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News Keep up to date with the latest happenings of the BPSA here. From event updates to competition winner announcements, even website updates and news of interest from outside the BPSA will be found here.
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Tuesday, 09 March 2010 |
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On Thursday 4th March, members of the BPSA Executive met up with the membership and marketing team at the RPSGB to discuss what the future relationship between the RPSGB and the BPSA might look like. There has been a lot of work on this so far and the arrangements being discussed look set to be of great benefit to students and the BPSA. The propsed relationship will be consulted on shortly before being finalised in time for the BPSA's Annual Conference in April where most of the changes will be accepted by the membership in time for the next academic year. If you would like to be involved in the consultation process, please email Gemma Donovan, BPSA President via the 'Contact Us' section of the webiste. |
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McNeil Responding to Symptoms Competition Semi-Final |
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Monday, 15 February 2010 |
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On Saturday 13th February, the Semi Final round of the McNeil Responding to Symptoms competition was held at Aston University in Birmingham. Judging the competition was a teacher practitioner and hospital pharmacist from Nottingham. The standard of the participants was reported to be very high and the finalists and runners up are as follows (in no particular order): Finalisists: - Azhar Jiwa (De Montfort University)
- Jessica Tobin (Huddersfield University)
- Maria Bristow-Smith (Medway School of Pharmacy)
- Gillian Reid (Robert Gordon University)
Runners up include: - Claire Barton (Bath University)
- Rhys Gallagher (Cardiff University)
- Katrina Darby (Liverpool John Moores University)
- Carly Smith (Portsmouth University)
The final round will take place at BPSA Annual Conference in Aston University on Thursday 8th April .
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Wednesday, 10 February 2010 |
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The weekend of 6th/7th February saw the 5th meeting of the BPSA Executive which was also our second meeting with the BPSA Representatives. As well as an update from the Executive on their activity, the weekend also saw: - A training session on the online Professional Development Certificate Scheme which is to be launched soon
- Changes to roles of the Executive for 2010 in light of access to an administrator for the BPSA, these included changing the descriptions of Membership Secretary, Vice President, Educational Development Officer and Secretary General. These will be uploaded onto the Annual Conference website shortly
- Sign off of a document describing roles of the BPSA Representatives which will also be available on the BPSA website soon
- Agreement to test virtual reality conference facilities offered by the International Healthcare Research Institute
- A visit from the Pharmacists Defence Association to talk about their experience of their first student Fitness to Practice case and the development of the relationship between the BPSA and the PDA.
- An Annual Conference update and motions due to expire this year including student registration, responsible pharmacist/remote supervision and the BPSA's relationship wth the new Professional Leadership Body for Pharmacy
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Saturday, 23 January 2010 |
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Monday 18th January saw a BPSA presence at the Modernising Pharmacy Careers stakeholder event in London. Representatives from across pharmacy education as well as employers came together to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the current system for undergraduates and also discuss a potential 5 year model for an integrated programme. One of the highlights for the BPSA was the high frequency of reference by the meeting to the BPSA's submission to the board around what students' perceptions are of the current system. (This is available on the BPSA forums or can be obtained by contacting BPSA President Gemma Donovan). A report of recommednations from Workstream 1 which is responsible for reviewing undergraduate education will be published later in the year and opened for consultation. This will open more opportunities for students to get involved with the board's work. To get involved log on to the BPSA forums or contact Gemma Donovan, BPSA President. |
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Consultation Response, Preregistration in the PLB and English Pharmacy Board |
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Friday, 15 January 2010 |
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This week has been a busy one for the BPSA. On Tuesday 12th January was the deadline for the consultation on the draft General Pharmaceutical Council standards to which the BPSA submitted a response on the Education and Training standards. You can find the BPSA response on the BPSA forums. This week also saw the second meeting of the preregistration group for the professional leadership body, to look at the support the new professional body can offer to preregistration tutors and trainees. Gemma Donovan, BPSA president attended the meeting and was very happy to see the potential role the new PLB could have in the development of the important role of preregistration tutor. "It was was also interesting to see some of the great work going on around the country in developing the tutor role." On Wednesday 13th January the BPSA President also observed the last meeting of this English Pharmacy Board, the next meeting will consist of the successful candidates from the recent elections. Of greatest importance to the BPSA was the presentation on the change in payment for preregistration training from central funds to locally at Primary Care Trust level, part of the overall decentralisation of pharmacy payment by the Department of Health. The BPSA will be investigating if this is likely to have any effect on future preregistration training placments. There was also support from the Board to help the BPSA communicate to students the work of the Board and recent changes within the profession, something that we will continue to work on. |
