Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists
Strategic Direction
2001-2005



Introduction
A review of the Guild’s future direction has been developed with input from Council and members. This was begun in July 2000 as the government began to shape the New NHS. Our contribution to their policies based on our own thinking at that time has now come full circle as we publish our plans to reflect theirs. However the Guild is a membership organisation with specific responsibilities beyond the professional practice and associated education and research in pharmacy. Therefore our plans here also reflect what is required to move the Guild forward in ‘organising’ terms i.e. employee terms and conditions.

Drivers for change have included the following:

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Current position of the Guild
The Guild currently has 2,600 members out of a possible 5,000 (RPS estimate) hospital pharmacists and 1000 primary care pharmacists. The Guild has no records of the practice arena of its members.

The Guild has 24 Groups in 12 Districts. 11 groups do not meet regularly. A review of the boundaries was begun in December 2000 to consider re-alignment to new English NHS regions. Recommendations for alignment are to be discussed further with the membership.

Guild Council is constituted with 12 District and 10 National Members. Elections for half of each of the above are held each year for a 2-year term.

Council organises its work via a committee structure. Practice; Education and Science; Organisation Terms and Conditions (OTC) are its main committees. Members from Primary Care organisations and the Association of Pharmacy Technicians have recently been invited to have observer status at Practice. The BPSA and academic representation are part of the Education and Science Committee. The Pharmaceutical Whitley Council staff side is drawn from OTC.

The Guild has four main national meetings each year.

The National Weekend School (NWS) is our national annual conference for all members, held in the spring. Consultations on the membership’s wishes, in relation to change, were concluded and reported to the NWS in 2001. We will ensure appropriate changes are implemented with on-going review. The GHP AGM is usually held during this same weekend at the conference.

The autumn Day Conference is also open to all members. Its future organisation will be reviewed.

The Group Delegates Meeting (GDM) is the national policy advising meeting attended by Group delegates. This meeting has been poorly attended in recent years and a review is underway.

The fourth is the Group Secretaries day, held approximately six months after the GDM. This is a further opportunity for Groups to influence the Guild agenda in the forthcoming year. The meeting receives a six-month report on progress and action in relation to GDM motions. This Strategic Direction statement will be reviewed for progress in its implementation at that meeting. Action plans to support it will be developed in GC Committees at their June meetings.

The Guild has been part of ASTMS (from 1974) then MSF (from 1988) and will now move to be part of the proposed new union as intended with the merger of MSF with the AEEU. Through all change, the original ‘transfer of undertakings’ agreement has delineated the ways of working and support from the parent union. The Guild participates in the work of the MSF National Advisory Council (NAC) for the Health Sector, which receives our annual report. The Health Service Sector NAS itself prepares an annual report and strategy.

This provides us with all the benefits of trade union membership. It gives us access to local Regional Officer support within union rules and practice. Working for the NHS plus MSF membership meets the requirement for indemnity insurance required in Medicines, Ethics and Practice (RPSGB).

The Guild has the support of a Professional Secretary who works on all professional agenda matters. This support is essential to maintaining our position as an advisory body to the RPSGB, the MCA, the DoH and many dozens of other organisations that regularly consult us and require our participation in meetings/conferences of relevance to the practice of pharmacy.

The Guild has a central administrative office. We have negotiated a service level agreement for administrative work, which is supported, by the national office of MSF’s Health sector. Implementation is under review as part of the changing work patterns centrally.

Our recent membership survey, reported at the 2001 National Weekend School, gave guidance on areas consulted on for future work i.e.

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Recruitment
A new Guild recruitment strategy will be developed.

A summary of issues considered in the review of recruitment were:

  • The membership itself should be used more effectively to recruit new members
  • Better recruitment material/campaign needed
  • District members should be aware of new recruits
  • District members should address pre-registration students re membership and actively recruit them
  • District Members to have recruitment pack and prepared presentation
  • Need better marketing and awareness of GHP and of its leaders
  • Use of web/communication officer

There are two strands to recruitment i.e. recruitment to the Guild and recruitment to hospital pharmacy.

Recruitment into the Guild:
We recognise there is under representation in the GHP in particular areas i.e.

