Scotland West District Member's Report from Guild Council Meeting 24.11.2005



All Council and Committee metings were to take place on the same day. The majority of the Council meeting was taken up with the Terms and Conditions Committee agenda as there was much to discuss.

Terms and Conditions Committee
Information was still being sought from District Members on matching outcomes in their areas. If the number of Job Analysis Questionnaires (JAQs) issued is high, it may indicate a problem with the profiles. If the number of reviews is high, it may indicate local problems with matching. It was noted that the assimilation date for England had been brought forward and many Trusts are transferring staff to a similar point on the new pay spine rather than doing a proper job evaluation process in order to meet the target. There are also problems in some areas where band 8 & 9 posts are not being assimilated because the Trust say they cannot afford it. Others are using other methods to try to keep the bands down for the same reason.

The latest unsocial hours proposals are apparently good for nurses but very poor for pharmacists and other professions e.g. biomedical scientists. Anyone on band 7 or above will not do well. Rough calculations show a significant discrepancy between current unsocial hours payments and those proposed under the three options being considered. The timescale has also moved back until October 2006. It was suggested that each Chief pharmacist should ensure that the continuance of any weekend services be entered on the organisation risk register as being at risk unless the unsocial hours options are improved.

It was noted that Amicus will be balloting members on acceptance of the proposals at the end of negotiations. Given that laboratory staff stand to lose much more than pharmacists, a no vote is likely unless the current proposals are amended.

On-call does not need to be negotiated until October 2008 when the protection period ends, so EDA will not be affected until then. Although there is a suspicion that there will be no attempt at negotiation and a hope that everyone will transfer onto AfC when protection ends.

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GHP Restructuring
The votes have been counted and the results are

Yes: 332      No: 40

The restructuring proposals will therefore go ahead. It is planned that there will be a ballot in March for regional members of Council. Nominations will be requested in February.

A proposed timetable for the next few years was agreed with the proviso that it is obviously up to the new Council to decide whether to use or discard it.

There was some discussion on the way forward for Scotland and the other devolved countries to ensure that GHP is able to function at least as effectively as previously. A proposal is to be produced on options for the best way forward. It is recognised fully that the changes under devolution mean that if Council membership from Scotland is to be reduced, alternative measures must be implemented to enable that one Council member to be able to represent Scotland effectively.



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www.ghp.org.uk
Council It was agreed that the proposals for improvements to the national web site be taken forward.



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Education & Development Committee
It was reported that RPSGB are looking at the support structures currently required for pharmacists.

It was noted that Skills for health have undertaken a project to write National Occupational Standards for pharmacy. This is being led by David Webb and it is thought will take a year to complete. There is a strategy group (where GHP will be represented by Richard Cattell) and a reference group. It has still to be decided who will represent GHP on the latter group. These standards will apply to the UK and not just England and are likely to have a long-term impact on pharmacy.



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Practice Committee
There were discussions on the Foster Review of Non-Medical regulation. The report is due out in January.

Other items discussed were the Health Bill and Shipman report 4. Three areas in England are piloting the new post-Shipman audit trial.

It was noted that the MHRA are recommending that blood products which are licensed as POMs should be controlled by pharmacy and subject to their audit requirements. This would include albumin and immunoglobulin.

Colin Rodden
24.11.05

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