CPhOGH Fellows Evaluation

Feedback from the Chief Pharmaceutical Fellows Programme

Evaluation of the CPhOGH Fellowship

Sixteen pharmacists volunteering as part of the Commonwealth Partnerships for Antimicrobial Stewardship (CwPAMS) Programme completed a year long fellowship and successfully graduated on 4th September 2020 as the first cohort of the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England’s Global Health (CPhOGH) Fellows. The CPhOGH Fellows scheme was a unique leadership development programme with the aim of cultivating pharmacists as clinical leaders of the future and was the result of an initial request made by Dr Keith Ridge, England’s Chief Pharmaceutical Officer.

The Fellowship was led by the CPA and funded by Health Education England and was the first global health fellowship for pharmacists in the UK. It supported the appointed fellows by broadening their knowledge and understanding of global health through their active participation in the CwPAMS programmes which took place in Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia between 2019 – 2020.

The first cohort of fellows were Esmita Charani, Amritpal Atwal, Kate Russell-Hobbs, Scott Barrett, Claire Brandish, Joseph Brayson, Frances Garraghan, Fiona Rees, Bee Yean Ng, Joyce Mahungu, Preet Panesar, Misha Ladva, Edwin Panford-Quainoo, Reem Santos, Frances Kerr and Alison Cockburn.

A post-evaluation of the CPhOGH Fellowship included an assessment completed by Senior Colleagues and reported a significant increase in their leadership skills according to:

Teamwork;
Influencing for results;
Vision, Motivation and capability;
Inspiring shared purpose;
Managing change;
Innovative working and practice

In a recent published manuscript, the impact, if any, of participation in the CwPAMS scheme and the CPhOGH Fellowship, particularly in relation to leadership skills, and consideration of demonstrable benefits for the NHS was assessed.

Pharmacist-Led AMS interventions

Seven of the Global Health Pharmacy Fellows and their pharmacists’ colleagues in Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia recently published findings from their CwPAMS projects.

The Pharmacist-led interventions reported included

In Ghana improved access to national antimicrobial prescribing guidelines via the CwPAMS mobile app and improved compliance with policy from 18% to 70% initially for patients with pneumonia in one outpatient clinic.
Capacity development on AMS and IPC achievements in both Tanzania and Zambia, and a train-the-trainer model on Pharmacy Department, Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC),
Local production of alcohol hand rub in Uganda and Zambia.

The model of pharmacy health partnerships has been identified as a model with great potential to be used in other low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to support tackling AMR.