Supporting, encouraging and empowering clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working in primary care practice in the Midlands

NEWS

ABOUT US

The Midlands Practice Pharmacy Network (MPPN) exists to support, encourage and empower clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working in primary care practice in the Midlands.

Founded and managed by local pharmacists, the group provides opportunities for members to network, share best practice, take advantage of professional training programmes and collaborate in service evaluation, practice research and promote outcomes from pharmacists-led clinics.

Our aims are:

To help define and raise the professional role of clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians working in primary care in the Midlands.
To support the professional development of our members.
To clearly demonstrate and communicate the professional value of our members in clinical practice.
To bring together and foster the sharing of best practice amongst our members.
To engage with and cultivate productive relationships with professional colleagues, commissioners and other stakeholders.

The Midlands Practice Pharmacy Network is a not for profit organisation.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

FROM THE MPPN

Upcoming Events in 2020

Abdominal Assessment - 12th Feb 2020

Practical Neurology - 29th April 2020

Cardiovascular Update - 19th May 2020

Dermatology - 11th June 2020

Influenza Vaccination - 16th Sep 2020

Mental Health - 10th Nov 2020

ABDOMINAL

ASSESSMENT

12th February 2020

Happy New Year! The MPPN’s first workshop of 2020 − Abdominal Assessment for Clinical Pharmacists − is now available for booking. The session on the 12th February 2020 will provide you with the opportunity to develop and practice your abdominal assessment skills, history taking and an understanding of a range of gastrointestinal and urinary tract conditions.

Key sessions will also be given over to the physical examination of volunteer patients allowing you to undertake an examination of the abdomen and identify key structures.

We have 36 spaces available FREE to MPPN members. The workshop will be held at Walsall Football Club Limited, The Banks's Stadium, West Midlands WS1 4SA

Information

UNDERSTANDING BIOCHEMICAL & HAEMATOLGICAL TESTS

19 November 2019

"Keep up the excellent work"

"Very interactive"

"Case studies were extremely useful"

"Really enjoyed the session"

"Excellent support materials"

Thirty nine MPPN members from across the Midlands attended the workshop – delivered by Dr Hana Morrissey and Prof. Patrick Ball of the School of Pharmacy, University of Wolverhampton.

Sessions were delivered to help pharmacists:

Understand and interpret the biochemical & haematological tests and biomarkers most commonly used in clinical practice.
Evaluate the clinical significance of values outside the reference range.
Relate abnormal electrolyte levels to drug therapy.
Apply their learning to practice in order to manage patients safely.

PAEDIATRIC MINOR ILLNESS ASSESMENT

2 October 2019

Over 40 delegates attended the MPPN’s training workshop on "Paediatric Minor Illness / Assessment" on Wednesday 2nd October 2019.

Training covered: a practical approach to paediatric assessment and the management of: upper respiratory tract infection, cough/noisy breathing, vomiting & feeding problems in babies, etc

PRE-REG PHARMACISTS IN GENERAL PRACTICE 2021/22

Information for Prospective Host Sites

Starting in 2019, support has been provided to enable pre-registration pharmacists to undertake placements in general practice as part of their training year. Placements for trainees commencing in 2020 have already been agreed and the NHS is extending and expanding the programme for 2021.

As part of the 2021-22 roll-out, Health Education England has provided information for prospective sites who are interested in hosting a pre-registration trainee.

More information can be found here.

WHAT WE DO

TRAINING & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

A key aim of the MPPN is to support the professional development of our members - particularly those who are exclusively contracted to general practice and may not have routine access to centrally provided training programmes.
The topics covered are driven by the needs of our membership. Each member has the opportunity to identify which areas of professional development they are most interested in and we do our best to deliver training on the most popular topics. Since our first workshop in November 2017 we have run eleven 'free' events including "Understanding and Interpreting Biochemical and Haematological Tests", "Essential Dermatology - Everyday Skin Management for Primary Care", "ENT & Respiratory Assessment", "Paediatric Assessment" and "Flu Vaccination".
If you have any suggestions for future training and would like to offer support in organising our workshops please do get in touch.

Get In Touch

RESEARCH & SERVICE EVALUATION

We believe it's important to understand, define and raise the profile of the practice pharmacist's and pharmacy technician's role. In order to illustrate and communicate the professional value of our members in clinical practice we are always on the lookout for research and service evaluation projects that demonstrate an impact on patient care, colleagues' workload and meaningful outcomes.

With support from Keele University, we have already published an 'Evaluation of a pharmacist-led telephone triage service in a GP Practice' (Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 25 (S2). pp. 7-43) and results from an audit of the management of sore throat by a pharmacist prescriber have been presented. Ongoing work includes evaluating the impact of pharmacist-led diabetes clinics in the Midlands and a survey amongst members to better understand their professional opinions and experiences.

If you have any ideas for evaluation projects that relate to the role of pharmacists and technicians in practice we would welcome your suggestions.

Get In Touch

HOW TO JOIN

MEMBERSHIP

We currently have approximately 140 registered members of the MPPN.

Membership is open to clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in the Midlands region of the UK who:

are directly employed or contracted with a general practice, and/or
have an IP qualification or are actively working towards an IP qualification and are actively considering a role working in general practice

(Pharmacy technicians not currently employed or contracted with a general practice but who are actively considering a role in general practice are also eligible for membership.)

The annual membership fee for 2019 is £25 commencing on the 1st of January 2019 to the 31st December 2019; membership to be renewed annually.

If you're interested in joining please download the application form and then email to Simon (simon@pds-keele.co.uk).

Members’ personal data will not be shared with any third parties and will only be used to support MPPN activities and processes (for example, circulation of materials and invitations to events) and to comply with legal and good governance obligations.

Download application form

COMMITTEE, CONSTITUTION & SPONSORSHIP

COMMITTEE

Chair, Bharat Patel, Clinical Pharmacist, Rushall Medical Centre
Vice-Chair, Hemant Patel, Clinical Pharmacist, Umbrella Group

The MPPN Committee comprises 7 members: a Chair, Vice-Chair, Secretary and professional leads who take responsibility for areas such as training, service evaluation and membership. We meet every two months.
All members are invited to submit agenda items for discussion and we welcome approaches from any member who wishes to join the Committee.

Contact Committee

CONSTITUTION

The MPPN is an unincorporated, not-for-profit association. Our constitution sets out a series of agreed rules for the management and operation of the MPPN.

Constitution

SPONSORSHIP

The MPPN welcomes appropriate sponsorship and joint working opportunities with commercial organisations such as pharmaceutical companies.

We will work with commercial organisations where the proposed relationship and/or activity being supported:

is consistent with the our professional aims and our principles regarding integrity, independence and transparency
has been approved in advance in accordance with the MPPN's internal assessment processes

To date, we have received support from several pharmaceutical companies who have had exhibition stand space at our training workshops. This enables us to provide training free-of-charge to our members. None of the companies have had any input into the content of the programmes; and have had no involvement in choosing, briefing or paying the speakers.