Draft Minutes

Association of Pharmacy Technicians UKMinutes of the

Annual General Meeting Saturday June 8th 2013 at 1.15p.m

held at

Wokefield Park, Berkshire

The Annual General Meeting of APTUK was held on Saturday June 8th at 1.15p.m at Wokefield Park, Berkshire.

There were 60 members present and the meeting was quorate in line with the byelaws.

Agenda:

1. President’s opening remarks

2. President’s address

Non-members of APTUK were asked to leave the AGM at this point.

3. Apologies for absence

4. Minutes of the AGM 2012 (Proposed and Seconded)

5. Matters arising from the minutes of AGM 2012, not on agenda

6. Secretary’s Annual Report (Proposed and Seconded)

7. Treasurer’s Annual Report (Proposed and Seconded)

8. Administration/Communications/Education Sub groups Annual Report

9. Election of National Officers

10.Resolutions

11.Any Other Business

12.Details of next AGM.

Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK, held on Saturday June 8th 2013 at Wokefield Park, Berkshire.

1. President’s opening remarks

The President welcomed all to the Annual General Meeting of the Association.

2. President’s address

Fellows, National Officers and Members,

As usual, I would like to start my report by thanking my fellow National Officers for their dedication, commitment and sheer hard work throughout the year. The number of initiatives that we are involved in is reflected in our reports and I encourage all members to read and reflect on them. By doing this, you will understand the range and depth of our work on behalf of members and pharmacy technicians generally.

I would also like to take the time to recognise all of the work undertaken by Branch officers and members who replicate the commitment shown at a national level. Without this engagement it would be difficult to spread the word of APTUK and provide member benefits at a local level. So if you are involved in branch work – please accept our heartfelt thanks. I would also encourage attendance by Branches at our twice yearly Branch Development days which also incorporate our Executive decision making process; the feedback is always very positive!

Last year, I reported in my address that we were struggling to find nominations for the Editor of the Pharmacy Technician Journal. I am sure you will all know by now that my pleas for support were heeded and we have a job share Editor comprising Rachael Lemon and Ellen Williams. This has provided a new focus and renewed enthusiasm and I hope you will agree that the Journal has gone from strength to strength. Subject to your endorsement, this partnership will continue as a job share for a further two years providing excellent stability.

I am also delighted to report that nominations for this year’s National Officer elections has been incredibly successful with all posts being filled; subject to your endorsement later in the meeting! This bodes well for the future and I hope we will reach a position where elections do become competitive. I strongly believe that all organisations need staff turnover to ensure continued enthusiasm, drive and new ideas.

Sadly, as we welcome new officers, we must also say goodbye to National Officers who are stepping down. This year, we say goodbye to Sarah Wilcox who has had a long and diverse ‘career’ as an APTUK National Officer. Her commitment and support have been much appreciated and I know that Sarah is very keen to continue supporting APTUK as an organisation. We also say goodbye to Katherine Roe who has filled the treasurer post for the last two years and who’s quiet and logical approach will be sorely missed. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of myself, fellow National officers and members to say a huge thank you to both Sarah and Katherine – we look forward to seeing you as delegates at future Conferences.

So, now we turn to organisational developments, achievements, strategic ‘themes’ and future direction of travel.

It is worth taking the time at this point to reflect that the last year has seen the biggest change to the NHS for a very long time. Many people will have found this change unsettling and, the full impact of the changes has yet to be felt. The role of APTUK during such change is to support our members, represent the professional interest of pharmacy technicians and influence on your behalf and we have taken every opportunity to do so.

At the 2012 AGM we agreed two major initiatives. The first was the introduction of a post- nominal allowing members of APTUK to use MAPharmT after their names - to signify membership and their commitment to professionalism. This has been well received and I have seen many examples of written work where members are using their post nominal; I encourage all members to use them. The second initiative was for APTUK to become ‘Limited by Guarantee’ thereby giving the organisation a legal status. This was an

enabling step to allow us to move other initiatives forward, principally allowing members to pay by direct debit. I am really pleased to report that we are now a ‘Limited Company’ and I fully expect members to be able to pay by Direct Debit by the end of the year.

It would not be right for me to speak about the broad aspects of our work without mentioning our finances; although, of course, this will be covered in much more detail within the Treasurer’s report shortly. Three years ago we were lucky enough to receive some financial support for CPD, our journal and our website from the Department of Health. As a result of very careful management by successive treasurers this money has been eked out over three years. This has allowed us to cap membership fees during this period, despite rising costs. Sadly, this money has now been spent and although we now have a good buffer in our reserve account we do need to ensure income and expenditure are, at the very least, level. This will be a major focus for our new treasurer with the help and support of all National Officers.

