Pharmacy Forum NI Board Elections 2023
Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2023 Board Election.
Voting is now closed and the successful candidates were:
- Judith Gray
- Anne McAlister
- Sheelin McKeagney
- Glynis McMurtry
Hub & spoke expansion: patient safety must remain intact
Pharmacy Forum NI has supported the DHSC consultation proposal to expand hub and spoke dispensing to include new arrangements between registered pharmacies belonging to different legal entities, provided that the proposals do not compromise the level of care offered to patients through pharmaceutical services.
Of the two hub and spoke dispensing models presented in the consultation, the Forum remains only broadly supportive of model 1 – where medicines are returned assembled from the hub to the spoke pharmacy before supply to the patient; the Forum does not support model 2, where the hub pharmacy supplies medicines directly to the patient.
The Forum has further requested the undertaking of a full impact assessment in Northern Ireland in order to understand the size and nature of any impact of the proposed changes on the NI pharmacist profession and NI patients.
Pharmacy Futures NI animation
A new two minute animation targeting all post-primary schools in Northern Ireland is the latest resource that has been developed under the Pharmacy Futures NI campaign, which was launched in November 2020 to support current and future NI pharmacy workforce needs.
The animation is designed to encourage school pupils to consider pharmacy as a career. It is aimed mainly at school pupils at the slightly earlier stage in subject choices/career decision-making but is suitable for any post-primary age.
The animation complements a wider range of assets that have been developed since the campaign launch.
