Scotland West District Member's Report for Guild Council Meeting 25.11.99



Glasgow & West of Scotland Group Meetings
Since the last Council meeting, there will have been three meetings of the local Group. The first was to discuss future roles of technicians, and unfortunately, I was unable to attend due to illness. The business meeting was held at Leverndale pharmacy and managed its usual poor attendance. The third meeting is the joint meeting between the local branch of the RPSGB and the Group, and takes place on 11th November.

Organisational Changes
Very little has changed since the last report. Lanarkshire Primary Care Trust are still waiting for the appointment of a Trust Chief Pharmacist. North Glasgow University Hospitals Trust has placed Pharmacy into the Pharmacy and PAMs directorate of the Clinical Services Division. A Lead Pharmacist and a Lead PAM will report to a Service Manager who will be in overall charge of the directorate. Forth Valley Health Board based pharmacists have been transferred to Forth Valley Primary Care Trust with agreed transitional management arrangements. Work continues in Forth Valley Acute Hospitals Trust to avoid service duplication in the departments in Stirling and Falkirk Royal Infirmaries.

Staffing
Inverclyde Royal Hospital are still awaiting funding from Argyll and Clyde Health Board for a D grade oncology post and the B grade vacancy at Stirling Royal Infirmary has not yet been filled.

The Millennium Holiday
As previously thought, payment of three times basic hourly rate and a day in lieu is to be made for working over the holiday. I am awaiting a decision on the exact settlement for on-call pharmacists over the period, but am hopeful that this information will be available by the Council meeting. This has been the subject which has prompted the second highest number of questions over the past month.

Pay
This has been the subject of most questions put to me over the past month. Members are extremely unhappy about the lack of information on the pay situation. They are very unhappy that, despite promises made earlier in the year in a GHP newsletter, members have not been kept up to date on progress and no information has been forthcoming from Council.

Scottish NHS Advisory Committee 3.11.99
I attended the above committee meeting which was addressed by the Joint Chair of the Scottish Partnership Forum, Mr. Gerry Marr. The other Joint Chairman, RO Michael Fuller, was unable to attend due to illness.
There was an interesting talk and discussion on partnership, and what was happening throughout Scotland on this issue. Some Trusts appear to be forging ahead, whilst others have still to understand the concept. Apart from this, the main topic of discussion was the letter sent by Roger Kline to Frank Dobson and the decisions taken by various Occupational Advisory Committees with regard to pay ballots.

Advice
I have given advice mainly on millennium pay matters, although there were also a couple of other discussions.

Membership Matters
I have sent out a number of membership forms over the past couple of months, and most have been completed, returned and forwarded to the membership department at the Glasgow Regional Office. Unfortunately, I also discovered that one form had gone astray, and had to obtain a new form from the member.
I have just received a disk copy of the membership database, and intend to use it to try and clear up any remaining problems within the Glasgow & West of Scotland Group. I will be contacting both Jim Bannerman, District Member North & East Scotland, and Don Page, National Member, for their help in correcting the errors in the rest of Scotland.

Scottish Integrated Workforce Planning Group
I recently received a questionnaire from the above group seeking to identify workforce planning issues within the NHS in Scotland. It has been circulated throughout the Group and to Jim Bannerman and Don Page for comments. A copy was also forwarded to the Guild President for information. A response is being collated and will have been returned by the Council meeting.

Colin Rodden
10 November 1999