In his Pharmacy Show keynote speech, Nigel Clarke, Chair of the General Pharmaceutical Council, announced a review of the GPhC’s Conduct, Ethics and Performance Standards.
Speaking at the Pharmacy Show on Sunday, Mr Clarke called for a debate about professionalism to be at the heart of the review of core regulatory standards. He said:
“The events at Mid-Staffordshire Foundation Trust in England, the Vale of Leven in Scotland and the hospitals in Port Talbot and Bridgend showed a failure in governance and regulation. But more starkly, they showed what happens when clinicians and those providing care forget what it means to be a professional; when they fail to show professionalism. It shows what happens when professionals, managers, and leaders are not putting patients first.
“We want our Standards for Conduct, Ethics and Performance to sit at the heart of what you do as professionals. In light of the increased demands on pharmacy and the pace of change, today I am pleased to tell you we have begun a review of these core standards.
“We will shortly be starting a wide ranging programme of engagement with all our stakeholders to ask some fundamental questions of you, the pharmacy professions, about what you see as professionalism in action; and how you think our standards best reflect this. We want this to be an open discussion, covering not just the things we can all agree on, but also the difficult issues pharmacy professionals face on a day to day basis. To demonstrating professionalism when facing work place pressures and targets, to managing occasions where personal beliefs can appear to conflict with your clinical roles.
“I want everyone in pharmacy to have an opportunity to contribute. So, we have set ourselves the task of engaging with the profession on an even larger scale than has gone before. I would encourage everyone to become involved.”