Sultan ‘Sid’ Dajani, National Pharmacy Board campaign pledge

Last year I wrote in the The Pharmaceutical Journal that the RPS must better showcase its roles, profiles and ambitions on behalf of the profession and compassionately engage with all of its membership — retired and practising, to make our professional leadership body fit for purpose. Or we’ll lose more members, influence and relevancy.

The RPS must have a strong voice and not be afraid to temper the excesses of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), which incidentally, isn’t a cuddly advocate, promoting the interests of pharmacy and pharmacists. Its job is to facilitate government policy, albeit tinged with institutional skepticism. That’s why numerous platitudes from Whitehall consistently translate into risible funding, derisory staff support, derisive workloads and divisive policies, resulting in unmanageable daily workloads increasing risk, failed commissioning, exclusion from local strategy, ridiculous remote supervision nightmares, hub and spoke daymares, unsustainable cuts lowering staff levels, distribution of funds syphoned away from the coalface of patient care and unworkable decriminalisation legislation, among other things. Yet despite all this and an increasingly complex pharmaceutical care landscape we must continue delivering supreme quality with zero error rates. It’s not surprising we have more pharmacists and pharmacy teams hacked off, demoralised, suffering from depression, worry, anxiety, bullying, arguments and confrontation with management than ever before!

As a ready-made solution, pharmacy can relieve NHS pressures, deliver cost savings and improve patient care, efficiency and medicines optimisation — but only with appropriate investment and by strengthening, empowering and supporting all pharmacists including locums, alongside the Pharmacists’ Defence Association’s Safer Pharmacies Charter.

Our profession deserves quality leadership and representation, making tough decisions and big ideas that work.

If elected I would:

• Vigorously involve members before policy is set in aspic;
• Objectively ensure the RPS is cost-effective, efficient and prominent;
• Tirelessly campaign for multi-professional ways of working and funding;
• Emphatically lobby to improve working lives of pharmacists;
• Sustain and retain members from the first day at university to beyond retirement;
• Integrate IT and innovation into innov-action to improve outcomes and workloads;
• Develop strategy around the 4Ps – patients, pharmacists, PR and politicians.

My track record consistently proves I’ve championed many membership causes without fear or favour. I visited hundreds of pharmacy events and shown myself as an independent thinker. I’m not an information-disseminating, rubber-stamper for the DHSC or any establishment!

My message is simple and unambiguous. Give our proud profession a chance by giving me your vote.

Sultan ‘Sid’ Dajani, England