News in Brief

Cost Of A Pint
The 'shocking' cost of alcohol misuse in Northern Ireland was highlighted by Health Minister Michael McGimpsey in June after estimates that its cost to society equates to £679.8million with a range of £500million to £884million. "This research shows that the cost to the Health Service alone may be as high as around £160million each year with a further cost of £82million to Social Services,î the Minister said. ìThese figures are particularly pertinent in the context of my Departmentís very challenging financial situation because this is money that could be spent providing key frontline services."
 
Heart In Hands
The British Heart Foundation Northern Ireland is appealing to fundraisers to help it reach its target of £80,000 by August. The campaign is to recruit more heart nurses to support patients throughout the province and to reduce secondary care admissions.
 
Haiti Fundraising
Staff at Holly Villa in the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital have raised over £320 for a group who are travelling to Haiti in October to build houses following the earthquake. The Tyrone Haiti Build is a project in conjunction with the Haven Partnership to support those affected by the disaster.
 
Secondary Care Supported
A new hospital in Omaghs fight for funding has been supported by Health Minister Michael McGimpsey. Speaking at a meeting with the Omagh joint liaison group, the Minister said: "I am fully committed to the development of the new Omagh hospital and will continue to press for the essential funding needed to make this a reality."
 
Commissioning Together
Pharmacists and GPs must work together to define the gaps in commissioning data, review how they can be filled and to determine the correct level of care provision for a particular area, according to Stephen Foster, the head of the new Healthcare Professionals Commissioning Network. The network is open to any health or social care professional who would like to engage in commissioning. tinyurl.com/HCPnetwork
 
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Cracking The Code PDF Print E-mail
Written by Laure James - Editor Pharmacy in Focus   
Tuesday, 16 September 2008 12:52
As part of its commitment to ensuring that pharmacists meet their professional obligations in providing a service of the very highest quality, the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland has launched a consultation into a revision of the Code of Ethics. Parts 2-5 are now subject to review and a proposed draft is now available on the Society’s website. The Code of Ethics from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has been used as a template until now and was modified pre-consultation with a local stakeholder group. The formal consultation, which was launched on 11 August, is an important opportunity to offer feedback on and influence the Code’s content.

Specialist Pharmacist for Practice and Ethics at the PSNI, Michelle McCorry spoke to NIPinF about why these changes have been introduced. “The profession of pharmacy has developed considerably since the Code of Ethics was last reviewed. Pharmacist prescribing, medication reviews and repeat dispensing schemes are just a few of the developments that have seen pharmacists take on an increasingly clinical role.

“The good news is that the consultation on the Code of Ethics is relatively straight-forward, and because it has a direct impact on pharmacists’ professional lives, is worth spending some time considering and responding to.”

She adds; “This revised Code should be particularly welcomed by practising pharmacists who have become frustrated by the prescriptive, rigid nature of the current code and who appreciate that in some instances that the practice of pharmacy is becoming less of an exact science and should allow flexibility of professional judgement. Instead of having black and white rules covering every activity, the proposed code of ethics is based on eight high-level, mandatory principles that will inform the conduct, practise and performance of all pharmacists.”

The fundamental changes in the revised Code include the following:
•    The principles are intended to apply across all sectors of the profession, irrespective of whether an individual is involved in patient care.
•    It has been designed to promote and support accountability and professional judgement.
•    It does not contain technical detail, as in the previous edition, but instead will be supported by further standards and guidance (in the areas of patient consent, patient confidentiality, pharmacist prescribing etc.).
•    It is public-facing and places patient care at the centre of modern pharmacy practice.

So how was the new Code crafted? “This new Code is the end product of a long distillation process,” Michelle continued. “I carried out an extensive mapping exercise of other pharmacy and health professional Codes from the UK and beyond and ended up using the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Code of Ethics as a template. In July, a draft Code was produced which has since been modified to reflect local opinion and differences following a pre-consultation exercise with local stakeholders.”

Michelle is now urging all those pharmacists who have not yet taken part in the consultation to do so. “When the new Code of Ethics is eventually launched, it will underpin everything pharmacists do, what the next generation of pharmacy practitioners will understand about good and ethical practice and the standards the general public can expect from the pharmacy profession. On this basis, this consultation provides pharmacists and the public a one-off opportunity to input and influence the Code’s content.”

Michelle continued to explain that the new Code aims to promote and support the use of professional judgement by individual pharmacists. “It also aims to provide a secure and protective framework for decision-making, thereby protecting both patients and professionals,” she added. “The revised Code will reflect and support modern pharmacy practice while continuing to ensure patient safety and public confidence in the pharmacy profession.”