The vast majority of our income comes from membership fees and so the number of members we have is very important, both financially and how representative we are perceived to be. There has been steady growth in membership over the last few years and we broke the 900 barrier towards the end of the last membership year. Timely renewal by members at the end of each year is a continual problem and membership numbers always take a tumble at this time of year before recovering. We do spend a lot of time and effort encouraging early renewal and we hope that payment by direct debit will allow us to improve in this area.

The bottom line in terms of membership is that we still have less than 5% of registered pharmacy technicians as members of APTUK; this is simply not good enough for us to be considered truly representative. Driving up membership is, therefore, still a top priority for us; we are always open to new ideas and thoughts about what we could or should do to attract new members. Please let us know if you have any thoughts. It is an unfortunate fact that many pharmacy technicians see the Pharmacy Technician Journal as the only benefit of membership. However, as many of you will already understand, we do so much more. A strong and credible professional leadership body is absolutely vital to ensure that pharmacy technicians are both protected and developed. You can all help by encouraging non-members to join and promoting the work of APTUK.

So, is there more we can do in terms of services and support for members? The answer will always be yes! However, what we can deliver has to be achievable within current resources, be of value and be able to attract new members if we are to build up our sustainability. I have a view that the development of a resource allowing members to electronically record development against recognised competency would be a really useful tool. It could also contain career development profiles for different roles in a variety of sectors. We will be discussing this and other strategic issues at our first National officer meeting after Conference on 29 June. Let us know if you have any views on the development of new services. Your input is always really appreciated.

We have a number of communication routes with both members and other pharmacy stakeholders; these include meetings, the journal and our website. Jane Gill, our membership coordinator has been working hard to build up e-mail contact details on our membership database. This has been very successful and we now have e-mail contact details for 76% of our members. This means that we can quickly and easily communicate with members. This has been very well received and feedback from members on the recent newsletter about the Clinical Pharmacy Congress was very positive. We will continue to build on this work and maximise our use of e-mail as one of the main communication mechanisms with members. With the cost of postage there are very significant cost-savings to be made here! You can help by encouraging the sharing of e-mail addresses and informing Jane if your e-mail address changes.

Our work with other organisations such as the Department of Health, Royal Pharmaceutical Society, General Pharmaceutical Council, NHS Pharmacy Education and Development Committee and the Centre for Post Graduate Pharmacy Education has continued at a good pace. The focus has been very much around professionalism, maximising the skills and experience of pharmacy technicians, developing new roles and operating within quality systems. These are all very much linked to protecting patients and

maximising the potential of all pharmacy staff. We have representation on the majority of high level pharmacy projects including Modernising Pharmacy Careers, Frameworks Oversight Group, Rebalancing Programme Board, Development of Quality Systems Guidance and Pharmacy Workforce Development. Another example of our collaborative work has been to open discussions and lead the process of reviewing the registration process for pharmacy technicians in secondary care. This resulted from feedback that there was often an unacceptable delay between completion of training and entry on to the register; sometimes damaging employment prospects. We were able to map the process and provide information and guidance to the GPhC to raise the issue on your behalf. We wait with baited breath to see if our efforts have borne fruit!

On the subject of professionalism, there cannot be a single pharmacy technician who is unaware of the unacceptable Mid Staffs NHS Trust situation and the subsequent ‘Francis’ report. As a relatively new registered profession, this example of institutionalised poor care offers us opportunities to learn and improve; both individually and as a profession. Behaviour, attitude and values are all key elements in demonstrating professionalism. Behaviour is everything you do and say and attitude underpins behaviour. Always remember; you choose how you behave! We will be following the debate and developments post-Francis and will strive to ensure that the outcomes are communicated and implemented within the pharmacy technician profession.

Finally, we have been actively involved in promoting leadership and role modelling for pharmacy technicians. As an emerging profession we need to see those with the right skills, attitude and behaviour put themselves forward in leadership roles. This will be critical to how we are perceived as a profession by other healthcare professionals, patients and the public. In many ways we all, individually, have leadership roles with a responsibility to show leadership to others in our day-to-day work. We should not forget this level of leadership as this is from where many observers will draw their conclusions!

I hope this report gives you a flavour of the work, past, present and future that we are involved in. There is much more detail in the individual officer and work stream reports which will either be read out in the next few minutes or are published on the website for you to read. Please take the time to listen and read to keep abreast of our work.

Finally, once again, thank you all for your continued support; you are the reason for our very existence!

Steve Acres MAPharmTPresidentAssociation of Pharmacy Technicians UK June 2013

Non- members were asked to leave at this point.

The President formally opened the 2013 AGM.