  • Junior and recently qualified pharmacists
  • Pharmacists working in local healthcare organisations (PCG/Ts, LHCC etc.) and Health Authorities and Boards.
  • Teacher Practitioners

We will continue to aim for 100% membership in the managed care sector. We will develop a recruitment campaign and aim to grow by 1000 in the next 5 years.

We will work with relevant organisations to promote membership in the sectors e.g. primary care professional organisations and the BPSA.

Each workplace should have a trained fully accredited representative.

We will develop a strategy for rejuvenating the Guild Groups to maximise their input to the work of the Guild.

Recruitment into Hospital Pharmacy:
It is primarily the responsibility of the NHSE and the Department of Health (plus equivalents in home countries) to ensure an adequate number of appropriately trained pharmacists for the NHS and other parts of the managed care sector. However, the Guild recognises that it is in the interests of our members for us to assist them in this aim.

The Guild will therefore work with these bodies and others to publicise the merits and rewards of working in hospital pharmacy, while promoting the contribution of Guild members to patient care and the NHS.

For both of these strands it is vital that our recruitment activities work hand in glove with our public relations, editorial and publishing activities. Close co-ordination will therefore occur between the recruitment co-ordinator, the editor of ghp, the Guild's new Communications Officer and the Professional Secretary.

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Communication
A communication strategy is available as appendix 1.

All members must have access to information and support for themselves as employees and health care professionals.

The Guilds communication philosophy remains one of openness and transparency, unless the interests of an individual member would be put at risk. Sharing of best practice, or lessons learned, are guiding principles of all work. The Guild also has a responsibility to represent members nationally in collective bargaining. In this area of work we expect to work in partnership with our parent union MSF.

Our most recent initiative the ghp has prompted a review of the current role of the Editor on Guild Council. This position will in future assume a wide brief. The ghp Editor is a separate remunerated post, subject to contract and working within an editorial policy framework set by Guild Council. A new role of 'Communications Officer’ encompassing the Council responsibilities for ghp will be developed.

The key responsibilities of the Communications Officer will be :

i. Re ghp
  • Manage the editorial policy of ghp and the editorial board
  • Liaise with the ghp Editor
  • Manage ghp copy acquisition (excludes editorial approval)

ii. Press officer
  • Submission of copy to 'MSF Works'
  • Press releases from Guild Council and other Guild meetings.

The Professional Secretary will remain responsible for all other press releases.

iii. Liaison re the web site with a lead from a Guild Council member with expertise in IT/web technology.

iv. Liaison with the GHP Recruitment Co-ordinator.

 

The web site (www.ghp.org.uk) has been in place in a formative version for the last two years. The Guild has had the support of an enthusiastic volunteer for this time. However all recognise the value of developing from this position.

The web is now to be developed to include new elements:

We will contract with a commercial support company for both development and annual maintenance.

There is an international dimension to communication too. The GHP is a member of the European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) where it collaborates on joint projects and shares experiences and practice. EAHP has a very successful annual Congress. The GHP attends FIP (International Pharmacy federation) too to meet pharmacists beyond the British and hospital borders. Guild Council has discussed sending a representative to the Mid Year Conference in the States. If agreed this will be funded from the GHP Section Fund. A review of all international work will be undertaken. Current practice reflects the parent union commitment since merger in 1974.

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Networks
The Guild will network with the newly established MSF section for Pharmacy technicians once fully established. The existing Association of Pharmacy Technicians’ leaders are aware of the GHP interest in forging closer links.

The GHP should ensure its policies and views on pharmacy technicians are clear. This is particularly important in the area of regulation and registration which the Guild and MSF support, along with the Association of Pharmacy Technicians.

We consider a strong unified voice is essential to achieve our purpose as a profession. We will develop our relationship with the RPS further to ensure our advice is available to them on all hospital and primary care matters. We will continue to liaise with the All Party Pharmacy Group through our links with the RPS. We will continue to work with the RPS on a national strategy for hospital pharmacy. We will also assist with the development of a leaflet on hospital pharmacy.

Our links with primary care will be strengthened to ensure this section of the membership is fully integrated with the Guild. We will ensure Council links to our Special Interest Groups are strengthened.

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Practice
The Guild will address the need for standards for specified services in the managed care sector, especially hospitals. This will involve work on both service description and an appropriate standard for that service. Linked to this will be work on capacity available to deliver the service to the described standard.

