Funding changes to impact on PITO’s work

Funding changes to impact on PITO’s work

May 20, 2011 - At the Annual General Meeting of the Pharmacy Industry Training Organisation (PITO), held on Tuesday 17 May in Wellington, it was highlighted that changes to funding would have a significant impact on how the organisation operates in the future.

Chair, Anthea Gregan, commented in her Report that 2010 will be seen as a pivotal year in the development of technician and assistant training. “Changes by the Tertiary Education Commission to our funding has made our long term future untenable, forcing us to re-evaluate our future,” she said.

This has meant that the Board and National Manager, Alasdair McIntosh, have used both the funding changes, and changes implemented by NZQA to the qualifications framework, as an opportunity to widely consult with the pharmacy sector and look at the creation of a “new set of qualifications which better meet the requirements of students and pharmacy.”

This will mean a review of qualifications and training in 2011.

“The outcome of this review will determine what qualifications and training are required for the future and will also determine the best operational structure for PITO,” says Mr McIntosh.

2010 was also business as usual for PITO, with highlights including consulting with Workbase to begin implementation of PITO’s Literacy and Numeracy strategy. This has included developing profiles that identify the literacy and numeracy tasks that form part of a Pharmacy Assistant and Pharmacy Technician’s role. This work will be ongoing throughout 2011.

In addition, there were new appointments to the PITO Board, including the Pharmacy Council’s Professional Standards Manager, Barbara Moore, who replaces Owain George, and Olivia Johnson, who replaces Sanjoy Nand. Ms Johnson works at Nelson hospital and is a qualified pharmacist from Australia.

ENDS

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