Our President’s October blog is out…

October 2022
UK Commission on Pharmacy Professional Leadership (PPL)meeting
On October 10th 2022 Mr Nathan Burley (President) and Prof. Roisín O’Hare (Immediate Past President) met with members of the commission. We expressed our support for the work being undertaken while also noting our disappointed at the lack of invitation to form part of the commission proper. We welcomed the meeting as a direct line for GHP to communicate our collective views into the PPL work.
During the meeting, it was acknowledged by David Webb, Prof. Jane Dacre, and Nigel Clarke that GHP have led in the area of Pharmacy terms and conditions (which fundamentally underpins the workforce and profession as a whole) for pharmacists for decades, and that whatever the outcome of the commission, they did not intend for the position of GHP to be altered. They recognised the importance of a professional union such as GHP as a sounding board for practice and professional development, and could see a strong role for our organisation in the future of Pharmacy practice.
We described and explained the themes and content of our response to the PPL call for evidence which is available here:

https://www.ghp.org.uk/ppl-ghp

We reinforced our concerns around the notion of creating an overarching leadership body for the profession which we believe carries material risks, which include lack of room for opposing discourse, creation of an echo chamber, and instalment of familiar faces and names with a resulting lack of diversity.

We took the opportunity to highlight that membership of professional leadership bodies or organisations should have direct tangible benefit for members and should not cause significant impact to individuals’ finances, particularly given the cost of ongoing cost of the living crisis. It was also agreed that the output of the UK Leadership commission would not be guided by any one body or organisation in a disproportionate nature and we were reassured steps have been taken so that is not the case.

We maintain our commitment to transparency and as there will be further meetings, you as our membership are invited to provide your thoughts on the work of the commission and its task and finish groups through usual channels such as on Twitter or contacting members of our National Operational Professional Committee (council) directly, including the president at president@ghp.org.uk