“Someone who is professional is competent in their discipline, takes pride in their work and keeps up to date with what they need to know. Someone who is patient centred always puts the interests of their patients and especially their safety first, listens to their patients and is responsive to their needs and preferences.” So says Peter Walsh, chief executive of Action Against Medical Accidents.

In April 2015, the GPhC launched a national conversation on patient-centred professionalism and encouraged all stakeholders to contribute in order to begin a meaningful dialogue about what it means to be a pharmacy professional in the 21st century, and what patients and the public expect from pharmacy professionals today.

A discussion paper was subsequently published and highlighted the fact that the well-publicised failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust and others were made worse by a lack of professionalism by those concerned and a fundamental lack of compassionate care towards the patients, who had the right to deserve better.

The GPhC will use the shared view of patient-centred professionalism in all its regulatory work, as part of:

• Setting education and training standards
• Revising standards of professional practice
• Informing future developments on continuing fitness to practise
• Considering how to respond to complaints.

This is clearly an important topic and the findings of the national conversation will support further work by the GPhC. The parallel engagement of pharmacy professionals and what is expected of them will certainly help guide them in their day-to-day work with patients.

Expectations

In this module, we have considered the broad concept of professionalism, and have learned that it covers many facets that, together, contribute to the full picture of what patients and society expect of their health professionals, and for which professionals are personally accountable.

Patients and customers expect a lot of their healthcare professionals and that can sometimes seem daunting, but the consistent and diligent expression of professionalism can help even the most challenging of situations seem more manageable.

There is also increasing awareness that, while regulation will always play its part, the first and most important element of professionalism is personal regulation – how we lead ourselves and make appropriate choices, based on our conscience and our values and always in the interests of those who depend on us most, our patients. This is an important topic, to be considered by all.

Further reading

1. Makely S. Professionalism in Health Care, 2016
2. General Pharmaceutical Council. Patient-centred professionalism in pharmacy: a review of the standards of conduct, ethics and performance, April 2015
3. Health and Care Professions Council. Professionalism in healthcare professionals research report, 2014
4. Goleman D. Emotional Intelligence: why it can matter more than IQ, 1996