Welcome to your July issue, which you will find packed with the usual mix of focused clinical content, news, and expert opinion. In this issue, we feature reports from the annual conferences of both the Irish Pharmacy Union and the Hospital Pharmacists Association of Ireland.
Both of these representative bodies have seen seismic changes over the past few years. With all the attention given to community pharmacy, and how it is finally being recognised as a central player in Irish healthcare, one might be forgiven for missing the major developments that have also taken place in hospital pharmacy.
In tandem with their community colleagues, hospital pharmacists are also finally receiving the recognition they deserve, with greater input into clinical decision-making and greater responsibilities in patient care, and more pharmacist grades being recognised.
Of course, the big news of the past couple of months is the creation of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer (CPO) post. This vital development — which has been a long time coming — puts pharmacy in the heart of the Department of Health. It is a historic move, and will fill an unmet need in the profession.
Just as your copy of Irish Pharmacist was rolling off the printing presses, the vacancy for CPO was announced. As reported in this issue, in her address at the IPU Annual Conference, Minister Carroll MacNeill encouraged pharmacists to apply for the position.
Candidates will have to keep their CV down to two pages, which in itself will be a challenge for some people to fit all their achievements and aspirations into that tight space. Applicants will also need to make a 10-minute presentation on the theme
‘Vision for a Strategic Plan for Pharmaceutical Care in Ireland’.
“It is expected that candidates would be currently employed on a salary scale similar to that of the Chief I Pharmacist scale,” says the Department of Health. “For indicative purposes, the salary scale
for Chief I Pharmacist ranges from €97,032 to €111,519 per annum.” If it sounds enticing, throw your hat in the ring at https://about.hse.ie/jobs/job- search/chief-pharmaceutical- officer-2026doh02/.
If you won’t consider the position yourself, I’m sure you know at least one person who might be ‘Officer material’.
If you need a distraction from career matters, earn 2 CPD points with our module on Osteoporosis, or check out some of our other excellent clinical content on Conception, Fatigue, and Seborrhoeic Dermatitis.
As always, your wonderful columnists will give you food for thought too, and feel free to get in touch with your own opinions.
Pat Kelly, pat@greenx.ie