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Saturday, 02 January 2010 |
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For the start of 2010 the BPSA are starting to set up a BPSA Alumni. We are calling for anyone who has enjoyed and dedicated time to the BPSA over the years to join in. Including; past annual conference delegates, working party contributors, sports weekend attendees, exec members from years gone by, honorary life members and whoever else wants to get involved. The BPSA are eventually hoping to organise reunion events and put out a newsletter. There will also be a yahoo group which will be used to discuss alumni events and services, as well as provide a forum for the alumni to help the current executive shape the future of the BPSA. Anyone who wants to register their interest should go to www.bpsa.co.uk/alumni |
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The Future Pharmacist goes to print! |
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Monday, 21 December 2009 |
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This week saw the final tweaks being made to the BPSA's publication the Future Pharmacist. The Winter 2009 edition is a bigger edition than previously and includes articles on industrial and technical pharmacy, interviews with academics as well as the usual CPD article. For this edition the CPD article has been produced for the first time by the Centre for Postgraduate Pharmacy Education (CPPE), the article will also provide another Professional Development Point for members. We've also included a Pharmaceutical Press book review. This edition has kindly been sponsored by Reckitt Benckiser. The FP has now gone to print and will be avaible in schools of pharmacy soon. |
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BPSA invited to Stakeholder Event for Undergraduate Education |
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Tuesday, 15 December 2009 |
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The BPSA has again been invited to take part in discussions around pharmacy education and preregistration training. A submission to the Modernising Pharmacy Careers Board at Medical Education England, by the BPSA on current students' views of undergraduate training and the prereg, has already been compiled and is available on the BPSA forums. However, there is another opportunity to feed back to the group in mid January. If you have any thoughts log on to the BPSA forums and have your say. You can find out more about the Modernising Pharmacy Careers board and their pre-registration education work by downloading the stakeholder letter. Click here to download the Modernising Pharmacy Careers stakeholder letter |
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BPSA Submission to Bursary Scheme Consultation |
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Saturday, 12 December 2009 |
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Last week, the BPSA submitted a response to the NHS Bursary Scheme consultation at the Department of Health. The consultation reviewed the current funding scheme but also asked for feedback on what mechanisms could be employed to add other professions to the scheme. Currently, pharmacy is not an eligble subject and students cannot benefit from financial relief for living expenses or for tuition fees from the NHS. There is currently no way for professions to be added to the scheme. The deadline for responses was 11th December and the BPSA has made a submission on behalf of pharmacy students to highlight to the department of health the possibility that pharmacy should be eligble to be added to the scheme. The full BPSA response will be available for download from the BPSA forums shortly. |
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4th BPSA Executive Meeting |
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Thursday, 03 December 2009 |
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The weekend of 28th/29th November saw the fourth meeting of the BPSA Exec in Sunderland. As well as updates from the executive on all their hard work, also discussed at the meeting was: - Membership of the Pharmacists Defence Association for BPSA members (look out for updates)
- The switch to the online PDC Scheme and re-formatting of PDPs (now available for download under the members only section)
- BPSA endorsement of the student competancy framework being developed at Bath Univeristy
- Development of a BPSA Alumni
- The BPSA's response to the General Pharmaceutical standards on education and training
- The Reckitt Benckiser Student of the Year Competition launch (coming soon)
The next meeting will also invite BPSA national representatives from all across the country and will be held 6th/7th February 2010 in Nottingham. |
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Friday, 27 November 2009 |