3. Apologies for absence

Apologies were received from the floor from: Helen Darymple and Alwyn Evans

Apologies were received by email or post from: Nikki Woodhall, Gary Moss, Samantha Quaye, Lesley Morgan

4. Matters arising from the minutes of AGM 2012, not on agenda

There were no matters arising from the minutes of the AGM 2012 received by the deadline of December 31st

2012. An opportunity was given to the members to raise any matters, but there were none.

5. Minutes of the AGM September 29th 2012 proposed and Seconded)

The President asked if it were the wish of the members that he signed the 2012 as being an accurate record of the AGM 2012. They said it was, so they were duly signed.

Proposed by – Suki Tagger

Seconded by – Richie Chapple

6. Secretary’s Annual Report (Proposed and Seconded)

Mr President, Members, Fellows,

Unfortunately, I start my annual report by having to inform you of the sad news that one of our retired members Margaret Callender passed away earlier in the year.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenging role of being Secretary to the Association and a member of the Administration team over the past months.

I have continued to arrange, co-ordinate and produce minutes for the 4 National Officer Meetings we have held since our last conference in September 2012. I have also coordinated the elections of vacant National Officer posts, ensuring that all information relating to this is communicated to our members.

Following last year’s AGM, the Association had the vacant National Officer post of Editor. The co-option process was duly followed, and following endorsement from the Executive Committee Rachael Lemon and Ellen Williams was co-opted into a job-shared Editor’s post as a trial until AGM 2013.

The Board has reviewed the concept of job-shared National Officer posts and following a formal discussion at a recent National Officers meeting, it was agreed that certain posts would be considered as a job-share role. It was agreed that the ‘terms and conditions’ of a job-shared post would be that of one post. This would ensure that the Association would not incur any additional expenditure by having 2 people doing one post.

Since the last AGM, we have held 2 successful branch days in Birmingham, providing an opportunity for our local branches to network, share best practices and have formal discussions which lead to some decisions needing to be made.

The work done by our professional membership and administrative coordinator continues to prove invaluable to the Association, which involves processing membership and facilitating indemnity insurance applications. The database needs constant work ensuring it is kept up to date at all times. We now have working email addresses for 74% of our members, which means we can communicate with them much more efficiently at a minimal cost.

We continue to use the services of our virtual office in Birmingham. As a result of a high number of enquiries from non-members, we have changed the process where messages are collected. Previously, when the APTUK’s number was called, it was answered by a member of the office staff who would then email me details of the conversation. This could often be frustrating for the caller as they were not provided with an answer to their query. We now have a recorded message which asks the caller for their membership number to be then followed by their message. We direct non-members to the website for details of how to join the Association. These messages are collected by myself and directed to the relevant Officer. This change has meant a dramatic reduction in queries from non-members.

We have been able to reduce the volume of property held by the Association, resulting in us being able to rent a smaller unit at our off-site storage. This means a reduction in our costs.

Our administration, communication and education sub-groups continue to work effectively, working on projects that are relevant to the groups they work within. This approach has meant that the time during National Officers meetings is used more efficiently – signing off work done by the sub-groups, leaving more time to discuss and make decisions on topics of a higher strategic level. The sub-groups meet up from time to time outside of the main Board meetings, and also use additional methods of communication, such as Skype and Conference Calling. This not only reduces costs, but also means Officers can conduct meetings in the evening, reducing the time they have to take from their work and personal life.

National Officers continue to represent pharmacy technicians at many stakeholder events. It is important for us to have a presence at these meetings if we want to be included in decisions that will shape the future of the profession.

We continue to support the Pharmacy Show, and this year for the first time we attended the Clinical Congress. Both events are attended by large numbers of pharmacy technicians, and it is important that we are there to offer professional advice, raise awareness of the Association and hopefully encourage new members.

Work continues to be done on the development of the website and journal, CPD pre-review service and methods of raising awareness of the benefits of joining the Association. We also continue to write articles for publications such as the Chemist and Druggist and The Business. All of these take time in addition to meetings, which is down to the constant commitment and enthusiasm given by all National Officers.

The role of a National Officer is a challenging but rewarding one. If we are to continue our work and be the professional leadership body for pharmacy technicians, we need to have a full Board in office. We need the commitment of our membership to step forward and apply for these posts when they become vacant. If we are unable to fill posts it would lead to a reduction in the services we supply and the credibility within the wider pharmacy field. I encourage all members to become actively involved in their local branch or to consider setting one up. This would give members experience and hopefully the confidence to stand as a National Officer.

Our achievements have provided APTUK with a strong foundation. However, the next year will undoubtedly bring us new challenges and we hope to have the continued support of the membership ensuring we are the voice of the profession.

