The Royal Pharmaceutical Society is undertaking a root and branch review of pharmacy education policy. This provides an opportunity to take a holistic approach to education across the pharmacy team and across the careers of individual pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. The programme will focus on different aspects of the education process for both pharmacists and technicians, including:
As the Society is not responsible for the entirety of pharmacy education and training with other organisations having responsibilities, in relation to the funding, providing and standard setting, this policy development programme will need be achieved in partnership with key stakeholders.
To see how the consultations link together to inform the Society's education policy development programme, click on the link below:
For more information on recent education policy consultations and the background to the policy programme, click on the links below:
The pharmacy practice framework sets out the breadth and complexity of the patient-centred and medicines-focussed profession of pharmacy. It sets the profession's unique combination of expertise in the science of medicines (both human and animal) and patient centred values into the wider context of clinical care by laying out the roles and functions for which pharmacists are responsible and accountable in their daily professional lives – wherever they practise.
For the framework, click on the link below:
The framework is intended to clarify and make transparent key aspects of the profession's work, both for the public and for members of the profession and their employers. It is a guidance document that is intended to inform standards setting by the regulatory body, practitioners in thinking about their CPD and employers in considering job design, for example.
The framework is the product of a wide consultation across the profession and beyond and the Society’s Council is indebted to all those individuals and organisations who attended workshops and submitted written comments – the document would not have been possible without their assistance and support.
Contact:
Damian Day
Tel 020 7572 2215
e-mail practiceframeworkconsultation@rpsgb.org
One of the first activities of the education policy review programme was to establish a set of principles that will guide the development of pharmacy education and training, and specifically the Society’s review. This consultation sought feedback from key stakeholders on draft principles of pharmacy education and training. The purpose of these generic principles is to guide the development and review of education and training provision in pharmacy and as such all providers should be aiming to follow these principles. The consultation process actively sought to identify barriers to the implementation of the principles with a view to securing the appropriate resources and commitment to address these barriers with stakeholders.
The formal consultation period came to a close on 24 November 2006. For the resulting principles document and an analysis of the consultation responses, click on the links below:
The purpose of the second consultation was to establish the content of the education for prospective pharmacists.
Responses were invited by 30 November 2007. Contact for further information:
Damian DayThe issue of student registration was raised in the Government's White Paper on the future of healthcare professional regulation, Trust, Assurance and Safety - The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century, published on 21 February 2007.
The Society has consulted on student registration. Responses were invited by 9 November 2007. Contact for further information:
Damian DayA number of projects and research studies relevant to this area of policy development are available on this website via the links below:
In addition, a series of briefing papers prepared for a Council strategy day, covering current education policy in a number of areas, are available here. Click on the links below:
Members of the Fit for the Future project team made a study tour to Canada in October 2005. The purpose was to learn about pharmacy education and regulation in Ontario and to generate knowledge that could be used in the Society’s education policy development programme. The tour explored the continuum of pharmacy education from initial qualification through to reaccreditation (revalidation) processes. For a report of the study tour, click on the link below:
Have your say about how pharmacists and pharmacy technicians should be revalidated by completing our online survey
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain is developing proposals for revalidating pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. We are seeking, through this questionnaire, views from a wide range of people about what will work best. Revalidation will affect you, whether you are a member of the public, a pharmacy user, an employer of pharmacists or a pharmacist or pharmacy technician, so please contribute your views.
Revalidation is a process to check periodically that a registered pharmacist or pharmacy technician remains up-to-date and continues to be competent and fit to practise. All the regulated health professions are currently developing proposals to do this for their registrants.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has initiated several pieces of work, including background research to help it develop proposals for a scheme of revalidation.
Prime Research and Development Ltd has been commissioned to appraise several different approaches to revalidation. This survey is one of several strands of work through which we are exploring the merits of different approaches to revalidation and the practicalities of implementing them. We would welcome your response and comments to the questions posed.
In October 2007, the Society established an expert advisory group to develop proposals for revalidation in pharmacy. A report was submitted to the Department of Health in February 2009 setting out 10 principles against which the success of a future revalidation process can be established: the process should be effective and cost-effective, be standards-based, be proportional, be evidence-based, be quality-assured, involve stakeholders, be equal and diverse, be remedial, be consistent across Great Britain, and be implemented incrementally.
The questionnaire that follows has five sections. Some questions are closed and require a specific response, others invite you to comment more fully if you wish. How long the questionnaire will take to complete will depend on how much you wish to comment, but we would encourage you to respond as fully as your time permits.
Your responses will remain confidential and be available to the project team only. All responses will be collated and reported in aggregate. We may use quotes to illustrate key points but these will not be attributable to particular individuals or organisations. Subject to their consent, we would like to report organisations that have responded.
Click here to start the survey
Please note, the deadline for comments is Monday 12th July 2010.