The chemist and druggist, 18/25. December 2010 (issue 6778)

CPD review sees 82% getting 'excellent' score, says GPhC Regulator reveals 98 per cent of pharmacists met or exceeded CPD standards Hannah Flynn h a n n a h. f ly n n@u bm.co n i Almost 98 per cent of pharmacists have met or exceeded the expected standards when submitting their CPD for review by the regulator, the GPhChas told C+D. The Council said of the more than 8,000 records reviewed in the first year of the process to July 2010, 82 per cent achieved an 'excellent' score, and a further 16 per cent were rated as 'good'. 'Excellent' ratings were given to pharmacists meeting 75 per cent or more of good practice criteria, and 'good' scores to those meeting 50-74 per cent. Less than 1 per cent of registrants, 73 in total, were referred for non- submission, though only one case is so far set to be heard by the GPhC. People who have been referred for non-submission are given a chance to make up the deficiency, but if they fail to do this, they will be automatically removed from the register, GPhC post-registration manager Janet Flint told C+D. Sixty-five registrants removed Some pharmacists might not be making best use of their consultation rooms, the Department of Health's community pharmacy tsar has told C+D. Contractors could look to use the rooms to provide ancillary services such as podiatry, Jonathan Mason suggested. He was commenting on the decision by Sainsbury's to allow doctors to run medical surgeries from its pharmacy consultation rooms for up to 20 hour per week. He told C+D: "It is a concern some pharmacists may not be making best use of their consultation rooms." He said he was worried Sainsbury's service could be seen as pharmacists encroaching on CPs' territory and added: "Pharmacy should focus on delivering high- quality pharmaceutical services rather than part-time GP services. I would rather see pharmacists working with local health and social themselves from the register after their CPD was called for review, and 19 cases have been referred to the fitness to practise board due to health concerns. These health concerns were either reported to the GPhC or became evident when registrants were contacted regarding their CPD records, the GPhC told C+D. "Fitness care providers to offer consultation rooms for ancillary services." If doctors were going to offer services from pharmacies, Mr Mason suggested private services such as for erectile dysfunction could be useful, delivered from a standard consultation room when other access to GPs was limited. John D'Arcy, managing director at to practise will deal with this as any other health problem We will ask them for a medical report," Ms Flint said. The GPhC is currently consulting on its CPD record procedures and the deadline for responses is February 7. Due to the cost incurred by processing paper records, Ms Flint Numark, agreed empty consultation rooms were not desirable. Very few consultation rooms would be in continuous use, he told C+D, adding: "Space is money so the space lying idle is not ideal " ZS/MR Doctors in dispensaries: friends or foes? See analysis, page 12 Mi 11 said the regulator was considering introducing a charge for records not completed online. "We might introduce a charge for paper records, as those who are submitting online are subsidising everyone else, so we are thinking about it," she said. Of records so far reviewed, 87 per cent were submitted electronically, the GPhC reported Plan need for NHS savings The government must come up with a "credible plan" to make the NHS efficiency savings it has promised, the House of Commons Health Committee has warned The government's plans would test the NHS to the limit, chair of the committee Stephen Dorrell said. And he warned such change was unprecedented. "We do not believe that the government is providing a clear enough narrative on its vision of how these savings are to be made," the committee said in its report on public expenditure. An efficiency saving of 4 per cent, four years running was required, Mr Dorrell said. "There is no precedent for efficiency gain on this scale in the history of the NHS, nor has any precedent yet been found of any healthcare system anywhere in the world doing anything similar." ZS Sainsbury's decision to allow CPs to run surgeries from its consultation rooms is dividing debate. Read the analysis on p12 Empty consultation rooms concern