Fiona Price,Secretary, APTUKJune 2013

Proposed by- Julie Mathieson

Seconded by – Sarah Wilcox

7. Treasurer’s Annual Report (Proposed and Seconded)

Current membership (02.05.2013):Total: 706Full: 666Student: 6Associate: 15Enrolled: 9Fellow (Retired): 1Fellow (Practicing): 5Unspecified: 4                               Balance current account - £16179.16Reserve Account – £31012.332nd Account - £1072.20

This is will be my final address as APTUK Treasurer, following two very rewarding years in post I am stepping down due to personal circumstances. APTUK was given £60000 of funding by the Department of Health to use over a three year period and this has now passed; this places significant strain on APTUK finances as funding for the journal and website will now need to be taken from the general account. Whilst the association has a healthy reserve account it is not practical for this to be used to fund day to day activities of APTUK. My successor will need to work with other National Officers to minimise expenditure where possible and ensure cost-effective management of the journal and website to ensure that financial position of the association is sustainable. In the long term APTUK needs to investigate various methods of increasing income to ensure sustainability. Since the last AGM in October the board have agreed to fund a large advertising campaign with CPPE; this will see all pharmacy technicians in England receiving a flyer advertising the benefits of APTUK. Additional copies will also be produced for distribution to technicians in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Whilst we need to do all we can to reserve funds it is vital that we try to increase membership as this is our main source of income and this was felt to be the most effective way of achieving this. The board is constantly investigating ways of increasing membership and all members are encouraged to contact the board with any suggestions they have of how this can be achieved. This year has seen a large amount of ‘behind the scenes’ work being completed to enable the organisation to move to limited by guarantee status. This work is now complete and will enable direct debit renewals and online payments to become a reality. The board has begun the process of implementing these changes with the bank and my successor will continue this work. My hope would be that these changes are implemented in time for the next membership renewal period in March/April 2014; however this is dependent on numerous factors. The board of National Officers voted at the April National Officer Meeting to increase the annual membership renewal fee to £40 with effect from 1st April 2014. Jane Gill continues in her role as membership coordinator and has this year worked tirelessly to collate a database of members email addresses; this not only helps reduce postage costs to the association but also enables us to distribute information to members in a timelier manner. This has enabled the association to do mailing to members on behalf of recruitment organisations which has provided APTUK with valuable revenue. APTUK are committed to protecting the data of members and no data is given to third parties. The APTUK badged indemnity insurance through the partnership arrangement with NPA has been a successful venture with 39 members have taken out indemnity insurance through this scheme and many stating this as a valuable membership benefit. Whilst the balances of the accounts may seem far healthier that at previous points in the associations’ history the current income is not sufficient to maintain the current expenditure of the organisation. Without a significant increase in membership current activity may need to be scaled back; whilst APTUK strives to be a representative professional leadership body for pharmacy technicians this is difficult to achieve without

appropriate finances in place. The board of national officers is committed to ensuring the growth and stability of the association and welcomes all thoughts and advice on how this can best be achieved. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as treasurer and national officer and I will miss the challenges and opportunities this role has provided. I am confident that my successor will continue to build on the work myself and previous treasurers’ have begun. I look forward to continued involvement with APTUK.

Katherine Roe MAPharmTTreasurerAssociation of Pharmacy Technicians UK Date 1st April 2013

See Appendix 1 for the un-audited accounts of the Association.

Proposed by – Catherine Davies

Seconded by – Bianca Davies

8. Administration/Communications/Education workstream Annual Report

A Administration workstream Annual ReportActivities

The Administration Team is made up of the Treasurer, Secretary, Branch and Projects Officer and the Professional Membership coordinator. The team has had a busy time working behind the scenes on the administrative structure of APTUK. We have worked on the following projects that directly relate to the administration of APTUK over the past year and some will form key objectives for the coming 12 months as they are a work in progress and will shape the future of APTUK.

In addition the members of the team have also contributed to objectives managed by the other teams where an overlap exists and worked as a Board of National Officers on common agenda items.

Limited by Guarantee

At the last AGM it was agreed that APTUK would move to Limited by Guarantee status. This process is complex and APTUK have worked with an outside contractor to ensure that all documentation has been completed accurately and all aspects of the work of the association comply with the necessary legislation. This important work is now complete and the association will now be able to push ahead with plans to implement direct debit and on line renewal payments.

National Officer Expenses

All National Officers are volunteers and receive no financial reward for their role. National Officers are able to claim back any reasonable expenses as detailed in the claiming expenses SOP. At the branch day in November the executive committee requested a breakdown of National Officer expenses to ensure that the expenses process is clear and transparent. At this AGM all National Officer activity reports are accompanied by a breakdown of expenses for that post. Due to the continuing financial pressures on the association the rate and process for claiming of expenses is under review.

