Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain. Scottish Department

Transcription

1 Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain Scottish Department NATIONAL STANDARDS RELATING TO HEALTHCARE SUPPORT WORKERS IN SCOTLAND: CONSULTATION DOCUMENT The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (RPSGB) is the professional and regulatory body for pharmacists in England, Scotland, and Wales. It also regulates pharmacy technicians on a voluntary basis, which is expected to become statutory in England and Wales under anticipated legislation. The primary objectives of the Society are to lead, regulate, develop and represent the profession of pharmacy. The Society leads and supports the development of the profession within the context of the public benefit. This includes the advancement of science, practice, education and knowledge in pharmacy. In addition, it promotes the profession s policies and views to a range of external stakeholders in a number of different fora. The Society has responsibility for a wide range of functions that combine to assure competence and fitness to practise. These include controlled entry into the profession, education, registration, setting and enforcing professional standards, promoting good practice, providing support for improvement, dealing with poor performance, dealing with misconduct and removal from the register. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has in place a range of policies covering support workers in pharmacy. These are set out in Appendix 1 of this response. The Society has previously stated its view that the regulation of all members of the pharmacy team by a single body, the Society, is the best way to facilitate, within pharmacy, the implementation of strategies for workforce development such as the careers escalator and maximising the contributions of staff groups through appropriate skill mix. This is because the range of pharmacy support staff are all involved in practices that are dependant upon or linked to those of pharmacists. It is considered that regulation by the Society will enable training and competence requirements for pharmacy support staff to be matched to their developing roles and to the future needs of pharmacists. The establishment of three new National Pharmacy Boards for Scotland, Wales and England will enable the Society to shape its strategies to reflect differences in practice across the devolved administrations. In this context, the Society welcomes the intention for regulation on a Scotland-wide basis to dovetail arrangements with existing UK-wide frameworks such as the Knowledge and Skills Framework (as part of Agenda for Change) and Skills for Health products (for example, National Occupational Standards). We consider that in most areas the draft generic standards for HCSW in Scotland will complement the Society s existing policies. Whatever regulatory processes are put in place need to be manageable for the relatively large numbers involved in what may not be a stable working population. Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Scottish Department 1

2 We wish to make the following specific comments: Code of Practice for Employees The Society supports the introduction of a code of practice for employees. Code of Practice for NHS Scotland Employers As an NHS Scotland employer of healthcare support workers, you must: 1.1. Ensure people are suitable to enter the healthcare workforce and understand their roles and responsibilities. You must have rigorous recruitment and selection procedures in place and meticulously follow Disclosure Scotland and other vetting procedures. We recognise that systems for monitoring compliance have yet to be developed. However, we would wish to seek clarification on whether or not it is intended that this obligation would also apply to those contracted to provide services to NHS Scotland, e.g. community pharmacy contractors Provide training and development opportunities to enable HCSWs to strengthen and develop their skills and knowledge. This obligation complements the existing policy of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain that all staff providing pharmacy services that fall within a defined range must be competent in the areas in which they are working. Over the past few months the Society has worked closely with Skills for Health on the review of the existing National Occupational Standards for pharmacy services. Annex 3: Draft Induction Standards It is difficult to comment on the detail of the standards without specific information about who would be responsible for assessing that the performance criteria had been met and the required occupational competence of assessors. Lyndon Braddick Director for the Scottish Department Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain 31 August 2006 Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Scottish Department 2

3 Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain Support Staff Policy Appendix 1 The Society has a range of policies covering minimum training and competence requirements for pharmacy support staff. For pharmacy technicians a regulatory framework is being put in place and the Society has operated a voluntary register of pharmacy technicians since January, Statutory regulation of pharmacy technicians in England and Wales is being sought through an Order in Council under the 1999 Health Act, which is likely to be made at the end of Although the Order will not address the regulation of pharmacy technicians in Scotland, the development of registration criteria for the voluntary register has followed consultation across Great Britain and the education and training of pharmacy technicians in Scotland has been taken into account. Scottish qualifications have been included within the educational criteria for entry to both the voluntary register and those proposed for entry to the statutory register. Further information on all of these policies can be found from the following link on the Society s website and clicking on the appropriate support staff group. Pharmacy Support Staff Definitions (updated August 2005) Please note this list does not include definitions for pharmacy technicians undertaking extended roles, for instance accredited checking technicians. Pharmacy technician: A person who holds a S/NVQ pharmacy services Level 3 qualification or a qualification that has previously recognised by employers as a valid qualification for pharmacy technicians. This will include the following: Pharmacy Services NVQ level 3 (City & Guilds) Pharmacy Services NVQ level 3 (Edexcel) Pharmacy Services SVQ level 3 (Scottish Qualifications Authority) BTEC National Certificate in Science (pharmaceutical) BTEC National Certificate in Applied Science (pharmaceutical) BTEC National Certificate in Pharmacy Services SCOTEC National Certificate in Pharmaceutical Science SCOTEC Pharmacy Technicians Certificate (2 year) SCOTVEC National Certificate in Pharmaceutical Science SQA National Certificate in Pharmaceutical Science City & Guilds of London Institute, Dispensing Technicians Certificate Certificate of the Society of Apothecaries Dispensing Certificate of the Royal Army Medical Corps or the Royal Air Force NPA 2-year Dispensing Technicians correspondence course completed prior to 1998 Boots 2-year dispenser training course completed prior to 1993 Boots 1 year dispenser training course completed after 1993 plus accredited top-up training module plus assessment of competence Current or recent UK registration as a pharmacist National Certificate in Pharmaceutical Science, Stow College National Certificate in Pharmaceutical Science, Aberdeen National Certificate in Pharmaceutical Science, Dundee Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Scottish Department 3

