Primary care groups are starting to recruit pharmacists in earnest to help them manage their prescribing budgets, now that the cost of prescribing by general medical practitioners has to be met from within overall cash-limited funds.
In one area, Sunderland, the PCGs have asked Sunderland health authority to act as their agent and to invite tenders from organisations or individuals for the provision of pharmaceutical advisory services (PJ, January 22, pA12). Tenderers will be able to bid for contracts to provide strategic pharmaceutical advice and/or prescribing analysis to any or all of the three PCGs in the area.
Sunderland health authority's commissioning development manager (Ms Nicky Plant) told The Journal on January 24 that individuals, community pharmacy companies, hospital pharmacy departments and academic institutions could all be considered for the role.
In County Durham, Easington PCG is seeking to recruit a pharmacist as head of quality assurance and medicines management.
The job includes providing support for clinicians in the design and implementation of clinical governance arrangements, management of clinical governance systems and the introduction of medicines management as a means of achieving cost-effective medicines use.
Numerous other PCGs have also advertised pharmaceutical adviser posts since the beginning of the year.
Kirkby PCG (St Helens and Knowsley health authority) has already appointed a pharmacist (Mr Mark Pilling) as head of clinical governance and prescribing.
Mr Pilling told The Journal on January 24 that the creation of such jobs indicated that general medical practitioners, nurses and PCG boards had decided that they were happy to work with, or even be led by, members of other professions.
"The work of health authority pharmaceutical advisers over 10 years, and now PCG advisers, is starting to establish new career opportunities. We now have a couple of go-ahead PCGs which recognise the potential of pharmacists. The question now is how can we raise awareness of this with the others," Mr Pilling said.