Livedrive

The association uses the services of Livedrive, which is ‘cloud storage’ to keep all documents and templates safely. Each National Officer has their own folder within the briefcase for all the relevant articles etc. for their role. Five computers are continually backed up on this system, which removes the risk of important documents belonging to the association being lost should anything happen to those computers. Access is available to the other National Officers via their website, and is password controlled.

Regus

The association continues to use the services of a remote office in Birmingham. Post is re-directed on a weekly basis to our membership coordinator. It was decided that this was the most cost effective way of dealing with the post, as the majority of post received is regarding membership queries. Any other communication is sent on to the relevant National Officer. We have now moved to an answering machine service for telephone queries, this service requests the caller to leave their membership number. Non-members are directed to the website for information on how to join APTUK. This has dramatically reduced enquiries from non-members.

SOPs

We now have a large quantity of SOPs stored on Livedrive; these have been written by different members of the administration team. Having these robust documents ensures that processes can be followed in the appropriate way should another person take on a National Officers’ post. We will be working with other National Officers outside the administration team over the next 12 months to ensure we have SOPs to support all processes within all national officer roles.

Mail Merge

As we now have an email address for approximately 75% of our members we are able to communicate quickly and effectively to them. As the cost of posting is rising we are keen to obtain email addresses for as many members as we can. It is now possible to mail merge a letter and email it to individual members.

Database

The database is now running very smoothly and efficiently after a slow start. It is possible to summarise the information we hold quickly and produce reports and graphs. We are able to produce figures for stakeholders at short notice e.g. how many student members work in the community. All information is anonymous and only figures are used.

Branch Meetings/Awards/Handbook

Since conference in October 2012, there have been two branch meetings in November 2012 and May 2013. The branch days continue to be a great success and feedback suggests that the meetings are an invaluable source of information and guidance and help branches to develop and run more effectively. The branch meetings have focused on increasing membership through the branch networks and professionalism. A presentation was given at the May meeting by Tess Fenn on feedback and outcomes from the Francis report, a workshop from this discussion followed in the afternoon.Feedback from APTUK work streams, national officer meetings and on-going projects was discussed as part of the executive officer meeting.Two further branch days will take place over the next 12 months.

The branch of the year award was judged on May 22nd, the results will be announced and the award will be presented at the APTUK Conference 2013.

Katherine Roe, Fiona Price, Julie Mathieson, Jane GillAssociation of Pharmacy Technicians UK June 2013

B Communications workstream Annual ReportActivities

October 2012 to June 2013 (only 8 months since the 2012 AGM) has again been a productive period for the communications team and a summary of the tasks successfully completed are listed as follows: Communications TeamThe activities started for the communications team straight after conference following the change of national officers.  The communications team welcomed Sarah as Publicity Officer and Jeanne’s change in role to Website Officer plus Ellen and Rachael seconded into the Editor post as a job share; a first for APTUK. The new team reviewed the 2011/12 work tasks and prioritised these into new work streams.   As the pharmacy political agenda continues to move forward with topics such as regulation, legislation, supervision and such, now under the banner of ‘Rebalancing’ the Department of Health (DH)  was/is keen to engage and communicate with Pharmacy Technicians in all sectors of pharmacy. To this end they called upon APTUK to provide support and the communications team have taken the lead on this. To help provide the DH with the preferred methods of communication APTUK developed a survey. The survey answers also provided the communication team with some valuable data and information which is being implemented into future communication strategies. The main preferred method of communication identified was email. (See the Spring journal for the results and website for full results)

APTUK Conference 2013The initial task focused on Conference 13, which was only 8 months away. Following evaluation of the Diamond Jubilee Conference 12, it was agreed to relook at the conference delivery. Although 2012 had been successful the decision to align with the Pharmacy Show did not bring the numbers of delegates that had been hoped. Following careful consideration it was agreed to return to the previous conference format and engage Profile Productions to scope the 2013 venue. A conference committee was convened, (Marketing, Publicity, CPD and Education), to start developing the programme and set the 2013 theme: Optimising Pharmacy Technicians, the future in your hands. The main theme being ‘Medicines Optimisation’ to bring together hospital and community pharmacy in implementing this key pharmacy agenda.

