New EAHP President Joan Peppard: Building on firm foundations for the future

30 June 2015

The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) is delighted to welcome Ireland's Joan Peppard as the new President following the recent annual General Assembly in Porto, Portugal (12-13 June). The event also saw elections to the EAHP Board, with Aida Batista (Portugal), Petr Horak (Czech Republic), Rob Moss (Netherlands) and András Süle(Hungary) all elected to serve 3-year terms.

Upon accepting the position of President, Joan said: "It's a great personal honour to take on this leadership role and it comes with particular responsibilities. Chief among these include ensuring EAHP supports its members in bringing the vision of the European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy to reality. There can be no let up in the momentum to improve patient safety through the delivery of pharmacy services. We will shortly be publishing the results of the initial survey to benchmark the status of achievement of the statements. This will provide the first real description of where we are starting from in terms of realising the Statements' aspirations, and where EAHP's professional development energies should be best focused. With fresh team members now joining the EAHP Board of Directors enthused by the same guiding goals, supported by the secretariat in Brussels, I know we will have the strategy, people, information, tools and motivation to complete the tasks before us."

The General Assembly also:

  • approved continuation of EAHP's common training framework;
  • gave advice on further improvement to the annual EAHP survey of practice across Europe;
  • instructed for the development of a policy statement on medicines information and drug density;
  • debated concerns about the future impact of the Falsified Medicines Directive on the daily practice of hospital pharmacists;
  • received an early preview of the results of the 2015 EAHP survey of practice;
  • made recommendations on the future of the EAHP Academy Seminar programme; and,
  • provided a forum for sharing the most noteworthy developments in hospital pharmacy practice in each member country over the past year.

Almost 80 hospital pharmacists from 33 countries travelled to Porto for the busy two-day event. EAHP puts on record its gratitude and appreciation to the Associação Portuguesa de Farmacêuticos Hospitalares for its assistance in the success of the event, and in compiling an excellent evening social programme. The next EAHP General Assembly will take place in Prague, Czech Republic from 10th to 11th June 2016.

ENDS

For further information contact info[at]eahp[dot]eu | 00 322 741 2436

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. The European Association of Hospital Pharmacists (EAHP) is an association of national organisations across 34 countries representing hospital pharmacists at European and international levels. More information about the EAHP, its history, and the role of its general assembly is available here.

2. The EAHP General Assembly is an annual meeting of delegates from the Association's 34 member countries that elects the Board of Directors and President, scrutinises accounts, passes policy statements, considers new member applications and conducts other tasks of governance. The General Assembly also provides a more general opportunity for the provision of project updates from the Board of Directors, and exchange of information between EAHP members. More information about the EAHP General Assembly is available via the association statutes here.

3. Joan Peppard is Chief Pharmacist in Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore, Co Offaly. With a keen interest in the growth and development of hospital pharmacy and a strong commitment to excellence in patient care, Joan has served in a leadership capacity on a number of key committees in Ireland at local, regional and national level. As President of the Hospital Pharmacists Association Ireland from 2004 - 2006 and 2011 - 2012, Joan led delegations to meet the Minister for Health and contributed to Department of Health consultative papers. She participated in national negotiations on the reform of hospital pharmacy resulting in significant outcomes including the agreed report on the Reform of Hospital Pharmacy in Ireland in 2011. In 2006 Joan proposed the establishment of an annual clinical skills course for hospital pharmacists that came to fruition in subsequent years. She also created the post of antimicrobial pharmacist in Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore and on its evident success, sought to have the role of hospital antimicrobial pharmacist established at national level.

4. Petr Horak is a Director of Pharmacy at the University Hospital Motol in Prague. He was first elected to the EAHP Board of Directors in 2012 and became a Director of Professional Development. He chairs EAHP's Practice Survey Working Group and has served a year as Director of Finance-elect.Aida Batista returns to the EAHP Board of Directors having previously been a Director of Professional Development. She is Director of Pharmacy at Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia, a former President of the Portuguese Association of Hospital Pharmacists (APFH) and chaired the working group that created the draft European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy. Rob Moss is a hospital pharmacist located in the Hague, the Netherlands. A delegate to the EAHP General Assembly since 1999, he has participated in many EAHP working groups and projects, including in the formation of the European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy. He also serves as a Vice President for Europe within the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Hospital Pharmacy section. András Süle is a chief pharmacist in a hospital in Péterfy Hospital and Trauma Centre, Budapest, Hungary. He has served as a Hungarian delegate to both the European Association of Hospital Pharmacy and the European Society of Oncology Pharmacy (ESOP). He also holds a PhD in nanomedicine.

5. The European Statements of Hospital Pharmacy were passed in May 2014 following a rigorous delphi consultation process with EAHP's 34 member countries and over 30 European patient and healthcare professional organisations. They represent a shared vision between these organisations of what hospital pharmacy should achieve in all European countries, and as such, provide the foundation of all EAHP practice development activity. More information here.

6. Information about the recent EAHP benchmark survey of practice in Europe is available here. Results will be published in the European Journal of Hospital Pharmacy over the summer months.

7. Requests for interviews with Joan Peppard can be made by contacting info[at]eahp[dot]eu | 00 322 741 2436