It’s not just for the profession’s elite - joining the RPS Faculty could earn you hard cash and recognition by moving your career forward, explains the organisation

This summer marked the first year of the Royal Pharmaceutical’s Faculty – the professional recognition programme for advanced practice, of which the organisation is extremely proud. Membership of the RPS Faculty offers pharmacists and the chance to be assessed by peers from the profession to be awarded postnominals from the equivalent of a Royal College. The RPS is actively working towards Royal College status, to bring it alongside professional bodies for doctors, dentists and nurses.

RPS Faculty membership is a badge that many pharmacists will want to consider over time, says Faculty development lead Lesley Johnson. Around 3,000 pharmacists are currently accessing Faculty resources and building their portfolios, she says. The programme is something that a professional body akin to a Royal College should have, she says, describing the scheme as ‘a real celebration of advanced practice’.

Ms Johnson is part of the team involved in growing the Faculty programme. She is immensely proud of the 200 Faculty members and fellows who have been or are being assessed so far, and the work they put in to receive their recognition.

‘I’m very proud that they have put themselves forward with their evidence to be reviewed and commented on by other pharmacists. It’s the first profession-wide professional recognition scheme, and it’s a privilege for me to be involved.’

Now more pharmacists from all across the profession, including community pharmacy, are being asked to look at the Faculty to see if the process is for them. As a community pharmacist herself, Ms Johnson is championing the cause for the community sector, and ‘encouraging community colleagues to join in"

Best of the rest

Receiving recognition from your professional peers can be very rewarding, and could be a turning point in your career, suggests Ms Johnson. She points to the experience of one pharmacist who spoke at an event marking the Faculty’s first anniversary.

‘Her motivation to join the Faculty was to be the best that she could possibly be, and she said that being recognised for her advanced practice had helped her professionally. The competencies and frameworks helped her to grow, both inside and outside of her job,’ says Ms Johnson.

‘People do some wonderful courses and training and then work hard to put it into practice, but they are never recognised for it. The Faculty helps you to pull that all together – all your knowledge and your skills over your career. ‘We all grow in experience and skills as our careers progress, and it’s great to be recognised for that.’

Faculty firsts

Don’t dismiss the Faculty as an academic programme, says Ms Johnson. ‘My challenge to people is to look at the framework and look at what you have to do. The six key areas of the framework are the core of your dayto- day job.’

Demonstrating how your career has developed, and receiving support for career development too, could be extremely valuable for so many pharmacists in times of challenge and opportunity, suggest Ms Johnson. ‘In this day and age – especially when there are going to be too many pharmacists – how are you going to set yourself above the rest?

A range of Faculty tools, including networks, frameworks, signposting, support and mentoring, are all part of RPS membership, she says. ‘We’ve invested a huge amount into developing these tools and we are still developing them. Members have access to these free of charge to build their portfolio: the only time we ask you to part with any money is when you put your portfolio in for assessment, which is once every five years, to cover the time of our assessors.’

There’s plenty of opportunity to discuss the processes with other people before committing to it, says Ms Johnson. ‘If you want to find out more we can put people in touch with others who have gone through the Faculty. Of course, everyone has this fear of exposing themselves to their peers, but they are not alone.’

Of the competency areas to be assessed against, expert professional practice, collaborative working, leadership, education and training are probably those that most experienced pharmacists will already have evidence to put forward for, she feels. However, involvement in research and evaluation can sound ‘quite scary’, and is an area that busy community pharmacists have less time to be involved in. She suggests that Faculty members focus on the ‘evaluation’ aspect, which everyone will be doing on a daily basis in some way, whether that is interpreting research to put into practice or finding out more about a clinical condition to support a patient.

A development plan

Ms Johnson encourages as many community pharmacists as possible have a look at what the Faculty involves. Membership of the Faculty can be of interest for two main reasons, she says – to receive the prized post-nominals, but also as a unique development programme.

Pharmacists receive a tailored action plan. ‘The plan about you and for you is written by two pharmacists who have been trained to do this. Having that is absolutely amazing.’ 

‘If I was in working in community on my own, I’d probably find that I was doing the same things from day to day. The Faculty gives you a framework to see the areas you are strong in and where you can develop. We’re going to help to make you the best you can possibly be.’

She is convinced of the value to the profession. ‘I believe that community pharmacists should be doing this. There are just so many benefits for them, their patients and their business. It will help pharmacists to stand out from the crowd.’

As well as the personal satisfaction of receiving the award, it may also resonate with others, such as GPs and commissioners, she suggests. Membership of medical colleges operates in a similar way and some pharmacists may have even written peer reviews for medical colleagues. ‘Now there is a similar route for pharmacists too.’

Core areas of pharmacy practice

1. Expert professional practice
2. Collaborative working relationships
3. Leadership
4. Management
5. Education, training and development
6. Research and evaluation.

Faculty members from community pharmacy

Two pharmacists share their experience

Joanne Kember, is an experienced community pharmacist in north Wales.

‘I was encouraged to get involved with the Faculty by someone who made me realise that I’d done a lot of things over the years. I have strong views on professionalism in pharmacy, and when the Faculty came along, I thought it was fantastic for pharmacists like me who are doing something more to get recognition for it. Generally, I don’t think we get enough professional recognition in the community.

‘But the problem for a community pharmacist will always be: ‘Can I do it? How do I do it? Do I have time? I’ve done a 10.5 hour shift with hardly any time for a break, am I going to go home and work on my portfolio?’ However, if you actually stop and reflect on what you are doing in your day-to-day job, you may be ticking off those Faculty competencies without even realising it.

‘I think that the Faculty is great for people who are starting to think outside the box – it’s No Smoking Day you always want to do something extra for it. Being a Faculty member is useful in the workplace. It’s a strong enough badge that it can’t be ignored by employers and I have already found that it does get respect from other professionals.’

Darush Attar-Zadeh is a community pharmacist and respiratory medicines optimisation lead for Barnet CCG.

‘To me, the main benefit was when I was pulling all the information together for the porfolio. It gave me a birds-eye view of myself and my career, and some gaps, and I felt that was definitely beneficial. As I expected, it did take quite a bit of my time to build up my portfolio. I had to look at the bigger picture and what I was going to get out of it in the end.

‘You can print it off your profile as a pdf and see what you’ve achieved over the years. I think the way they’ve laid it out is great. And when you get feedback they give you these spider graphs that show you where your strengths are. I actually got mastery stage on the networking and collaboratively side. It’s good to see to see your career in a snapshot – and I don’t think there is anything else like that out there to do that for you.

‘For me, the two main off-putters would be the cost and the amount of work. So, I’d say for you to make that commitment, you need to be fully behind the idea and the concept of it.

‘I sent my portfolio with my CV when I applied to the CCG and I was offered the position. I’m sure that had something to do with it!’