The decision was made recently by the UKCPA General Committee to provide project funding for individuals or teams wishing to conduct pharmacy research. We are in the process of finalising all the details, including the application process, peer review, and the size of the grants available.

For more information please see the document in our Resources Centre which explains all the benefits of being a NIHR Partner if you have received project funding from UKCPA: http://www.ukcpa.net/resource-centre. This includes access to research support staff, advice on governance of research projects, and free training opportunities.

Call for abstracts: click here.

The GHP and UKCPA invites abstract submissions on topics related to clinical pharmacy practice for presentation, as a poster, at the GHP/UKCPA 8th Joint National Conference. Submissions will be considered under three categories: Research, Audit and Quality Improvement.

Please refer to the UKCPA website: http://www.ukcpa.org for all submission documentation, including the Clinical Pharmacist referencing criteria or contact the UKCPA office: admin@ukcpa.com, Tel: 01162 776999.

Please carefully read through the criteria on the website to decide which description fits your work best. Ensure that your abstract meets ALL the submission criteria, as failure to do so will result in disqualification.

Submissions need to be received no later than 5pm, Tuesday 28th February 2012.

All presenters need to register as delegates and those submitting posters will be advised if their submissions have been accepted.

Posters will be on display in their designated area in the Exhibition Centre and should be put on show on Friday afternoon during registration, and taken down on Saturday evening. Poster viewing will be available throughout the medical exhibition period.

All poster presenters MUST be members of the UKCPA or GHP.

All information is available to download from the UKCPA website: http://www.ukcpa.net/events/conferences/ukcpaghp-8th-national-joint-conference-belfast-may-2012.

Kind regards
Marie Matthews
UKCPA General Manager

GHP/UKCPA 8^th Joint National Conference, 18 – 20 May 2012, Europa Hotel, Belfast: Programme released, registration open!

This event is the pre-eminent annual conference for pharmacists in the NHS led and organised by two pharmacy organisations GHP/UKCPA working in partnership to enhance the learning and development of their members from pre-qualification, post registration and specialisation and for some beyond into post practice or retirement.

We have developed this pre-eminence through a focus on a full and diverse programme both educationally and socially with ample opportunities to network with peers and colleagues in part through the plenaries on a range of national issues that will improve knowledge, interactive workshops that should improve practice and social events that allow more informal interaction and learning.  We are grateful for the support of industry sponsors that allow us to increase your network opportunities, provide greater exposure to changes in healthcare and delivery and ensure we can deliver the conference at an economic price, but I am sure they will accept that their involvement although welcome and vital should not be the core function of a conference. The key feature of this conference is that the presenters are leading practitioners in their field, and thus provide the opportunity to help you to improve and develop your own staff and services.

We anticipate a high turnout for the work sessions due to the excellent quality of presenters, and there are a wide range of topics to suit all, irrespective of interest and experience.  Some sessions will be more popular than others and allocation is on a first come first served basis. But stretch yourself and avoid the crowds – evidence suggests that when faced with continuing education opportunities we tend to choose those we already know something about, whereas we actually learn more from those where initial knowledge is minimal.

The social programme will be no less challenging. The Friday evening soiree will be in-house again this year, so we hope that you will take this opportunity to network socially with your colleagues.

Finally, we are particularly fortunate that this year the conference dinner on Saturday night will in recognition of the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic be held in the Titanic Exhibition Centre.

The 2012 conference promises to be another excellent event and we hope you are able to join us.

To download a copy of the programme, please click here: 8th Joint Conference Programme Overview v10
To download a copy of the registration form, please click here: Registration Form GHP UKCPA 2012 FINAL 
You can return this form by fax, post or by completing, scanning and emailing back to the UKCPA office.  Don’t forget to choose your work sessions and fringe meeting options!
The above documents, more information and any updates about the conference can be found here: http://www.ukcpa.net/events/conferences/ukcpaghp-8th-national-joint-conference-belfast-may-2012

Industry partners and companies interested in exhibiting or sponsoring this conference should contact Marie Matthews, UKCPA General Manager, email: mmatthews@ukcpa.com for more information on the opportunities available.

Best wishes
David Miller, President, GHP
Chris Green, Chair, UKCPA

The results of the election of your General Committee will be announced during the meeting.  The present committee whose term of office expires this year are: 

Duncan McRobbie, Ian Bates, Gillian Cavell, Mark Tomlin

Plus one vacancy

Raymond Guirguis, Frances Akinwunmi and Ryan Hamilton were co-opted to the General Committee until March 31^st 2012.

