UK Psychiatric Pharmacy Group Questions to RPSGB Council Candidates, March-April 2005

The following was sent at the end of March to all the candidates in the RPSGB elections for April 2005:

"The United Kingdom Psychiatric Pharmacy group is a specialist interest group with over 500 pharmacists with an interest in mental health as members. To encourage interest in the RPSGB Council Elections and ensure our members are able cast their vote in an informed way we ask all candidates to respond to 3 questions:

How do you view the specialisation of pharmacists within clinical areas such as mental health?
How do you see accreditation of pharmacists through the College of Mental Health Pharmacists (CMHP) achieving professional recognition through the RPSGB?
What roles do you see in the new contract for community pharmacists in helping patients with mental health problems? "

Gill Hawksworth

1. Specialisation has been highlighted through the work of the policy unit at RPSGB on competencies and also through the work on agenda for change. The UKPPG is an excellent example of a specialist area that encourages professional development and accreditation. It is with your group in mind that I frequently used examples during my development work on independent prescribing with the DOH.I have worked hard over the past two years as lead at the society on this and I am pleased that that the consultation is now available for UKPPG to comment on and produce the evidence that mental health pharmacists will be within the first cohort of independent prescribers. Issues of diagnosis and formulary need to be considered by your group in your response.

2. The register now recognisers accredited prescribers. Work is ongoing on the competences required for undergraduate, pre-registration and post graduate pharmacists, which includes a move to clinical placements such as the medical model. This paves the way for a structured post graduate progression in the future. The diplomas, certificates and post graduate courses developed by your group are once again an excellent example for other disciplines to follow. Membership of the college of mental health pharmacists is another example of reaching excellence in your clinical area similar to the royal colleges in medicine, accreditation process. This may possibly in the future be recognised on the register.

3. Community Pharmacists within the new pharmacy contract may provide locally enhanced services in mental health in partnership with GP's to achieve the QOF's in the new GP contract. Essential services provides the opportunity to help patients with sign posting to specialist services and for those assessed to require compliance support, CP's can provide this service. Advanced services will address medicine management issues in the medicine use review and adherence to Nice guidelines/formularies locally.

Gill Hawksworth

Jonathan Buisson

My experience of mental health pharmacy is confined to a four-week period working at St Crispin's hospital, Northampton, during my pre-reg in what increasingly appears to be the dim and distant past. However, I will try and answer your group's questions. Please circulate these answers as you see fit.

1. How do you view the specialisation of pharmacists within clinical areas such as mental health?

I believe that specialisation within recognised areas is a positive move for pharmacists. Linked with developments such as independent prescribing, it should allow pharmacists, particularly those working in hospitals, to reach consultant status. The key thing will be to ensure common standards of specialisation. What I mean by this apparent contradiction in terms is ensuring that defined levels of specialisation (in say mental health or HIV pharmacy) are seen as being equivalent, and that these levels match the levels within other health care professions, especially medicine. There also need to be clear steps between the levels and appropriate training or experience to justify these steps.

2. How do you see accreditation of pharmacists through the College of Mental Health Pharmacists (CMHP) achieving professional recognition through the RPSGB?

I believe that the Society will have a role in defining the different steps or levels referred to above in conjunction with the CMHP and the other pharmacy colleges. This would allow the CMHP to give accreditations that can be recognised by other pharmacy bodies and by employers and the NHS. There may also be a role for the Society in linking these accreditations to the Register (in the way that supplementary prescribers are annotated).

3. What roles do you see in the new contract for community pharmacists in helping patients with mental health problems?

The new contracts allow primary care organisations to commission enhanced services in response to the identified pharmaceutical needs of patients in their areas. These needs could include mental health problems. Services such as supervised administration of medicines have been suggested. In the future there is likely to be development of "pharmacists with specialist interests" and this could include mental health as a specialty. I am sure that more services will be developed as the new contract beds down and PCOs get used to the commissioning process.

I do not claim to be an expert in mental health pharmacy. However, I hope these answers demonstrate at least an awareness of the challenges you face. I ask your members to vote for Jonathan Buisson and, if they live in England, to also remember to vote for me on the smaller constituency ballot paper.

Jonathan Buisson, MRPharmS

Council Election Candidate

NHS Strategy Manager, Moss Pharmacy

Fern House, 53-55 High Street

Feltham, Middlesex TW13 4HU

Valerie Turner

Your questions were interesting and I hope I have given a reasonable answer to them.

1. With increasingly powerful medicines coming onto the market, specialist knowledge is going to become even more necessary in all clinical areas including mental health. A specialist clinical pharmacist should be a key member of a care team in order to achieve the best clinical outcome for an individual.

2. I feel that if a pharmacist has successfully completed an accredited course through any college relevant to pharmacy then it should be recognised by the RPSGB without the need for further repetition through the current CPD format.

3. The new contract offers increased opportunities for community pharmacists to help patients with mental health problems through the development of disability services and medicines use reviews. This, however, will only be achieved once the pharmacist becomes a recognised member of an individuals care team and is kept fully informed of all aspects of treatment.

Thank you for this opportunity to give my opinions on these subjects

Yours sincerely

Valerie Turner MRPharmS