Scott Cunningham

Dr Scott Cunningham

Position: Head of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice

Professional body membership

General Pharmaceutical Council
Royal Pharmaceutical Society

Key duties and responsibilities

Head of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice
Teaching Fellow
Convenor of Validations and Internal Reviews
Member of the Robert Gordon University Institute of Health and Welfare Research (IHWR)

As Head of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacy Practice I have responsibility for the day-to-day management of 19 members of staff and take professional and academic oversight of the development and delivery of clinical and pharmacy practice related modules within the following courses; MPharm, MSc Clinical Pharmacy practice and MSc Advanced Pharmacy Practice, PgDip / MSc OSPAP course.

I am an active pharmacy practice researcher and am an ‘established’ member of the RGU Institute for Health and Welfare Research. I regularly convene internal course validation / internal review panels for the RGU Academic Affairs department and act as an independent Senior Member of Staff on the Assessment Boards of other Schools within the University.

To fulfil the above roles I am a member of various school committees/groups:

School Senior Team
School Academic Board
Postgraduate pharmacy programmes management team
MPharm course management team and Review Group
Overseas Pharmacists Assessment Programme (OSPAP) course management team

I represent the School on the Robert Gordon University Postgraduate Professional Studies Programme and I am the independent senior staff member that sits on the School of Nursing and Midwifery Assessment Board.

I am currently the external examiner for two courses; MSc Clinical Pharmacy at the University of Bradford and MSc Advanced Practice at the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Stirling University.

In 2008 I was a member of the Scottish Government advisory group that lead to the Ritchie Report: Establishing Effective Therapeutic Partnerships - A generic framework to underpin the Chronic Medication Service element of the Community Pharmacy Contract and subsequently sat on the Scottish Government Chronic Medication Service Reference Group.

I have represented the School, for two terms, on the University’s Quality Assurance and Enhancement Committee, and I have completed a term of office on Academic Council.

I am also a Pharmacy Subject Advisor for the Health Sciences and Practice division of the Higher Education Academy.
At an international level have been privileged to act as a Preceptor for PharmD students from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Centre. In my capacity as Postgraduate Programmes Leader I have visited a number of countries to discuss collaborative projects and for course delivery including: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Ghana and Serbia and Montenegro. I have a particular interest in the development of further international links for postgraduate study.

Academic background

I graduated from Strathclyde University with a BSc (Hons) in Pharmacy in 1989, upper second classification. I was awarded a PgDip Clinical Pharmacy in 1994 and a PhD in 2001 both from the Robert Gordon University.

Current research

I am active in research and my research interests are wide and varied and include many aspects of pharmacy practice and education. I am a member of the RGU Institute of Health and Welfare Research and the School clinical and practice and the pharmacy education research groups. I am also a member of the prescribing research group and the re-classification of medicines research group.

Pharmacist prescribing

As a member of the Prescribing Research Group I am involved in researching aspects of pharmacist prescribing including: the training programme, why some pharmacists choose to train as prescribers and others do not; how pharmacist prescribers actually practise; the views of the pharmacist prescribers, their doctor colleagues and the patients themselves. The Prescribing Research Group is working in collaboration with colleagues at RGU, the University of Aberdeen and NHS Education for Scotland.

Reclassified Medicines

As a member of the Reclassification of Medicines Research Group I have an interest in; the processes by which pharmacists (and their staff) do (or do not) adopt newly reclassified medicines into their practice; how patients use these medicines; and the potential impact of independent prescribing by community pharmacists. The group has been involved in a number of research projects in these areas along with colleagues at RGU, the University of Aberdeen and the Welsh School of Pharmacy.

Chronic Medication Services

Through previous professional and academic experience I have a strong interest in the Chronic Medication Service part of the new community pharmacy contract in Scotland. This interest stems from many years of involvement in the education and training of pharmacists in pharmaceutical care planning and therapeutics. I am a member of a small group within the School that will be researching aspects of the development and implementation of this service.

