We currently require Pharmacists and NVQ 3 qualified Pharmacy Technicians with full GPhC registration.

We are specifically looking for candidates that are willing  to work in Cornwall and South East England.

At this initial stage we will only accept applications from candidates that have previous MOD experience. 

Initially please send your CV and availability to louise.evans@new-directions.co.uk

With many thanks

Did you know that we have moved to much larger premises?!

Our Head Office is still based in the city centre of Cardiff & our office can now can offer a training and conference room facility at very little cost.

A Welsh former head teacher has been awarded an MBE for services to education. Meredydd James, now employed as a business development officer for New Directions Education Ltd spent over seven years as head teacher for Rhymney Comprehensive School, having previously been deputy head at the school for 14 years.

Mr James retired from his head teacher post in August 2011. He left the position having led the school to an 11% improvement on GCSE grades from 2010.
Upon receiving the honour he comments “I am obviously delighted at receiving this award, it has been a truly humbling experience. Whilst I am privileged to receive the MBE, I have worked alongside many wonderful people throughout my career who have been continuously supportive. I hope to continue my work within the sector with my role at New Directions”.

Gary Williams, Managing Director for New Directions Education Ltd adds “We were delighted to welcome Meredydd to the team. With his knowledge, passion and commitment to the education sector we knew he would add great value. The MBE is thoroughly deserved”.

The MBE award was established in 1917 by King George V. It acknowledges and recognises individuals work within their communities. Mr James has dedicated over 40 years of his career to the education sector.

Gerald Lyons, Chief Economist for Standard Chartered remarked "the UK has already slipped back into recession this quarter, and firms are thinking twice about making investments".

In direct response to the report John Andrews, Group Director of Operations for New Directions Holdings Ltd says "As one of Wales recognised fastest growing companies, we continue to thrive despite the reported downturn. We acknowledge any change within the country's economy cannot be ignored; so as we look to the future we try to develop new markets to keep Wales buoyant."

New Directions Holdings Ltd continues to diversify into new markets. In recent years they have expanded into the rest of the UK with offices in Bristol, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and London.

For more information contact Ruth Dalton on 07807617905 or ruth.dalton@new-directions.co.uk

Notes to editor:

New Directions Holdings has head offices in Cardiff and controls diverse recruitment companies that service both public and private sector clients from across the UK. Its companies recruit within the education, social and domiciliary, pharmacy and corporate sectors and are widely regarded as market leaders in their fields.

Our subsidiary companies employ in excess of 70 full time staff that maintain up to 2,000 temporary employees each week.

The New Directions Group of companies' experiences annual increases in turnover in excess of 30% and is regarded as one of the fastest growing recruitment brands in the UK.

Cardiff Bus has been advised by the two Trade Unions representing its employees, UNITE and UNISON, that, following a ballot of its members, their members intend to take part in strike action on the 30 November in relation to proposed changes to the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS).

The strike action means that insufficient employees will be attending work to allow Cardiff Bus to safely run a bus service. As a result, the company has confirmed that all of its services are cancelled on 30 November.

Managing Director of Cardiff Bus, David Brown, says: “It is with regret that we confirm that bus services on Wednesday will be withdrawn as a result of strike action. We had hoped to have sufficient staff numbers to be able to run a limited service but, unfortunately, this is not possible. We will, however, be operating a full service again from Thursday 1 December.

Amber Stevens will manage the new arm of our business alongside the Pharmacy Team.

If you know of any veterinary professionals or practices that may need our recruitment solutions please contact us and you will be entered in to a prize draw!  For further information please contact Amber 029 20827618

To ensure our locum pharmacists are able to deliver this valuable service we are collecting Verbal confirmation that "self-assessment" has been completed allowing locums to immediately commence delivery of the service. We will also request a copy of the "self-assessment" form for our records.

We require immediate action and would be grateful if you could verbally advise the team of your ability to deliver this service and then forward on to the team the copy of your self-assessment form.

