Selling Animal Medicines? Stay within the law!
By Louise Millsopp, College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), Greenmount Campus.
It is a requirement under the Code of Practice for the Registration of Retail Premises and Suitably Qualified Persons (SQP) that all persons, except qualified pharmacists and veterinary surgeons, must have undertaken an agreed programme of study and succeeded in an examination provided by the Animal Medicines Training and Regulatory Authority (AMTRA).
A registered SQP can only supply authorised animal medicines from premises which have been approved for the storage and supply of veterinary medicinal products. There are currently 114 registered premises; premises approvals in Northern Ireland are made by the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS NI).
CAFRE is the only centre in Northern Ireland approved to deliver SQP training and provide examination facilities. It has a long history of delivering this training and since 2000 it has trained and provided assessment for 173 SQPs.
Ian Stewart, Practice Partner, Parklands Veterinary Clinic in Dungannon comments "By having training available locally, it gaveour practice the opportunity to increase its level of service to clients, especially in the area of preventative POM-VPS medicine. Developmentof staff is important both to the practice and tothe veterinary profession and we were delighted that following the recent training course at Greenmount, six of our staff obtained passes in the AMTRA examinations, and obtained their SQP registrations ".
CAFRE will be delivering this SQP training again in September 2009. For further information on dates, costs and an application form, contact the Short Course Administration 028 9442 6819. Places are limited and are allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.
Parklands Veterinary Clinic staff in Dungannon who recently completed training at Greenmount Campus and successfully gained their SQP status.
Left to right: Janine Hadden-Eakin, Sharon Hazelton and David Mulligan (Practice Manager)
Left to right: Janine Hadden-Eakin, Sharon Hazelton and David Mulligan (Practice Manager)
For information on premises approval, contact the DHSSPS NI on 028 9052 0500.