Potential areas for PhD projects / Research collaboration

Reclassification of medicines
Chronic Medication Services and prescribing
International collaborations in pharmacy practice and education in particular the use of e-learning in developing countries

Funding

Investigating prescribing by community pharmacists in Scotland, Community Pharmacy Scotland.
Amount: £49,000
Dates: October 2007 for 3 years.
Project team: Maxwell Dapar, Derek Stewart, Scott Cunningham, Dorothy McCaig, Lesley Diack

Investigating reclassification of medicines from prescription only medicines to pharmacy medicines in Scotland, Community Pharmacy Scotland.
Amount:£49,000
Dates:October 2007 for 3 years
Project team: Vibhu Paudyal, Derek Stewart, Scott Cunningham, Denise Hansford

Exploring and evaluating prescribing by pharmacists, NES.
Amount: £300,000
Dates:October 2007 for 4 years
Project Team:Katie MacLure, Rhea Hatcher, Derek Stewart, Scott Cunningham, Dorothy McCaig, Lesley Diack

Facilitating the implementation of the community pharmacy contract in Scotland through development of an E-learning / support network - CPD:Advantage, NHS Education for Scotland (Pharmacy).
Amount: £30, 000
Dates: June 2008 – June 2009
Project Team: Scott Cunningham, Frances Notman, Lesley Diack, Terry Healey

Knowledge Transfer: Developing community pharmacists' clinical skills for chronic disease management II in Scotland, NHS Education for Scotland (Pharmacy).
Amount:£15, 000
Dates: Mar 2010 for 12 months
Project team: Scott Cunningham, Alison Strath, Derek Stewart

Knowledge Transfer: Further Development of the Scottish Vocational Pharmacist Training Scheme (SVPTS) towards an integrated Career Framework in Scotland, NHS Education for Scotland (Pharmacy)
Amount: £15,000
Dates: Mar 2010 – still to be submitted to CREDO
Project team: Alison Strath, Scott Cunningham.

Key publications

Paudyal V, Hansford D, Cunningham S, Stewart D.(2010) Pharmacy assisted patient self care of minor ailments: A chronological review of UK health policy documents and key events 1997–2010 Health Policy, 2011:101:3 253-259. DOI:10.1016/j.healthpol.2011.05.010

Stewart D, Cunningham ITS, Hansford D, John D, McCaig D, McLay J. (2010) General practitioners’ views and experiences of over-the-counter simvastatin. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 2010; 70:3; 356-359. DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2125.2010.03701.x

Stewart D, George J, Cleland J, Bond C, Diack L, McCaig D, Cunningham S, MacLure K.(2010) Developing and validating a tool for assessment of pharmacist prescribers’ consultations. Family Practice 2010; 0:1–7. DOI: 10.1093/fampra/cmq034

Paudyal V, Hansford D, Cunningham ITS, Stewart D.(2010) Cross-sectional survey of community pharmacists’ views of the electronic minor ailment system in Scotland. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice 2010; 18 (4):194-201. DOI: 10.1111/j.2042-7174.2010.00042.x

Derek Stewart; IT Scott Cunningham; Denise Hansford; Dai John; Dorothy McCaig; James McLay.(2010) General practitioners views and experiences of over-the-counter simvastatin in Scotland British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. 2010. 70 (3): 356–359.DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2010.03701.x

Edwards R, Cunningham ITS. (2009) Achieving shared understanding of assessment criteria in reflection. In Bulpitt, H Deane, M. Connecting reflective learning, teaching and assessment. Occassional Paper 10. London: Higher Education Academy. Pp. 63-66.

Stewart DC, George J, Diack LH, Bond CM, McCaig DJ Cunningham ITS, Munro K, Pfleger D. (2009) A cross sectional survey of the Scottish general public’s awareness, views and attitudes to non-medical prescribing. Annals of Pharmacotherapy 2009;43:1115-1121.DOI: 10.1345/aph.1L609