JournalThe Pharmacy Technician Journal, as indicated in last year’s report, is now once again being produced in-house and the last two editions have gone from strength to strength. This is down to the dedication and commitment of our joint editors Ellen and Rachael. A new flip e-journal is also now available in the member’s area of the website for those members preferring an electronic copy. Advertising and revenue is still being sourced to support, or part support, the financial cost of the journal. The Editors continues to source articles from members and pharmacy technicians, so please support your journal. To further enhance the journal, the editors now have approval to engage an editorial board. Website

The communications team, led by the Vice President and the Website Officer, are scoping an update of the website, initially to review the home page and to make the website more user friendly. Much effort during the last 8 months has been put into ensuring the website is current and up to date. SOPs are being developed for all website activities and functions. The DH survey indicated that the website is not always the first point of call for pharmacy technicians seeking information. This was disappointing and we hope to rectify this.Although APTUK have had a face book page, APTUK.ORG for some time, this has been re-launched along with Twitter, you can follow us @APTUK1.

APTUK flyerA promotional flyer to publicise APTUK has been developed and is now being distributed to as many pharmacy technicians as possible.

ExhibitionsAPTUK have exhibited at both the Pharmacy Show and the Clinical Congress in the report period.Both events were highly successful and were excellent opportunities to show case the organisation. Delegates presenting at the APTUK stand were able to hear first-hand the benefits of being an APTUK member. There was much interest and on both occasions signed up new members. In the coming year APTUK will also be represented at the BOPA and Mental Health conferences.An electronic newsletter summarising the success of APTUK attendance at the Clinical Pharmacy Congress was developed and distributed to our members by email. Whilst we are unfortunately not in a position currently to produce a monthly electronic journal, something that the survey showed the members would like; this is what we hope could be the start of some bite-sized, current and relevant updates that give our members an insight into the work that APTUK do.

As always, the communications team will continue to focus on publicising APTUK and communication with both our external and internal stakeholders: our members. Our major priority over the coming year will be to drive up membership to take APTUK forward as the Professional Leadership Body and ‘voice’ for Pharmacy Technicians.

Communications meetings held on:26th November 12 (teleconference), 4th December 12 (teleconference), 5th January 13, 11th May 13

Tess Fenn, Julie Postle, Rachael Lemon, Ellen Williams, Jeanne Wood, Sarah WilcoxAssociation of Pharmacy Technicians UK                                   12th May 2013

C Educations workstream Annual ReportActivitiesThe Education team is made up of the Education Officer and the CPD Officer and other officers with an educational experience seconded for specific projects

Education and Development CommitteeAPTUK has continued it work with the NHS Pharmacy Education and Development Committee. Current projects include a review of the Framework for Final Accuracy Checking Pharmacy Technicians. It was agreed that APTUK will develop standards of final accuracy checking which training providers can use to develop training programmes. The two organisations have also worked together to discuss problems encountered by newly qualified pharmacy technicians registering with the regulator, raising these issues with GPhC.

APTUK has worked with the General Pharmaceutical Council to feedback or raise issues regarding the pre-registration qualifications. The education officer recently attended a Pharmacy Technician education networking day at which GPhC sought opinions on proposed changes to registration requirements and the extension of the current

qualification. This was followed up by a face-to-face meeting between our President and the Head of Education at GPhC. The Education Officer wrote a letter to confirm the APTUK position on the proposals prior to them being presented for approval by the GPhC Council.

Pre-Review ServiceTo date, we have had nine members apply for the CPD pre-review service (two Pharmacy Technicians became members specifically to benefit from this pre-review). The feedback has been positive with all portfolios gaining over 85% from GPhC. The advert for the pre-review service remains on the front page of the website, along with this, a CPD members area is in development for the website – this will give members of APTUK access to hints and tips, links to CPD providers and help and support to produce robust CPD to meet the criteria laid down by the GPhC. APTUK will continue to offer the service to non-members at a charge of £50, which will include a year’s membership to the Association.

European Association of Pharmacy TechniciansThis year’s committee meeting was held in Bled, Slovenia and was attended by the Vice-president.

CPPE/APTUKThe close relationship between APTUK and CPPE has been built upon this year. CPPE have an increased presence at this year’s APTUK conference. Geraline Flavell (CPPE) attended a Branch Networking Day to highlight opportunities for further patnership working. CPPE kindly supported the re-launch of the APTUK West Midlands branch.

AAHAPTUK have continued to work with AAH as they sponsor our Pharmacy Technician of the Year Awards. Entries numbers were disappointing this year. It is hoped that this can be turned around for next year and APTUK will continue to encourage Pharmacy Technicians to showcase the excellent work they do, in the interests of sharing good practice with colleagues and also to raise the profile of pharmacy technicians.

Modernising Pharmacy Careers (MPC)APTUK have followed the progress of MPC worksteams 1 and 2. APTUK’s Education Officer is part of a task and finish group working on a project to raise the standards of communication and councelling skills among pharmacy professionals, by creating a framework, supporting training, education programmes and self reflection.