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On 25th November 2009 there was a meeting of the English Pharmacy Board (EPB) of the RPSGB. Gemma Donovan, BPSA President was an observer. The BPSA have been given an open invitation to all EPB meetings as an observer for the future. The EPB are keen that students are involved with the new professional body for pharmacy and as this board will eventually become a centre for activity for the new body, it is great to see the BPSA invited to observe and take part in their discussions. At this meeting there were updates from several workstreams which have been taking place in preparation for the new professional body formation in Spring 2010. The board are also forming a response to the General Pharmaceutical Council Standards which were released earlier in the month. The BPSA will also be making a submission around the education and training standards for pharmacists. If you would like to get involved sign up to the BPSA forums and find the thread in "Topical Discussions and Debate" and give us your views. Of note to students from the meeting; once again highlighted was the issue surrounding the number of graduates due to start preregistration training in the coming years and the number of places currently available. Although the number of premesis registered for taking a preregistration student shows no apparant shortage, it was noted that many of these are not active places and in actual fact many companies intentionally do not fill all of these due to the cost of training a preregistration student. This is something that the BPSA will be working on in conjunction with the EPB. If anyone has any evidence of current shortage in preregistration placements then please contact the BPSA president Gemma via the website. |
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National Clinical Assessment Service |
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Tuesday, 24 November 2009 |
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Last week was an update to the stakeholder group for the National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS) which Gemma Donovan, BPSA president attended. NCAS is an NHS service offered as a subset to the National Patient Safety Association. The service assesses clinicians for their ability to perform their professional duties safely where this has been called into question, however professionals can also self-refer themselves for the service. The service was already available for the medical and dental professions but has now been launched for pharmacy as of April this year. The meeting provided an update on how the service has been adapted to the pharmacy environment and the challenges this has thrown up, as well as the uptake of the service so far. It was noted by the president how thorough the assessment process was, taking into account not only the clinical knowledge of pharmacists but also their interaction with the rest of the pharmacy team and patients as well as looking at the pharmacy environment in which they worked and personality type, producing a fully hollistic approach. The stakeholders also received results on a report which had been commissioned by NCAS into pharmacists' health. This provided some very interesting and saddening information around pharmacist health which also coincides with the RPSGB's campaign on workplace pressure. For more information on NCAS and the work that is does, go their website on http://www.ncas.npsa.nhs.uk/home/ |
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Friday, 20 November 2009 |
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On Wednesday 18th November, BPSA President Gemma attended the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Education Committee meeting. The committee is responsible for the accreditation of MPharm degrees and other pharmay team training programmes. At this meeting, accreditation some of the overseas campus schools of pharmacy were discussed, along with looking at the General Pharmaceutical Society's recently published standards including those for education and training of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. There has also been some work looking at the future of preregistration placements and the number of graduates who will be needing placements in order to complete their training. The peak for pharmacy graduates looks to be occurring around 2013. It needs to be a priority for the future that there are enough preregistration placements for those leaving university at this point in a few years. |
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Modernising Pharmacy Careers |
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Saturday, 14 November 2009 |
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This week, Gemma Donovan, BPSA President represented pharmacy students at the Modernising Pharmacy Careers Board in London. The board has been set up as part of Medical Education England to review both the undergraduate and postgraduate paths of pharmacists. The BPSA has already sat on the board for a year and is currently due to make a submission to the undergraduate review stream on student's views on the MPharm and prereg year. Those who have posted on the BPSA forums on this topic will have their views included into the BPSA's submission. More information on the board is currently being compiled to be included as part of the Medical Education England website, so look out for a link to this information soon. |
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National Occupation Shortage List |
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Monday, 02 November 2009 |