4 National Certificate in Pharmaceutical Science, James Watt College National Certificate in Pharmaceutical Science, Edinburgh Telford College BTEC National Certificate in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Sunderland It is expected that two years after the statutory register is brought into force the title "pharmacy technician" will become protected in law. This means that it will be illegal to continue to use the title pharmacy technician in England and Wales without being registered with the Society. In the future, applicants qualifying in the UK will be required to have either the Pharmacy Services S/NVQ level 3 qualification or current or recent UK registration as a pharmacist before they can apply to register with the Society. The training programme leading to the award of the Pharmacy Services S/NVQ level 3 will have to include both an accredited underpinning knowledge programme and completion of work experience in a pharmacy. For a transitional period, applicants who have one or more of the qualifications listed above will be able to apply for registration.. During an initial transitional period grandparenting arrangements will apply and a range of other qualifications will be accepted for entry to the register. This will enable those with the responsibilities, experience and training background of pharmacy technicians (though this may have pre-dated S/NVQs and/or been delivered through a company scheme) to register if they so wish. Evidence of recent work experience as a pharmacy technician or student pharmacy technician will also be required. Transitional (grandparenting) arrangements will cease two years after the commencement of statutory registration. Dispenser / Dispensing Assistant /Pharmacy Assistant / Assistant Technical Officer (ATO): a person involved in a range of pharmacy support activities covered by the Society s minimum competence requirements. From January 1 st 2005 onwards pharmacists have had a professional obligation to ensure that dispensing / pharmacy assistants are competent in the areas in which they are working to a minimum standard equivalent to the new Pharmacy Services Scottish/National Vocational Qualification (S/NVQ) level 2 qualification or undertaking training towards this. This policy applies to staff working in the following areas: Sale of over the counter medicines and the provision of information to customers on symptoms and products Prescription receipt and collection The assembly of prescribed items (including the generation of labels) Ordering, receiving and storing pharmaceutical stock The supply of pharmaceutical stock Preparation for the manufacture of pharmaceutical products (including aseptic products) Manufacture and assembly of medicinal products (including aseptic products) The requirement can be met by completing a training programme relevant to the job role and there are four acceptable ways of doing this. (a) Successful achievement of Pharmacy Services S/NVQ level 2 (b) Successful achievement relevant units of the Pharmacy Services S/NVQ level 2 (c) Successful achievement of a training programme accredited to be equivalent to S/NVQ level 2 in Pharmacy Services Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Scottish Department 4

5 (d) Successful achievement of relevant units of a training programme accredited to be equivalent to Pharmacy Services S/NVQ level 2. Medicines Counter Assistant: a person who has satisfactorily completed or is undertaking an accredited programme of training for work in support of the sale of non-prescription medicines, the receipt of prescriptions, the handing out of completed dispensed items and the giving of advice on health matters. The Society s requirement is that courses should cover the knowledge and understanding associated with units 2.04 and 2.05 of the Pharmacy Services S/NVQ level 2, entitled Assist in the Sale of OTC medicines and provide information to customers on symptoms and products and Assist in the supply of prescribed items (taking in a prescription and issuing prescribed items). The Society s policy is that dispensing/pharmacy assistants and medicines counter assistants should be enrolled on a training programme within three months of them commencing their role (or as soon as practical within local training arrangements) and the programme should be completed within a three-year time period. Further information on the Society s support staff policies can be obtained from: Support Staff Section Royal Pharmaceutical Society Tel: supportstaff@rpsgb.org (MCAs or Dispensing & Pharmacy Assistants) pharmacytechnician@rpsgb.org (Pharmacy Technicians). Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, Scottish Department 5