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Pharmacy technicians

Competent and motivated

From Mr G. Brack, MRPharmS

I am delighted that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Council has decided to consult the membership on self-checking by technicians (PJ, April 14, p499). I have argued for some time that community pharmacists have been inhibited from making the best of their technician staff and that our workload could be significantly reduced if we were able to allow our technicians to cross-check each other. Of course, there will still be a pharmacist check at some stage, but our technician staff are competent, motivated and probably make fewer errors than I do.

For example, when filling monitored dosage trays, our practice is to count the required tablets and check at that stage for identity and number; thus, if we arrive at the last space missing a tablet, we know it must have gone into a space elsewhere, and there is no temptation simply to take an extra tablet. The check for identity and number should not need to wait for a pharmacist; two technicians could check each other's work without increased risk to the patient. Moreover, on such checks I ask technicians to check me, because if errors are made in counting I am as likely to make them as they are.

When the consultation begins, I shall therefore urge the Council not to restrict any change to our hospital colleagues, but to respect the professionalism of technicians and free them to give extra support to community pharmacists. This will, in turn, require continuing professional development for technicians and the structures which will support this.

Graham Brack
Truro, Cornwall

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