We have taken the liberty of compiling an e-mail outlining the importance of NMS and how this will affect you as a valued contractor of New Directions Professional

Aims and intended outcomes of NMS

Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) and NHS Employers (who are commissioning the service) have stated ten aims and intended outcomes for this service. Some are the direct benefits to the patient, some are the benefits to pharmacy and some are the benefits to the NHS itself. They are:

1. help patients and carers manage newly prescribed medicines for a long term condition and make shared decisions about their long term condition
2. recognise the important and expanding role of the pharmacist in optimising the use of medicines
3. increase patient adherence to treatment and consequently reduce medicines wastage and contribute to the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) agenda
4. supplement and reinforce information provided by the GP and practice staff to help patients make informed choices about their care.
5. promote multidisciplinary working with patient’s GP practice.
6. link the use of newly prescribed medicines to lifestyle changes or other non-drug interventions to promote well-being and promote health in people with long term conditions
7. promote and support self-management of long term conditions, and increases access to advice to improve medicines adherence and knowledge of potential self-effects
8. support integrations with long term condition services from other providers and provides appropriate signposting and referral to these services
9. improve pharmacovigilance
10. through increased adherence to treatment, reduce medicines related hospital admission to improve the quality of life for patients

Pharmacist Self-Assessment

Pharmacists offering the NMS must be MUR accredited and complete a self-assessment form. There is no need to compete any additional training. The self-assessment form requires a pharmacist to declare that they:

• are accredited to provide MURs
• understand the purpose and background of the NMS
• understand the aims and intended outcomes of the NMS
• understand the service specification of the NMS and how to deliver it effectively
• are competent in the clinical areas covered by the NMS

On-going Support

All pharmacy bodies have been working together to ensure that pharmacists are provided with the information and supporting tools they need to deliver this service effectively from day one. To support you the following is available:

• Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee www.psnc.org.uk/nms

  • Download copies of all the ‘official’ briefings and documents on the service
  • Access the additional information about the service
  • Contact Local Pharmaceutical Committees (LPCs) as many are running local events on the service.

• Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) www.rpharms.com

  • Look out for RPS co-ordinating a significant amount of national publicity, including a media launch in early October
  • Attend one of the many Local Practice Forums (LPFs) local events
  • See the professional guidance and support tools – look for the series of articles supporting the contract changes at PJ Online and access the video about NMS

• Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) www.cppe.ac.uk

  • Undertake the open learning programme, which has been sent to all pharmacists in England. Extra copies can be ordered from the website if you didn’t receive yours
  • Access the e-learning programme with videos about how to deliver the service
  • Look at the CPPE workshop materials which are being used by LPFs, LPCs and local groups

• National Pharmacy Association (NPA) www.npa.co.uk/nms

  • Look for the NMS support pack, including short guidance on the conditions and advice on communication with patients and GPs, which is being posted to all NPA member pharmacies
  • Locums who are not members of the NPA may access its entire portfolio of NMS resources, including a comprehensive standard operating procedure

The learning materials available from CPPE consist of an open learning programme, a local solutions workshop and a CPPE e-learning video wall. All the materials have been designed to help you to offer consistently high levels of patient care. CPPE will be posting a copy of this training directly to you over the next few days.

Please ensure you have read the NMS SOP and signed a training record in branch. The NMS Resource Centre on our intranet contains a wealth of information to support you further.

Locum Bookings

From 1st October 2011, locums who are both accredited to provide and who do deliver the NMS and MURs will be given preferential bookings by call clients in England. This is particularly important if you carry out regular work on an on-going basis for any of our clients.

Please use this link to complete your self-assessment and forward to us immediately: NMS pharmacist self assessment form. We look forward to receiving confirmation of your self-assessment and the completed document.

With kind regards, Amber Stevens,
Divisional Manager, New Directions Professional

Buttercups Training delivers high quality training programmes to pharmacists, dispensing technicians, dispensing assistants and support staff working in hospitals, the community, dispensing doctors' practices and in the Armed Forces.

For more information on training programmes that may be of interest to you please contact Dee O’Callaghan 029 20827600 or visit the Buttercups website direct.

http://www.buttercups.co.uk/website/website.nsf/lookupcontent/about-us.html!opendocument