Branch DaysDuring the last 12 months, we have held 2 branch information days. The purpose of these days is to support and encourage our branch officers in the runnning of their local branches of APTUK. The education team works closly with the Branches and Projects Officer to ensure the development of a relevant and useful programme for each of these days.

Pharmacy Show and Pharmacy Clinical CongressLast year’s conference was held alongside the Pharmacy Show. National Officers manned a stand in the exhibition area, to promote APTUK and encourage new members. This year national officers attended the Clinical Pharmacy Congress. They were able to recruit a significant number of new members and hosted a “round table” discussion and facilitated a workshop.

Conference This years conference has the theme of medicines optimisation. Speakers have been recruited from members who have been invited to offer to share their practice. This has been a new approach for and will be evaluated for future use

APTUK Professional Development Advisory Group (APDAG)As the professional leadership body for Pharmacy Technicans APTUK are the first point of contact for stakeholders scoping information on educational issues affecting pharmacy technicians, This new group has been formed to respond to this demand and ensure that views expressed by APTUK are truly representative of members in all sectors. Some of the work to be undertaken by the group includes creation of practice standards for final accuracy checking pharmacy technicians and mapping of the Advanced Consultant Level Framework (ACLF), currently being used by RPS to develop an advanced level framework, against higher level pharmacy technician practice.

Catherine Davies, Education OfficerBianca Davies, CPD OfficerAssociation of Pharmacy Technicians UK June 2013

9. Election of National Officers

Fiona Price, Secretary presented information on the results of the National Officer Elections. The following posts were advertised in the journal and website:

Vice-President, Treasurer, Education Officer, Editor, Branch and Projects Officer, Publicity Officer.

The following National Officer posts were due for re-election this term, as only one nomination was received for each post, members were asked to endorse the member by a show of hands at AGM.

Vice-President (2 years)Nominated: Tess FennProposed: Colin RookSeconded: Parampreet BahiaEndorsed at AGM

Treasurer (2 years)Nominated: Donna BartlettProposed: Lynette MahySeconded: Sian MechamEndorsed at AGM

Education Officer (2 years) (job-share)Nominated: Catherine Davies + Elizabeth FidlerProposed: Ellen WilliamsSeconded: Tess FennEndorsed at AGM

Editor (2 years) (job-share)Nominated: Ellen Williams + Rachael LemonProposed: Sally HallSeconded: Samantha QuayeEndorsed at AGM

Branch and Projects Officer (2 years)Nominated: Julie MathiesonProposed: Sue MirczukSeconded: Sue CoppackEndorsed at AGM

Publicity Officer (2 years)Nominated: Melanie BoughenProposed: Elizabeth Fidler

Seconded: Judy CrootEndorsed at AGM.

10. Resolutions

There were no resolutions received by the Secretary by the deadline of May 11 th 2013.

11. Any Other Business

1. APTUK Badges – A discussion was had following the Secretary receiving an email from one of APTUK’s members Gary Moss (attached at the end of the minutes – Appendix 2).The President clarified that if a new badge were to be designed, current supplies of 130 would have to be used first and a charge would be made for any members who requested a new badge. A proposal was made and voted on for the following 3 options –

Revert back to using the old ‘shield style’ badge – 4 votes Carry on using the current badge – 1 vote Have a new badge designed – majority vote

The President asked if there were any questions from the members in attendance.

Elizabeth Fidler suggested that could adapt the APTUK’s 60th Anniversary badge by altering some of the wording.

Lynette Mahy felt that APTUK should seek the views of the wider membership before a decision was made.

Helen Thomas asked if we have any stock left of the Anniversary badge, and was told by the President that all supplies had been used.

Carra Allen requested that if APTUK had a new badge designed that it would be fitted with a more substantial pin, as she nearly lost her badge recently. The President replied that there may be a cost implication with this.

Angela Gilchrist asked if a new badge was designed, could it include MAPharmT on it. This would be looked at if the decision was made to have a newly designed badge.

Katherine Roe said it would be possible to send out a Survey Monkey to seek the views of the membership.

Julie Postle raised the point that any associated costs with producing a new badge should be passed on to any member requesting a new badge.

The decision was made to send out a Survey Monkey to the membership to seek their views on the proposed options.

12. Details of next AGM.

Details of the next AGM will be communicated to members via the website and journal in due course.

The formal proceedings of the AGM were closed by the President at 2.15p.m

Appendix 1 The End of Year Financial Accounts of APTUK

The Un-audited Financial Statements for the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK

The appendix contains the information on pages 2 to 4 from the financial accounts for APTUK from April 2012 to March 2013.

