The Hague — Professor Ian Bates has been appointed as the director of the FIP Global Pharmaceutical Observatory (FIP-GPO) by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). The appointment was made by the FIP Bureau at its April meeting. Prof. Bates will take the office tomorrow.
FIP has been collating and analyzing global pharmacy workforce and practice data regularly since 2006 from more than 90 countries and territories. The focus over 14 years and across FIP’s member organizations has been to produce data intelligence on workforce capacity, gender distributions, sector of practice, licensing/regulation, and education and training capacity.
The FIP-GPO builds on the long-term foundational history that FIP has in collating and using pharmacy-related data to create a global data hub that can be researched to inform advocacy work in areas such as policy development, decision-making, the advancement of pharmaceutical practice, health and life sciences, education and skills training, and workforce intelligence. The FIP-GPO delivers an expansive set of validated information to drive evidence-based analysis of past, current and future trends.
The FIP-GPO monitors trends in the global pharmaceutical workforce to better understand the supply of pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy support workers, and to correlate trends with population growth demographics and disease burden.
Given the importance of FIP’s repository of data and source of intelligence, the FIP Bureau approved a new FIP position of director for the FIP-GPO. Prof. Bates, in this post, will direct the work to improve, refine, expand and grow the intelligence through partnerships for the benefit of FIP member organisations and partners, with the overall aim of supporting transformation of practice to meet the increasing healthcare demands being experienced across all countries.
Professor Bob Sindelar, chair of the FIP-GPO Advisory Board, welcomed Prof. Bates’s appointment and said: “I know that the knowledge, experience, vision and leadership skills that Professor Bates brings to this new post along with the extensive list of his previous successes position him extremely well to lead the work of the FIP-GPO during this next stage of its ambitious development.”
This is an exciting challenge, coming at a time of disruption in our profession. If we are to accelerate the importance and impact of our members and our entire pharmaceutical workforce, we will need data-driven intelligence. I’m looking forward to engaging with all our members and practitioners in order to contribute to this crucial goal.
Professor Bates
FIP president Dominique Jordan said: “The appointment of Professor Bates by the FIP Bureau is timely and important for FIP. I am delighted to work with Ian and the team he will direct at FIP. Together, we will ensure the FIP-GPO is a fundamental benefit for FIP member organizations and partners. For me, the FIP-GPO is of central importance to our federation and will assist us in meeting the needs of the profession as we secure our position as essential in all communities and societies, in primary health care and universal health coverage. With data and intelligence, we will be able to support the transformation of both practice and the pharmacy workforce, to bridge the gap we see between nations and meet increasing healthcare demands. I look forward to the next steps and work during the coming months, with the support of the FIP Bureau and the GPO Advisory Committee.’’
