Campaign letter for RPS elections 2021: Michael Maguire on positive change in the RPS

This is a campaign letter for the 2021 RPS national pharmacy board elections. The views expressed in this letter belong to the author. Find out more about the RPS elections.

“Our team lost again — sack the manager!”

“This situation is a disgrace! It’s the government’s fault”

“Our head office have no idea, sitting in their ivory towers!”

We’ve all done it. We’ve blamed other people when we feel things aren’t going the way we want.

The danger of playing the victim and blaming other people for our lives is that it guides us into believing that our success or failure, our happiness, is in other people’s hands. We lose the ability to take control of our lives. I live not too far from areas where antidepressants and a pound on the lottery is a way of life. “If I win the lottery, this will all change…”

So how does this relate to the RPS?

Well, when it comes to elections, we often vote because we are motivated by a desire for change. Do we want change in the RPS? Yes, of course! Any organisation who seeks to constantly evolve and improve has to, by definition, constantly change. That isn’t a bad thing. It’s a necessary requirement of top organisations. However, the key to all of this is balance. It’s about change in the right way, for the right reasons, at the right pace.

We don’t want to fall into the trap of playing the victim, cranking up the blame game, and complaining about the RPS, but then taking no action.

We need greater control of our own destiny, and we can start to take control by voting for the right candidates. I have a track record of proactively catalysing and facilitating positive change.

In 2014, my colleague Andre Yeung and I spoke to the clinical lead for NHS111 in Tees about how people with low acuity conditions were referred to low-capacity, high-cost NHS locations, therefore missing the opportunity to utilise the skills, knowledge and experience available in community pharmacies.

In 2017, Andre and I launched and project-managed a pilot to test out a new NHS111 referral pathway in the northeast of England, evolving into the national Community Pharmacist Consultation Service in 2019.

So, is positive change valuable for the RPS? Absolutely, if delivered in the right way for the right reasons.

Therefore, I am standing for election because we need positive change in the RPS, and I believe that I can catalyse and facilitate that change. If you feel the same, then please vote for Mike Maguire.

Michael Maguire, election candidate, English Pharmacy Board, Royal Pharmaceutical Society

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Citation
The Pharmaceutical Journal, Campaign letter for RPS elections 2021: Michael Maguire on positive change in the RPS;Online:DOI:10.1211/PJ.2021.1.79220

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