Quality Care Standards Mrs. Bente Frokjaer Secretary Community Pharmacy Section of FIP and Mr. Robert L. Grant Pharmacy Guild of New South Wales Australia

Good Pharmacy Practice Guidelines The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has for the past decade been very much involved in the development of this concept in community pharmacy. In 1993 FIP established Good Pharmacy Practice Guidelines. The guidelines were revised in 1997 and were endorsed by the WHO Expert Committee on Specifications for Pharmaceutical Preparations.

Good Pharmacy Practice Guidelines recommend that national standards are set:  for the promotion of health  for the supply of medicines and medical devices  for patient self care  for improving prescribing and medicine use by pharmacists' activities.

Quality Care Standards in Community Pharmacy Practice The Community Pharmacy Section of FIP commenced a Working Group Aim: develop guidelines, which member organisations may use to assist in the development and implementation of national pharmacy standards.

To give recommendations for development and implementation of Quality Care Standards for pharmacy practice and make them available for all FIP members. The ultimate aim is to improve the professional standards of pharmacy. Quality Care Standards Working Group

Study Questions Collect information of available standards for pharmacy practice  the purpose and the background for the development of the standards  to which extent it is being used  possible legislative backing for the standards  the pharmacy system under which the standard is developed and being used.

Aim and method The aim of the study was to examine the availability of standards, identify areas for improvement and assess impact of implementation. A letter was sent to all member organisations asking them to reply to the questions above and to make available a copy of the Quality Standards applicable to the organisation.

Responses 23 organizations replied (n=110, 21%) AMERICA: USA, Canada AFRICA: Uganda SOUTH EAST ASIA: India WESTERN PACIFIC: Australia, Indonesia*, Japan EUROPE: Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Malta, The Netherlands, Norway, Nordic Association, Portugal, Serbia*, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

Guidelines and audit GUIDELINES Guidelines are presented to create a quality environment, to promote responsibility for quality, to present aims and objectives of service provided and to present standard procedures. AUDIT Audits can be internal, performed by special trained staff members or external, performed by qualified auditors. The audit checks that the pharmacy performs according to the quality standards set for the pharmacy in question.

This is where a large graphic or chart can go. AuditGuidelines Australia (Pharm Guild)+ Australia (Pharm Society) (S)+ Canada* Croatia* Denmark+ Finland* France+ Germany* India* Israel* Japan (S)* Malta+ Nordic Association (S)* Norway* Portugal+ Sweden* Switzerland+ The Netherlands* Uganda* United Kingdom* United States* 714 (S)= area specific

Areas included in generic standards

Future considerations  Who should run the method?  Cost of quality system  Voluntary or mandatory?  Reward for improving quality

Recommendations The Working Group strongly recommends that all member organisations embrace the introduction of Quality Care Standards and begin or continue the process as soon as possible. The FIP Community Pharmacy Section will provide assistance and seeks the co-operation of FIP member organisations in the provision of further assistance to those countries seeking such help.

What can we Iearn?