Accreditation of competence for activities is required to support this. Work already in existence will be published/publicised; other work will be developed.

The concept of Consultant Pharmacist will be further investigated. Career grades for teacher–practitioners and clinical pharmacists in particular, must be pursued.

The Guild will continue to develop guidance on practice issues. This will need to be in collaboration with our Special Interest Groups and Technician groups when appropriate.

We will continue to lobby government to achieve our objectives and ensure we support theirs for the development of the profession in the patient’s best interest. However we will also be ensuring our members are represented within this process. One area for attention will be the prescribing role of pharmacists. We intend that we are seen as a political conduit to and from our members.

The Guild will work to achieve modern approaches on matters of practice/skillmix and re-engineering, whilst protecting our membership. Questions about new ways of working and improved use of pharmacy support staff are key to the modernisation philosophy of the NHS Plans.

The Guild will seek agreement with the four Chief Pharmacists in GB on the core competencies for future professional leaders to address questions of succession planning, leadership and associated mentoring.

The Guild will explore the opportunities for a strategic approach to electronic prescribing and medicines administration. We recognise the electronic drive from government opens up the possibility of professional contact with colleagues in community and primary care to improve pharmaceutical care of patients.

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Education and Science
Overall the education and training strategy of the Guild is to assist with training members for tomorrow’s needs as well as today’s. A review of continuing education provision by the GHP will be completed and changes introduced as appropriate. Opportunities for more joint working will be explored, especially with our Special Interest groups. Improved links with the RPSGB will be explored both for training, with special emphasis on pre-registration student training, and research. Opportunities for joint working with the UKCPA will be investigated in response to membership indications in the 2000 survey that this would be welcome.

Education/induction of council members will be addressed systematically, both at election and on a continuing basis.

The main aim is to maintain the flexibility to react to changes in legislation and governance, as required by our members, and to address their continuing professional development needs.

A review of organisational arrangements for the Guild Awards has been completed during 2000. All documents are now available via the web site. We will continue to support research through this approach and seek to improve numbers of award applications.

We will also support research work which supports the aims and objectives of the Guild. One such piece of research was commissioned in 2000 i.e. re the effectiveness of hospital pharmacy. This is due to report before the end of 2001.

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Organisation, Terms and Conditions
The GHP reviewed the workings of Council in 1997 and confirmed these in 1999 (‘Improving our Ways of Working’). No further changes beyond invitation to organisations to send representatives (at their own cost) to attend Practice meetings are planned.

The future working of the Pharmaceutical Whitley Council in relation to the Pay Review Body will be considered. Improved terms and conditions will continue to be sought. The pursuit of a new grading structure will continue.

We will ensure the membership is aware of successes in local areas via the web site. Model local agreements will be posted on the GHP web site e.g. re residency services.

The programme of work related to Agenda for Change, the government initiative to achieve a single pay spine in the NHS, will require increased communication to the members; training of accredited representatives supported by a cohort of experts from MSF and the GHP.

The Guild will ensure that the administration of its work meets the newly agreed service level agreement. This will be particularly important as the proposed merger of our parent union with the AEEU proceeds. We will ensure good links are fostered with the NHS Sector of the new union.

The Guild will seek to increase member participation generally and at the time of elections in particular. New ways of working at the RPS may increase the importance of this in terms of reflecting the majority of the managed care sector. This is similarly important when sitting down with the government. Also see section on
recruitment.

We will need to continually be aware of the devolution agenda and the implications of this for the working of the GHP. The establishment of Guild Secretaries for each home country has recently been agreed and joint working between them and with the Professional Secretary will be fostered.

The Guild’s structure will be reviewed at all levels to ensure it is aligned to provide maximum benefit to the membership.

Representation will be made to all bodies concerned with pharmaceutical workforce planning to ensure there are the right number of pharmacists available to the managed service.

Also see section on communication.

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Finances
The Section Fund was originally established as a public relations fund and continues to support activities not directly related to terms and conditions; e.g. BPC reception, exhibition stand, publications, web site. These activities may also increase MSF subscription income via new members. Council should explore new ways to invest in promotional opportunities which assist recruitment of pharmacists and technicians into the union.

