We know how much locums contribute to the pharmacy workforce and that many pharmacists choose to work as locums because of the greater flexibility that it offers – you can choose where and when you want to work.

At the same time, working in different pharmacies can make it difficult to keep up to date with the latest developments in the profession. That’s why renewing your Society membership should be one of the first things you do this year.

The Society is here to support your specific needs as a locum pharmacist. Here are some of the ways we’ve been doing this in 2011:

• Contract changes in England and Wales
We created dedicated web pages which acted as hubs for all the information (from all relevant organisations) on changes to the English and Welsh contracts. In addition we produced new practice guidance to support the implementation of specific services e.g. New Medicines Service.

• Support alerts
We launched our support alert email service to let you know about any urgent patient safety issues. This is part of our suite of email services including E-news, e-alerts and events emails

• Professional empowerment
We produced a report looking at how to reduce workplace pressures through professional empowerment and have already started to implement some of the recommendations.

- 8 core principles for community pharmacy whistleblowing policies and procedures
- Launched a whistleblowing advice line
- Locums: working as a Responsible Pharmacist – a guide showing what you are required to do if you are employed as the RP

• Practice guidance
We have produced over 25 pieces of guidance this year, all available through our website, to help and support you in your daily practice.

• Medicines, Ethics and Practice
Our new look MEP was completely revamped in 2011, with a much greater focus on professionalism and putting professional judgment at the heart of the decision-making process.

• Leadership Competency Framework
The LCF was launched to support the development of leaders at all career stages. It is designed to be read and used in conjunction with any other learning and development activity that you undertake. LCF will also support you in developing leadership skills – vital during the changes in service delivery.

Looking ahead to 2012 we will continue to support you in your role. Here are some of the key priorities we are working on:

• Decriminalisation of single dispensing errors

We know this remains a concern for all our members, and although we have made significant progress the threat of prosecution still remains. We will continue to work hard with the Government to amend current legislation.

• Responsible Pharmacist regulations
We commissioned research into the impact of the RP regulations and will be taking the findings from the research forward in 2012.

• MEP edition 36
We’ll launch edition 36 of MEP in July, building on the success of edition 35.

• Daily news alerts
We’re launching a new service so you can find out about the health stories making the headlines without having to read all the papers, helping you to be prepared for any questions from patients.

• Transfer of care
We’ll start to see the outputs from our early adopter sites, including evidence of how front line pharmacists ensure patients have the right medicines as they return home after a hospital stay. We know locums provide a vital service to patients, so it’s particularly important for you to be aware of this project and to get involved with it.

As well as all this you’ll continue to receive your regular copy of the Pharmaceutical Journal, as well as getting access to all our online resources, such as CPD support and support for clinical audit.

Your membership.

Your professional body.

We can only do this with your continued support.