The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) has published its performance review of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland as part of its annual review of the nine statutory health regulators across the UK. The performance review assesses whether each regulator is meeting the PSA’s Standards of Good Regulation. The PSA has now confirmed that the Pharmaceutical Society NI met all 24 Standards of Good Regulation for 2016/17. The standards cover: Guidance & Standards, Education & Training, Fitness to Practise and Registration.
Reflecting on the performance review, Dr Jim Livingstone, President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland said:
“We are delighted with this Performance Review outcome and especially the fact that we have now met all 24 of the PSA’s Standards of Good Regulation for two years in a row. Our performance should give the public assurance that we are doing the right things to protect patients from potential harm and to uphold the reputation of the pharmacy profession in Northern Ireland and we are doing them well. This outcome is testimony to the hard work of everyone in the organisation and I would like to congratulate them.
“However we cannot, be complacent. Recent reports and headlines demonstrate the importance of proactive and effective regulation, working in partnership with healthcare professionals to ensure an open and honest culture in the NHS, which is primarily focused on patient safety. This is vitally important in order to maintain public trust in healthcare professionals and the health and social care service in general. As a Council we will therefore continue to demand high standards of ourselves and assess the performance of the organisation against our Corporate Strategy and the challenging strategic objectives we have set.
Trevor Patterson, Chief Executive of the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland, commented:
“We are very pleased with this result, however, we recognise that there are areas the PSA has identified where they expect further progress to be made. We will focus our energies on ensuring we deliver on these and on our Corporate Strategy – always maintaining our primary focus of public safety”.
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Notes:
The full Professional Standards Authority performance review of the Pharmaceutical Society NI can be found here: www.professionalstandards.org.uk/publications/performance-review-detail/performance-review-psni-2016-17