Welcome to a roundup of the past weeks’ pharmacy nuggets from Scotland.
Ross began the week with a blog on the state of community pharmacy. In his post he insists that pharmacists must collaborate and embrace roles like independent pharmacist prescribing.
On Wednesday we ran a news story on the report released by the University of East Anglia which identified future roles for pharmacy technicians. This collaborative piece of work between the university and the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) is another statement of intent from this professional body.
https://pharmacyinpractice.uk/2016/10/12/changes-required-to-maximise-pharmacy-technician-potential-says-new-report/
We reported on how Community Pharmacy Scotland has produced a ‘how to’ guide to support quality improvement in community pharmacy.
https://pharmacyinpractice.uk/2016/10/12/cps-produces-qi-and-closer-partnership-working-guide/
On Thursday we reported on the joint statement released by the RCGP and the RPS in Scotland. This joint statement was widely welcomed and is intended to support pharmacists and GP teams when pharmacists are working within the GP practice.
https://pharmacyinpractice.uk/2016/10/13/rps-and-rcgp-in-scotland-develop-guiding-principles-for-gp-pharmacists/
Johnathan wrote a blog in which he shared his own experience of an asthma attack. This was done to hopefully raise the profile of the importance of asthmatic patients having a written asthma plan and also to know what to do in an asthma attack.
The anatomy of an asthma attack – the experience of a parent
The NPA launched a new SOP to support its members deal with feedback or complaints from patients.
https://pharmacyinpractice.uk/2016/10/14/npa-launches-patient-complaints-sop-for-scottish-members/
We published an anonymous piece on the potential personal impact that the pharmacy cuts in England could have on the author’s family. It is well worth a read to understand the human side of the current struggle for funding in community pharmacy in England.
In Scotland it is political party conference season and this week the SNP announced that they would be investing £500 million in primary care.
https://pharmacyinpractice.uk/2016/10/15/scottish-government-commits-additional-500-million-to-primary-care/
We then finished the week with our ever popular ‘Sunday CPD’ quiz. This weeks’ topic was the recently updated BTS/SIGN guideline for asthma. Why not give it a go?
https://pharmacyinpractice.uk/2016/10/15/up-to-speed-on-the-new-btssign-asthma-guideline-take-our-cpd-quiz-to-check/