The full accounts can be viewed on written request only, contact the Treasurer

Association of Pharmacy Technicians

UK

Income and Expenditure Accountfor the Year Ended 31 March 2013

31.3.13 31.3.12£ £ £ £

IncomeMemberships 33,490 30,673Conference & merchandise 8,808 3,006NPA 1,710 -

44,008 33,679

Cost of salesOpening stock 2,500 2,500Closing stock (2,500) (2,500)

- -

GROSS INCOME 44,008 33,679

Other incomeDeposit account interest 15 14

44,023 33,693

ExpenditureWages 4,110 2,118Social security 44 -Honoraria 2,000 4,175Printing and stationery 14,809 9,199Executive fares & expenses 19,715 20,127Rent and room hire 5,605 4,150Insurance 1,987 672Conference costs 19,323 11,274Training 1,000 -Subscriptions 467 -Accountancy 1,534 1,020Legal fees 1,319 -

71,913 52,735

(27,890) (19,042)

DepreciationPlant and machinery 27 19Computer equipment 175 233

202 252

NET DEFICIT (28,092) (19,294)

Association of Pharmacy TechniciansUK

Balance Sheet31 March 2013

31.3.13 31.3.12£ £ £ £

FIXED ASSETSPlant and machinery 80 106Fixtures and fittings 61 61Computer equipment 525 700

666 867

CURRENT ASSETSStocks 2,500 2,500Prepayments 567 595Current account 16,201 20,588Reserve account 31,012 30,997Bank account no. 3 1,072 24,083Cash in hand and in transit 1,661 1,661

53,013 80,424

CURRENT LIABILITIESSocial security and other taxes 80 -Other creditors 1,901 1,621Prize fund account 1,000 1,000Accrued expenses 1,140 1,020

4,121 3,64148,892 76,783

NET ASSETS 49,558 77,650

FINANCED BY

CAPITAL ACCOUNTBrought forward 77,650 96,944LessNet deficit 28,092 19,294

49,558 77,650

49,558 77,650

Association of Pharmacy TechniciansUK

Tangible Fixed Assets Schedule31 March 2013

FixturesPlant and and Computer

machinery fittings equipment Totals£ £ £ £

COSTAt 1 April 2012and 31 March 2013 568 61 11,362 11,991

DEPRECIATIONAt 1 April 2012 462 - 10,662 11,124Charge for year 26 - 175 201

At 31 March 2013 488 - 10,837 11,325

NET BOOK VALUEAt 31 March 2013 80 61 525 666

At 31 March 2012 106 61 700 867

Appendix 2

Gary W Moss, B.Sc. (Hons), MAPhT, ASt.C (Fellow)134 Upper Greenwell Street

NEWTOWNARDSCounty Down    BT23 8LX

Northern Ireland 

Phone: 07974 910 333e-Mail: gwm134@aol.com

   31 May 2013  APTUK Membership Number:  F 577   Dear Fiona  Further to your e-Mail concerning the Agenda of the APTUK Annual General Meeting 2013 ('Any Other Business'), I would be grateful if you could advise, or seek advice on the day, concerning the following question. Pre-amble: 'On first joining the Association of Pharmacy Technicians in 1991, I was issued with a badge for wear on my 'white coat', which was of a shield-shape, in white and navy blue enamel, with the familiar balance and mortar and pestle logo centrally, with the words 'Association of Pharmacy Technicians' in gold, thereon. Many patients and Pharmacists commented on it's simplicity, yet professional look, which then gave me an opportunity to explain about the Association and 'extol the virtues' of my new qualification and how being a Member of a body like APTUK would benefit me, my patients and my pharmacy colleagues. I was extremely privileged to have a wonderfully encouraging Superintendent Pharmacist, who was interested in every aspect of my progress and how the Association helped me in my day-to-day work. With wear, the gilt wore off, and I applied for new lapel badge, paying £5:00. However, to my dismay, I received the more 'modern' glitzy circular effort, with miniscule print and more of a brooch-like appearance! Now, I do realise that the wearing of this badge is almost exclusive to those P.T.'s working in Community Pharmacy, as Hospitals, the M.O.D., HM Prison Service et cetera, are bound by individual and Health & Safety regulations, but despite this, EVERY new APTUK Member is furnished with a Membership Certificate and 'brooch.' To this end therefore, I would be greatful if the following question may be considered: Question: Would it be possible to, after any current Membership badges are distributed to new Members, a new modern professional design be considered, that would be acceptable wear for both male and female Members of the Association?  

I look forward to any comments you may have on this matter, prior to the Annual General Meeting, Fiona....  Yours sincerely, and with thanks Gary