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The UK Border Agency, at its Autumn meeting has decided not to reinstate community pharmacists and preregistration trainees onto the national occupation shortage list. Despite evidence from several pharmacy bodies, including the BPSA, it has been deemed that there is not sufficient evidence to keep community pharmacy on the list, however pharmacist roles within the NHS will stay on the list. This means that OSPAP students wishing to undertake their preregistration year may not be eligble for a work permit to complete their training if they wish do do this in community pharmacy. Work permits will however be available to those who want to do their prereg in an NHS hospital. For the Migration Advisory Commitee full report please click here for the UK Border agency website . Pharmacists can be found on page 66 of the report |
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Sunday, 25 October 2009 |
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Monday 19th October saw the new Professional Leadership Body for Pharmacy's stakeholder event at Society headquarters in Lambeth, London. Gemma, BPSA president attended to see how this body is developing. It was a very positive event, with great work already under way to develop a new body for pharmacy. What was particularly good from a student perspective was the emphasis on engaging with students during the development of Local Practice Forums, which will eventually replace the current branch network. There was also a mention of a potential student category within the new professional leadership body and access for students to services being developed. This event was also used by the president to catch up with other key contacts for the BPSA. |
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RB Competition goes to print |
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Tuesday, 20 October 2009 |
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This week, the Reckitt Benckiser Student of the Year competition forms have gone to print. This time we've shaked up the format of the competition, reducing the number of multiple choice questions and adding in some short clinical case studies for students to get their teeth into. The prize is a trip to the IPSF Annual Congress which next year wil be held in Ljunljana, Slovenia. Paper copies of fowms should reach schools of pharmacy at the start of November and the competition will also be available to complete online. |
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Seeking students' views on the MPharm and Prereg |
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Tuesday, 27 October 2009 |
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In the next couple of weeks, the BPSA would like get as many students as possible to discuss what they want from their MPharm and preregistration training, in order to feed back to the modernising pharmacy careers board. This includes everything from subjects which should be included, how students think the MPharm should be taught and assessed, and placements within their training. To get involved, students should sign in to the BPSA website and find the discussion thread on the BPSA forums. We'd love to hear what you have to say! |
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Graduate Conference and Pharmacy Show |
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Sunday, 18 October 2009 |
This Monday saw the BPSA's first Graduate Conference at the Pharmacy Show. Amie our Graduate Officer helped put together a fantastic day. A special thanks also goes to the Pharmacists' Defence Association who sponsor the event. Preregs from all over the country came to the conference and there was a great number of delegates. The interpersonal skills session in the morning seemed to go down well followed by the gathering evidence session in the afternoon ran by Gemma Donovan, BPSA president for the first time. A new addition this year was asking delegates to start writing up the morning session as a piece of evidence to take back to their tutors. The question and answer session in the afternoon featured a selection of very experienced pharmacists with some good questions.
Students also took part in the Pharmacy Show Student Exclusive which was ran by the BPSA. Hopefully this is something that we can offer in future years so that students can continue to access this event and get a taste of the commercial aspects of pharmacy. |
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Thursday, 15 October 2009 |
The most recent meeting of the executive took place in Birmingham on 3rd/4th October. This was also our first executive meeting with our National Representatives. We had around 15 reps attending from all over the country, one of the biggest turnouts we've ever known! It was great to have so many of people there.
On the agenda was our first round of area conferences, which have now been confirmed and all look to be shaping up to be great events.
We also went through a consultation which the BPSA is working on for the area conferences which will is based around the future of the BPSA and our events and services. The reps were especially helpful and highlighted a lot of issues which need resolving. Hopefully we will get all the amendments sorted as well as a podcast ready for the start of area conferences.
We have also realised that we don't have enough information on our representatives and their role on the BPSA website, so we're going to work on getting something up on here soon.
We've also enjoyed a successful round of roadshows thanks to our membership secretary Wes as well as all the exec members who have travelled up and down the country to spread the word of BPSA to first years at all 24 schools of pharmacy. Sunderland school of pharmacy had our biggest number of sign ups on the day.
Overall a successful meeting! Look out for more updates soon... |
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