Members who have terms of office to serve from the 1^st April 2012 with:

1 remaining year are:  Chris Green, Aamer Safdar, Mohamed Rahman, Claire Ellwood

2 remaining years are:  Nuttan Tanna, Stephen Grogan, Sharron Millen

The General Committee is responsible for the management and direction of UKCPA including setting standards, policies and procedures and ensuring all agreed are implemented and maintained. It is held accountable for all that is done in the Association’s name. Its members must guard standards and be forward-looking and creative. 

This is your chance to be actively involved in shaping the future of the Association and indeed your profession, or supporting someone who you think would be suited to the role.

If you would like to know a little more about our General Committee please take a look at our website: http://www.ukcpa.net/about/general-committee.

A list of all current GC members, their day jobs, interests and why they enjoy being part of UKCPA can be found here: http://www.ukcpa.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/GC-members-Nov2011.pdf

We are always on the lookout for new interest in the membership of our General Committee. If you are interested in joining the Committee take a look at this document which tells you what’s in it for you: http://www.ukcpa.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Benefits-of-being-GC-member-NEW.pdf

If you would like to talk to a General Committee member, their  contact details can be found here:  http://www.ukcpa.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/GC-members-Nov2011.pdf

Please contact the office or a current committee member for further information on committee functions and responsibilities if you wish to be nominated.  We would welcome nominations from the membership for new committee members.

Each nominated candidate should produce a 200 word statement to support their nomination.  These nominations should be sent, on the official downloadable and electronic nomination form, (or, if this document is not compatible with your pc, please use the following PDF: GC nomination form 2012 which will need to be completed and faxed or scanned and emailed back to the UKCPA office) with the 200 word statement, to the office at the above address by 10^th March 2012.

We thank you for your support throughout the past year.

Previous attendees have told us this:

The UKCPA Intensive Weekend School, ‘Developing Clinical Practice Skills in Pharmaceutical Care’ will take place at The Portland Hotel by Thistle, Manchester, 23 – 24 March 2012.

Please visit the following page to download the event overview and registration form and the full programme: http://www.ukcpa.net/events/masterclasses.

This course has been running for a number of years now, with great success. 2012 sees the event move from Leeds to Manchester, making it even more accessible!

The content of this course sees regular review, making it even more up to date, exploring current clinical issues, case studies and technologies within pharmacy. This intensive programme of workshops is an ideal introduction and refresher course in pharmaceutical care, making it not only a valuable learning experience for pre-registration students (the course also builds upon the GPhC syllabus for pre registration pharmacy trainees), but also for those pharmacists who are returning to the work place. Delegate participation is always high and the feedback extremely positive.

To aid those who are finding budgets and the current economic climate challenging, the UKCPA has redesigned this event to run over 2 full days, rather than a weekend. This change to the programme means that we are able to reduce accommodation requirements to one night, thus reducing the price of attending this event. In addition to this, we now offer the course on a day delegate package for those pharmacists wishing to organise their own accommodation to fit within their personal/Trust budgets. Due to the nature of the course, delegates should attend both days.

We invite you to register for this event by completing and returning an Intensive Weekend School registration form to the UKCPA address or by faxing to 0116 2776272. Scanned and emailed copies are also accepted, please email to: admin@ukcpa.com. All registrations will be acknowledged within 7 – 10 days.

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact the UKCPA office.

Please feel free to forward this notification on to any other colleagues/departments who may be interested in this course.

Sharron was instrumental in outstanding achievements for the UKCPA HAT Group, and for the pharmacy profession, over the last two years. The Group has been working closely with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society to develop key workstreams on VTE prophylaxis on behalf of the profession. Sharron was invited to speak at the All Party Parliamentary Thrombosis Committee meeting at the House of Commons in November 2011 on the role of pharmacists in supporting the multidisciplinary team in delivering VTE activity. The Group has been involved in presentations and meetings with the All Party Thrombosis Group, the Thrombosis Forum and the Kings Exemplar Network, working in conjunction with the Department of Health.

The Group has presented nationally and internationally and its committee members are prolific in publishing their research, activities and expert opinions.

Of her role as UKCPA HAT Chair, Sharron says, “It has been a fantastic and rewarding experience and I recommend it to anyone.  Taking on a role such as this is a daunting task and I am very grateful to the members of the HAT committee, HAT membership and all the stakeholders for the help, encouragement and support that I have received. I wish Barbara all the best luck in her new role as HAT Chair and I look forward to supporting her on her journey.”

Barbara Clark says, “I am honoured to accept the role of Chair of the HAT Group. I would like to thank Sharron for all her hard work, commitment and superb contribution over the last two years. I am very much looking forward to the challenge ahead.”