Section Fund income is based entirely on profits from Guild events; National Weekend School, Day Conference, Special Interest Group meetings. It cannot support the administrative infrastructure of Guild; AGM, GDM, Council & Committee meetings. As part of the articles of association with ASTMS in 1974 MSF funds these meetings from hospital pharmacists’ subscription income. A detailed cost base for this funding should be established as a matter of urgency.

MSF financially supports corporate membership of EAHP, attendance of three delegates at the EAHP General Assembly and the President’s attendance at FIP and other international meetings. A commitment from the union to continue to support the European and wider international role of the Guild should be sought.

The National Weekend School is the major income generator for the Section Fund. Council should review the organisational arrangements, including the Council structure supporting the event, taking account of the results of the AAH sponsored survey. Education & Science Committee approves the professional programme and the local organisers have wide discretion within the Weekend School guidelines on the running of the event. The guidelines are now somewhat out of date and should be revised to reflect the switch to hotel venues and the need for more central support. A cautious approach should be taken towards contracting out the NWS to a specialist company to ensure that the income is maintained.

Now that ghp is established and increasing its editorial and advertising content Council should keep the financial arrangements with the publishers under review.

The Section Fund should initially support upgrading the Guild web site and Council should develop a strategy to maximise the financial opportunities of GHP’s corporate image within the managed service and pharmaceutical industry - recruitment, job market, promotion of Guild events etc.

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Appendix 1

GHP Communication Strategy 2000

The Guild of Healthcare Pharmacist's communication strategy must ensure all members have access to information and support for themselves as employees and health care professionals. It must also ensure the furtherance of the aims and objectives of the Guild.

Historically communication has taken place within the context of local and national meetings and conference attendances; by paper exchange; by access to files of information, (e.g. 'Red Book'), and by the official journal of the Guild.

More recently teleconferences, electronic mail and the GHP web-site have begun to make additional opportunities available.

All members, especially Group Secretaries and District Members, share the responsibility for communication locally. Guild Council, the Section General Secretary, the Editor, and the Professional Secretary are all involved in different activities at a national level. Guild Council representatives are members of the Hospital Pharmacists Group at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, and sit on each of the Guild Special Interest Groups. The Education and Science Committee has BPSA and professional academic members.

The Professional Secretary represents the GHP at official meetings of a professional nature and maintains an extensive network of professional, governmental and international contacts. The Professional Secretary responds in a timely fashion at Guild Council requests, and with the Presidents authority, to consultation documents.

Our most recent initiative the ghp has prompted a review of the current role of the Editor on Guild Council. This position will in future, be the Managing Editor and assume a wide brief than the journal as the GHP Communications Officer. The ghp Professional Editor is a separate remunerated post, subject to contract and working within an editorial policy framework set by Guild Council.

The Guilds communication philosophy remains one of openness and transparency, unless the interests of an individual member would be put at risk. Sharing of best practice, or lessons learned, are guiding principles of all work. The Guild also has responsibility to represent members nationally in collective bargaining. In this area of work we expect to work in partnership with our parent union MSF.

An analysis of what we are doing in terms of communication and where there is opportunity for improvement is listed below:

Existing communication tools

'Can do better'

The following changes are now planned to address these issues:

A new role of 'Communications Officer’ encompassing Council responsibilities for ghp will be developed. The key responsibilities will be :

1. Re ghp:
  • Manage the editorial policy of ghp and the editorial board
  • Liaise with the ghp Editor
  • Manage ghp copy acquisition (excluded editorial approval)
2. Press officer
  • Submission of copy to 'MSF Works'
  • Press releases from Guild Council and other Guild meetings.
The Professional Secretary will remain responsible for other press releases.

3. Liaison re the web site with a lead from a Guild Council member with expertise in IT/web technology. The web site will be developed to include new elements:

  • Direct application form for membership
  • Electronic copy of ghp for members
  • Headlines from ghp for non-members
  • Message board
  • All strategic and policy statements
  • Vacancy picture
  • Updates on GDM business
Plus other elements as they become apparent.

In respect of the GHP web site we will contract with a commercial support company for both development (£3,500 for basic site plus add-on costs for enhanced specification) and annual maintenance (£1000pa)

4. Liaison with the GHP Recruitment Co-ordinator

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