Regional Meetings of the IPU begin on 21 October and run for several weeks across the country. The meetings provide members with an ideal opportunity to discuss issues, air their views and to be briefed on all current issues since the AGM earlier this year. It is also an election year to the national committees of the IPU.
The elections to the four national committees take place at each of the Regional Meetings. Each committee is made up of a representative from each region, as well as other members who are co-opted onto the committees. New voices are always welcome to get the right mix of experience and new ideas, and it can be a rewarding experience for those involved.
The Executive Committee is responsible for governance of the IPU, and the other committees (CPC, PCC and EPC) report to the Executive. The Executive Committee oversees the implementation of the IPU’s strategy.
The mission of the CPC is to serve and support community pharmacists in their practices and to promote and expand their role as pharmacists by continually developing professional, ethical, business and technological ideals and standards.
The Pharmacy Contractors’ Committee looks after all matters pertaining to the public health services as they concern community pharmacy and in particular those Community Pharmacy Proprietors who are contractors to the HSE. This committee has a particular responsibility for negotiating with the Department of Health and the HSE.
The EPC deals with matters of relevance to the employee pharmacist members of the IPU. Members of the EPC are also co-opted onto the Executive Committee and CPC.
If you are interested in putting your name forward for election and would like some further information, please contact the Committee Chairs, details are below.
| Committee | Chairperson |
| Executive | Tom Murray — president@ipu.ie.could |
| CPC | Elaine Clarke — elainetclarke@hotmail.com |
| PCC | Kathy Maher — kathy@duleekpharmacy.com |
| EPC | Tadhg Scanlan — tscanlan@ipumail.ie |
The dates and venues of the Regional Meetings are set out below. All meetings will commence at 8.00pm.
| Region | Venue | Date | |
| North East | Ardboyne Hotel Navan, Co. Meath | 21 | October |
| West | Knock House Hotel Ballyhaunis Road, Knock, Co. Mayo | 5 | November |
| North West | The Central Hotel, The Diamond, Donegal Town | 6 | November |
| South East | Newpark Hotel Castlecomer Rd, Kilkenny | 10 | November |
| South | The Heights Hotel Cork Rd, Killarney | 13 | November |
| Dublin | Clayton Hotel Liffey Valley, Fonthill Rd, Dublin 22 | 19 | November |
| Mid West | Limerick Castletroy Park Hotel, Dublin Rd, Limerick | 20 | November |
| Midlands | Tullamore Park Hotel O Moore Street, Tullamore, Co. Offaly | 24 | November |
I have served as Vice Chair of the EPC committee for the past two years. It has been a brilliant experience to work with passionate, energetic and committed committee members. The EPC serves the needs and interests of employees. Today in Ireland, ensuring employee pharmacists are well represented at committee level is so important. The committee works on various issues that affect our profession. We also collaborate with other IPU committees and represent employees on all committees in the IPU.
The current EPC is ambitious about its role within the IPU and how it can contribute with even more impact and relevance. This is the first time the EPC have dedicated time and effort into developing a strategy for employee members of the Union. We identified two critical areas to focus on — the need to support professional autonomy and the need for an employee value proposition that employees and employers can work towards. We have identified long-term goals that will transcend the lifetime of this current committee, and we have also identified objectives and short-term actions that the committee has worked hard to deliver within our term of office. As a committee we are proud to have been trusted with setting up the Employer Employee Forum (EEF), leading on from the PSI Workforce Intelligence Report. At our most recent meeting, we received the final report of the EEF from independent Chair Mary Rose Burke. It is a fantastic report and great starting point for ensuring a sustainable engaged workforce that will contribute to helping our sector deliver future dynamic healthcare hubs in community pharmacies. We have also really focused on supports and benefits for employee members — improving access to supports via the website, HR supports including contracts, interview tips, FTP supports and VHI EAP. We also ran our first social media campaign as a committee, highlighting the role and strategy of the EPC.
The committee is really enhanced by the attendance of IPSA members at our meetings. All committee members put a lot of work into student engagement. Student nights were run by committee members in UCC, RCSI and Trinity highlighting how the IPU can support our student members. We were also delighted to sponsor Twin Net, an exchange program between Irish and Greek pharmacy students. We also continued the work on mental health and wellbeing supports, including supporting the violence and aggression training development that the previous committee started.
Being part of the EPC committee has given me a deeper insight into the national and professional challenges and opportunities that we face as pharmacists. Our committee has great diversity, experience, age and job roles and I have loved connecting with many colleagues who share my passion for community pharmacy. The work of the Employee Committee on employee wellbeing was particularly interesting. I really encourage you to join an IPU committee and contribute to the future of community pharmacy in Ireland. You won’t regret it.
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