On the 17th of October, Fórsa and the National Association of Hospital Pharmacy Technicians (NAHPT) will launch a position paper setting out the case for statutory regulation of hospital pharmacy technicians in the Republic of Ireland.

Senior decision makers from across the health service, statutory regulation, and the political system have been invited to the launch, which will take place in Buswells Hotel, Dublin 2.

In the Republic of Ireland there is currently no official definition for the hospital pharmacy technician role and no official regulation of education and training. The position paper looks to rectify this.

Hospital pharmacy technicians are skilled medical professionals responsible for a large remit of healthcare services. Some of their key responsibilities involve, but are not limited to, compounding chemotherapy drug treatments, administering to and counselling patients on drug treatments, managing hospital budgets for procurement, monitoring the use of regulated medications, and reconstituting vaccines.

Fórsa National Secretary, Linda Kelly has emphasised the importance of this paper: “This is a seminal moment for Hospital Pharmacy Technicians and the support of this position paper is key to ensuring that it becomes national policy.

“We hope that every hospital will support the launch by nominating a small number of staff to attend and encourage all members to sign up for the event.”

You can register for the event by clicking HERE. If you have any further questions, you can contact Sheena Clarke at sclarke@forsa.ie.