Welcome to the latest MHRA GDP blog post!
I’m Claire Glenister, a GDP Inspector who has been working for the agency for 3 years. This blog is to communicate highlights from the 2015 GDP days at the MHRA Symposium, at which I presented and also helped to organise.
It was a busy time for the presenters and those who helped to organise the event, this year more than usual for GDP as an additional day was scheduled to be held in Glasgow in January 2016. The purpose of this was to try to make the event accessible to more people from the industry and attract some delegates who were unable to travel to London in December. The additional date enabled us to offer more delegate places and reduce our waiting list. As usual, the London event sold out very quickly and a number of interested delegates instead secured a space on the Glasgow date.
The GDP days covered a varied range of what we considered to be poignant and varied topics, including the most common deficiencies that we, as inspectors, see whilst out and about and information regarding the up-coming changes and the impact of the Falsified Medicines Directive. We also heard about the new distance selling logo and how important and complex the task of contracting out aspects of GDP can be. There was even a quiz thrown in for delegates to test themselves on whether they had been taking in all of the information that had been circulated during the day. Those that felt they needed more time to digest all of the information or feed back to their respective companies had the opportunity to download all of the presentations from the delegate area on the website and utilise them as they saw fit. With GDP being such a vast and varied business to operate in, the aim was to include something for everyone.
Delegates also had the opportunity to speak directly and informally with inspectors and ask them any questions they may have during the ‘inspectors surgeries’. Those who did not get the chance to meet with an inspector still had the opportunity to submit questions on-line. These questions will be reviewed by the team and the answers posted to the delegate website.
We also had a record number of stands in the refreshment area including Pharmaceutical Press, Parental Drug Association, ISPE and Cogent which were popular with attendees.
The day is a also a great opportunity for the us to meet with industry personnel outside of the inspection environment and in a less formal setting.
We have received a substantial number of positive comments and feedback from delegates and we are pleased that you found the event useful and interesting. For those who have ideas about how we can improve the content for 2016, please let us know, your feedback is very important to us….it is only with your input that we can create the symposium that you want.
It was pleasant surprise to note that for a large number of both the London and Glasgow delegates it was their first time attending an MHRA GDP Symposium. It is heartening for us, as an inspectorate, to know that the event is reaching out and attracting new professionals to come and see what it is all about and take home new contacts and information.
Never ones for resting, we are already looking to secure a venue and dates for the 2016 Symposiums at the end of the year and are reviewing all the feedback we received from attendees of the 2015 event so that we are able to put together an even more interesting and relevant agenda for the next one.
So…a huge thank you to all of you who attended, to the presenters and organisers and also to our events management team from Glasgows and our own Communications department – all of whom contributed to making the event such a success. We’re already looking forward to welcoming you all to the 2016 event.