UKCPA are delighted to welcome Barbara to the organisation and look forward to working closely with her. We are also hugely grateful to Sharron Millen for her outstanding achievements with the HAT Group.

The full press release can be found here.

Mark says, “It has been my privilege and honour to serve as Chair for the last few years. The Group and Committee are dedicated, talented and very hard working. I know Greg will work well with the committee, drawing on his considerable energy to co-ordinate and develop the group’s activities which will surely significantly grow in the future.”

Cathrine McKenzie, a member of the Critical Care Group says, “On behalf of the Critical Care Group, I extend my thanks to Mark for all the hard work and superb contribution he has made to the Group. We welcome Greg Barton, a highly committed critical care pharmacist, who is more than capable of taking on the Group and will deliver us to an even higher table.”

Greg began to specialise in critical care pharmacy in 2004 and also has experience in burns, emergency medicine and palliative care. He has been Chair of the Cheshire and Mersey Critical Care Network Pharmacists group since 2006, is an independent prescriber and hopes to begin work on a PhD in the near future. He says “I am honoured that the Critical Care Group invited me to join the team and act as its Chair. I’m looking forward to being involved in and learning from the rest of the group.”

UKCPA are delighted to welcome Greg to the organization and look forward to working with him. We are also hugely grateful to Mark Borthwick for his outstanding achievements with the Critical Care Group.

For the full press release see here.

The report and assessment instruments were written by Prof David Taylor and Dr Jennifer Gill at the UCL School of Pharmacy, and Dr Roger Knaggs, Chair of the UKCPA Pain Group and Associate Professor of the School of Pharmacy University of Nottingham.

Pain related disorders cost this country in excess of £10 billion a year, over and above the unrecorded personal costs involved. Increased investment in specialist services is needed. But the problem this often neglected field presents is far too big for specialist care alone to resolve, and persistent pain is a condition in its own right. Enhanced pharmacy based services could help more of us respond to pain in timely and effective ways, and reduce the prevalence of persistent pain.

Pharmacists have responsibilities for the safe and effective use of both prescribed and self purchased medicines, which in areas like pain management also requires understanding of the value of non-drug treatments and care.

Examples of improved pharmacy services include:

• increasing the use of structured pain assessments in the community;
• providing self care support, including better protection against the harmful or ineffective use of ‘minor’ analgesics and informing public awareness of what pains are best accepted and ‘worked through’, and those which need prompt relief; and
• facilitating access to psychological and other non-pharmaceutical pain care providers, and the use of computer based service.

Please see: Awards calendar brief FINAL

Further details for each award and an invitation to submit work will be announced on the Awards page of the website.

Should you have any queries regarding UKCPA awards, please do not hesitate to contact Marie Matthews (email: mmatthews@ukcpa.com) who’ll be happy to help.

[Pictured: Dr Gill Hawksworth MBE, winner of the UKCPA Lifetime Achievement Award 2011]

This event is sure to benefit students, pharmacists returning to the work place after a career break or overseas pharmacists new to clinical practice.

Please visit the following page to download the event overview and registration form and the full programme: http://www.ukcpa.net/events/masterclasses.

This course has been running for a number of years now, with great success. 2012 sees the event move from Leeds to Manchester, making it even more accessible!

The content of this course sees regular review, making it even more up to date, exploring current issues, case studies and technologies within pharmacy. This intensive programme of workshops is an ideal introduction and refresher course in pharmaceutical care, making it not only a valuable learning experience for pre registration students (the course also builds upon the GPhC syllabus for pre registration pharmacy trainees), but also for those pharmacists who are returning to the work place. Delegate participation is always high and the feedback extremely positive.

To aid those who are finding budgets and the current economic climate challenging, the UKCPA has redesigned this event to run over 2 full days, rather than a weekend. This change to the programme means that we are able to reduce accommodation requirements to one night, thus reducing the price of attending this event. In addition to this, we now offer the course on a day delegate package for those pharmacists wishing to organise their own accommodation to fit within their personal/Trust budgets. Due to the nature of the course, delegates should attend both days.

We invite you to register for this event by completing and returning an Intensive Weekend School registration form, which is available on page 2 of: http://www.ukcpa.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Intensive-Weekend-flyer-Nov2011-2-sides-v3.pdf, to the UKCPA address or by faxing to 0116 2776272. Scanned and emailed copies are also accepted, please email to: admin@ukcpa.com. All registrations will be acknowledged within 7 – 10 days.

Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact the UKCPA office.

Please feel free to forward this notification on to any other colleagues/departments who may be interested in this course.