The Next Chapter: Building the College’s New Strategic Plan Feb. 20, 2017

The Next Chapter: Building the College’s New Strategic Plan

2017 promises to be a busy year for the College. Not only will it present us with opportunities to provide better health through excellence in pharmacy, it also marks the beginning of our new 3-year strategic plan.

As we transition into the next chapter of pharmacy in BC, let’s take a moment to reflect on our last strategic plan and how we used it to guide our organizational objectives and and continue to improve how we protect patient safety. 

2014/15 – 2016/17: Looking To The Past

Big results require big ambitions, and the last 3 years haven’t been short on either. We started with a comprehensive strategic plan at the beginning of 2014 aimed at advancing the quality of pharmacy services to optimize patient outcomes. This involved engaging with multiple stakeholder groups in the development of 5 strategic focus areas and a detailed plan for improvements and initiatives within them.

The following graphic shows how we incorporated those 5 strategic focus areas into some of our most important initiatives from the past 3 years. 

*These initiatives are listed in no particular order

En Route to The Future

One of the biggest challenges in crafting our new strategic plan was ensuring that it continued the legacy of the the previous plan, building on our work to protect patient safety and improve patient outcomes, and at the same time, placed a renewed focus on professional and organizational excellent while also responding to the dynamic nature of pharmacy practice.

In order to inform the refinement of our strategic priorities for the next three years, the College conducted various stakeholder feedback initiatives including a legislative priorities workshop, an environmental scan and an online engagement campaign. 

In January 2016, the College used the online engagement tool ThoughtExchange to collect candid, detailed feedback and recommendations from registrants, healthcare stakeholders and the public to help identify key opportunities within our Strategic Plan. Supplementing this with robust social media outreach resulted in one of the College’s most extensive strategic planning engagements.

2017 – 2020: The Next Three Years

The abundance and diversity of responses - together with other forms of strategic planning input - helped us identify four strategic themes that will guide the College in continuing to achieve its Mission and to support the unique needs of the public, our registrants and our staff over the next three years. 

Legislative Standards and Modernization  The College will work to modernize the legislative requirements under the Pharmacy Operations and Drug Scheduling Act to ensure they are clear, consistent and enforceable.	Drug Therapy Access and Monitoring  The College will explore avenues that enhance the ability of pharmacy professionals to maximize the public’s access to safe, high quality drug therapy.
Professional Excellence  The College will ensure that the practice of pharmacy meets or exceeds the standards set out to protect the public and maintain their trust.	Organizational Excellence  The College will ensure the efficacy and efficiency of its foundational business processes, technological supports, and organization of its governance and staffing to meet the ongoing needs of registrants, pharmacy owners, directors, staff, the public and other stakeholders.

The new 3-year Strategic Plan was approved at the February 17, 2017 Board Meeting.