Regional Member for Scotland Report from Guild Council Meeting 16.11.2006



Unsocial hours
Of the three options on the table, Amicus' preference is option 2.

It has apparently been agreed that only dry testing will be done in 6 sites who expressed interest in doing so. The identity of these sites remains a mystery, though. The earliest that a ballot can be held on unsocial hours is likely to be April 2007, with the result it is unlikely to be implemented before October 2007. However, it is likely to still be a poor deal for pharmacists.

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On-call
The last Healthcare Science Occupational Advisory Committee (HCSOAC) meeting discussed the protection arrangements for on-call and agreed it was the system, not the payment, which was protected until October 2008. There appear to be no open discussions on on-call taking place, with both management and staff side seeming to think that most of the problems will be solved by the unsocial hours agreement. However, that is unlikely to fix the EDA replacement problem for pharmacists. GHP is to ensure the OAC is aware of GHP concern that nothing has yet been done with so little time left before protection expires. Less than one year will remain if the unsocial hours agreement is not implemented until October 2007.



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Working Time Directive
Some work done by EAHP suggests that there is the potential for several EU member states to be taken through the courts for non-compliance. The UK is included within this group.

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KSF
There was some discussion on the suggestion in the Foster report of using the KSF as a revalidation tool. It was not reckoned to be fit for purpose for more specialised posts. There was also concern that financial pressures in most organisations are resulting in the training budgets being cut. How this affects implementation of KSF remains to be seen.

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EAHP "Definition of Hospital Pharmacy" and "Mission of Hospital Pharmacist" Statements
It was agreed that some work needed to be done on these statements. They do not reflect current practice in the UK, although it was noted that hospital pharmacy in EU member states were all at different stages of development.

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NLN Report: The Future of the Acute Hospital
Beth Taylor of the National Leadership Network (formerly the Modernisation Board) discussed this report, and the impact it might have, with Council members. The NLN is a "think-tank" and it was explained that this was not Department of Health (DH) policy.

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Pharmacists With Special Interests
There was some discussion on the recent DH document on a national framework for Pharmacists With Special Interests.

Colin Rodden
16.11.06

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