The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7166 p373-376
22 September 2001

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NHS targets pharmacy to improve working lives

Pharmacy is the first single professional group to be targeted by the Department of Health under its “Improving working lives” initiative (PJ, 16 September 2000, p384).

“Improving working lives for the pharmacy team” takes the form of a set of case histories intended to stimulate discussion between pharmacy managers and their staff about what can be done.

The document claims that the examples of good practice it gives show how changes advocated in the pharmacy plan — re-engineering services around patients, supporting patients better and making the most of skill mix and new technology — can be implemented.

The examples are organised in five groups:

1. working flexibly
2. working environment
3. professional development
4. cross-sector working
5. skill mix

In each case an introduction is followed by a small number of examples accompanied by a contact for an individual responsible for the changes made.

The final section poses a number of questions that pharmacy managers and their staff can consider to analyse the state of affairs where they work and how to make things better.

A clue as to why pharmacy is the first profession to receive a targeted working lives document is given in the document, which says: “Pharmacy differs from other health professions in that far more qualified staff are employed outside the NHS than within it.”

“Improving working lives” is intended to result in sufficient numbers of motivated staff being employed in the NHS to deliver the standards of care envisaged in the NHS plan. NHS organisations are expected to be able to prove that they have improved the working lives of staff by April 2003 and that they have plans to fill any gaps within a limited time.

Details are available here (PDF* 1.25 MB).

Information on the “Improving working lives” initiative can be found at the Department of Health website.

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