Medicines Management
Issue no 1, pp23
January/February 2002

This article
Reprint
Photocopy

Features

CPP Faculty — how is it developing?

In March 2001, the College of Pharmacy Practice launched the Faculty of Prescribing and Medicines Management. This represents pharmacists who provide prescribing and medicines management advice, support or services, or who have a specific interest in this area of practice. Membership already stands at around 220, with good representation from primary care, community and hospital pharmacy.

The Faculty is now striving to ensure that pharmacists working in this specialism can develop and demonstrate the relevant knowledge, skills and flexibility needed to undertake the range of existing and emerging roles essential to delivery of NHS reform.

Responsibilities identified to support the above aim, include:

• Identifying practice requirements and defining professional competencies
• Formally recognising competence, expertise and excellence achieved
• Providing targeted education and training
• Accrediting appropriate training
• Supporting personal and career development
• Providing peer support and networking
• Providing input into national strategy development
• Supporting practice research and development
• Sharing and promoting best practice

The increasing importance of CPD and competence in our working lives means that the education and training components, in particular, will be crucial. Consequently, plans are in hand to organise a two-day Faculty conference each year, incorporating the AGM.

In addition, the Faculty is planning to deliver regular one-day workshops, designed to cover members' education and training needs not met effectively elsewhere. These will complement existing educational events already delivered by other national bodies. The ultimate aim is to develop a 'toolbox system', allowing members to add items to their personal development portfolio from each Faculty event attended.

Negotiations are taking place between the Faculty and a range of potential partner organisations, which are interested in collaborating to deliver an effective portfolio of activities.

Work is well underway to produce a quarterly newsletter to help keep members up to date with Faculty activities, national issues and local initiatives. In addition, we warmly welcome the development of this new publication, Medicines Management, and the support it can provide.

In promoting the Faculty as a professional partner organisation, formal introductions have been made to a wide range of national bodies such as the Department of Health, NICE, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the NPA, the royal colleges of GPs and physicians, the BMA, the RCN and the NHS Confederation. The offer of an effective mechanism to get informed corporate views on all issues related to prescribing and medicines management, to assist in any developmental work, has received many encouraging replies.

The Faculty will also be able to provide representative input into national working groups and an early invitation covers the important subject of pharmacist prescribing.

Clearly, much work has already been carried out since the Faculty Board first met in September. We are determined to lead the Faculty into a position of prominence and professional influence, in this specialism, for the benefit of all members.

There are a wide range of opportunities to contribute to the developing agenda of the Faculty. Peer support and networking, linked to targeted education and training is a benefit we can all appreciate and increasingly need. We strongly encourage pharmacists to join this new and important professional body which will further improve the practice and standing of those involved in prescribing and medicines management.