Danielle Barron attended the PSI’s Council Meeting of 20 March, which was notable for its re-appointment of the President Katherine Morrow, and the election of a new Vice-President, Denis O’Driscoll. Approval was also granted at the meeting for the removal of the mandatory adaptation period for TCQR applicants.
Addressing the Council during the election for the role of President and Vice-President, Katherine Morrow said in the past 12 months she had striven to be innovative while also remaining true to the core values of the PSI. Ms Morrow was duly re-elected as President. Denis O’Driscoll was elected as Vice-President, after he beat out Mark Jordan in the ballot. Mr O’Driscoll said his experience as a superintendent and liaison pharmacist had given him the experience to know what the profession wants, and how to keep the public safe.
The meeting proper started with the delivery of the Registrar’s report by Joanne Kissane, who firstly congratulated the President and Vice-President on their appointments. She then outlined the current proposed phases of work arising from the Expert Taskforce to Support the Expansion of the Role of Pharmacy; work is ongoing to implement the recommendation for pharmacists to be empowered to extend prescriptions, while the Taskforce is due to deliver its recommendations concerning the next steps to empower pharmacists to prescribe within their scope of practice by the beginning of July.
Ms Kissane also noted that, as a result of this ongoing evolution and taking the legislative amendments into account, the guidelines on the Counselling and Medicines Therapy Review in the Supply of Prescribed Medicinal Products from a Retail Pharmacy Business, have been updated. She explained that the guidance had undergone, “significant internal review” and had been approved for public consultation at the April meeting of the Regulatory and Professional Policy Committee (RPPC). The public consultation, which took place between mid-April and mid-May, elicited 170 responses to the online survey as well as three separate direct emails. A focus group with 20 members of the PSI pharmacist panel was also held, with the intention of gathering a “diverse group of pharmacists and range of roles for their insight into the update to the guidelines”. This feedback was carefully considered and incorporated into the guidelines, and Ms Kissane noted that other supports such as an FAQ on prescription extension are being prepared. The addition of new content to those guidelines on prescription extension is, “intended to be supportive and enabling rather than prescriptive”, noted the Registrar.
The Registrar also offered an update on proposed amendments to the TCQR policy, as the Council were being asked to consider the removal of the mandatory adaptation period from the revised TCQR route, following legal advice. The revised policy, which was adopted in 2019, did not include the mandatory adaptation period — this was added later with the publication of the operationalisation document in 2022. Ms Kissane explained the stark rise in applications received via the TCQR in recent years; from 2015-2019, there were an average of 24 applications per year, while this jumped to 145 applications on average in 2022 and 2023. This year is on course to exceed that number, with 84 applications already received. These figures do not include applications from the UK, she added.
The goal of the mandatory adaptation period was to address identified deficiencies, but recent legal advice was that it would leave the Council open to challenges on the grounds of discrimination, Ms Kissane explained. Council member John Given suggested that the PSI could look to other professions and how they have managed similarly steep increases in applications, such as radiographers.
Pharmacist Council member Mark Jordan had a query regarding the schedule of meetings of the Medicines Criticality Assessment Group. Dan Burns, Head of Strategic Policy, Research and Communication with the PSI, explained that this group is only convened at the request of the HPRA when a high impact medicine shortage is imminent or ongoing; for example, the most recent was in relation to the food supplement Pabrinex, of which there will be a worldwide shortage in September. The group discusses the impact of the shortage and decides on clinical alternatives, he told the meeting. Mr Jordan asked if the PSI could have more input considering the ongoing shortages of many medicines, or if there could be more regular meetings given the risks this poses, but Mr Burns noted that there are other activities related to medicines shortages and this group has a particular purpose.
The Registrar also delivered a brief update on the implementation of the Service Plan for 2024, noting that work on the CPD model for pharmaceutical assistants has been delayed slightly, but this should revert to green by the end of the year, once procurement is completed.
The Council also considered a request for approval of the PSI’s 2025-2028 draft strategy, which is to be submitted for public consultation. President Morrow noted that Council will see the strategy again in October before the finalised version goes to the Minister for Health.
Council Member Ann McGarry asked if the decision to exclude the section with the PSI’s values was intentional; Ms Kissane explained that key stakeholders, as well as the PSI internally, had considered the values and decided that they required no changes as currently articulated, hence they were not included in the draft to be sent for public consultation. Council member Richard Hammond expressed his opinion that the decision on the retention of the old values as such should have been provided for public consultation.
A number of comments criticised the language used in the draft strategy — Dr Paula Barry Walsh called it “clunky and hard to read”, while Ms McGarry suggested the lay public might not understand the meaning of phrases such as “standards-based regulation” and recommended a “plain English” approach.
Both the President and the Registrar noted that the public consultation would hopefully provide that type of feedback, in terms of whether the public understands what the PSI does, and what it’s going to do. Ms Kissane agreed there had been an element of writer’s block but she and other members of the subgroup who had worked on the draft strategy said they believed this feedback showed the strategy is now ready to go to the public for consultation: “Perhaps we haven’t got it right yet and your feedback suggests we haven’t”, commented Ms Kissane. Pharmacist member Emily Kelly said she believes the strategy is at a good point to go to the public, “and get the feedback needed to get it from this point to a version that resonates with the public”.
In Gráinne Power’s absence, the report to Council from the Business Transformation Project Programme Board was delivered by Ms Barry Walsh. She noted the budget is “by and large on track” and they had completed the request for tender.
Ann McGarry then gave the report to Council from the Performance and Resources Committee, noting they had had two meetings since she had last reported to Council. One concerned the NIS2 directive and having sought legal advice and also liaising with the National Cybersecurity Centre, the position is that things will become more certain when the heads of Bill are published this summer. In relation to the treasury management policy review, Ms McGarry explained the Committee had been given a presentation from Goodbodys on risk appetite and that their expert opinion was that the current policy was “quite prescriptive and limiting”. Council granted approval for updated PSI Bank signatories and also for the management accounts to the end of March 2024. Approval was also granted for the PSI Climate Action Roadmap.
The removal of the mandatory adaptation period from the revised TCQR route was discussed earlier in the meeting as part of the Registrar’s report. A report was then later presented to Council from the Regulatory and Professional Policy Committee by Rory O’Donnell, who said the Committee is recommending approval of the amendment to the revised TCQR, namely the removal of the mandatory adaptation period. Geraldine Campbell commented that it seemed “a very sensible approach” and everyone was in consensus, and approval was granted. Mr O’Donnell also sought approval from Council of the ePortfolio Review Policy 2024/2025, noting that no changes had been proposed, and approval was duly granted. His final request was for approval from Council of the updated Regulation 9 Guidance; Mr O’Donnell noted that the requested clarity had been added and the RCCP is happy to now recommend the Council’s approval — this was duly given.
Council member Joan Peppard commented that the decision that everything is notifiable within seven days would “generate a huge amount of email traffic” but it was noted that this notification doesn’t have to be formal — it could just be a mention on the phone.
The final item was the report to Council from the Audit & Risk Committee by Geraldine Campbell, before the public meeting closed.
Danielle Barron
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