pleased to report that last year's cohort have all successfully completed
the programme, with many obtaining either merit or distinction. The new cohort
of 17 will be commencing the course soon. These candidates have largely been
employed on the basis of the availability of the programme, so it has had a
significant effect on workforce numbers within the hospital pharmacy service
in the north west.
On a point of accuracy, the Greater Manchester Workforce Development Confederation
leads on pharmacy workforce development for the north west. Therefore this
is a north west programme which is used and recognised across not just in Greater
Manchester, but also in Cheshire and Merseyside and in Cumbria and Lancashire.
We look forward to the introduction of pharmacy technician registration which
will resolve issues of standardisation of first-level training. However there
will still be a need for targeted continuing professional development for technicians
changing area of practice so this may provide a future direction for the
programme.
Claire Grout
Acting project director for pharmacy workforce development and Business
manager for medical workforce expansion programme,
Greater Manchester Workforce Development Confederation |
