Keep pharmacists close to pharmacies
Pharmacies must have pharmacists in them at all times, say professional
representatives |
Pharmacists should not be absent from pharmacies for any great length of time, professional representatives say in a series of cautious responses to the Department of Health's “Vision for pharmacy”.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the National Pharmaceutical Association
and the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee have each responded
to the vision document, which was issued in July this year (PJ, 26 July,
p106).
Overall, they note that additional and secure funding streams will be
needed to support the parts of the vision document that describe enhanced
roles for community pharmacists.
As the National Pharmaceutical Association puts it: “If the Department
is serious about harnessing community pharmacists’ skills, enhancing
community pharmacists’ contribution to health care and fully integrating
community pharmacists into the National Health Service, then it must
be prepared to match these words with the necessary investment to secure
the implementation of the process.” Support for pharmacies in getting
connected to the NHSnet is cited as an example of this by the three bodies.
The responses also say that some parts of the vision are incompatible
and that other parts are dependent on the outcomes of other issues, such
as generics reimbursement, control of entry and the new pharmacy contract.
On the subject of supervising dispensing and pharmacy sales, the pharmacy
vision advocates allowing pharmacy technicians to dispense and sell without
a pharmacist being present. The Society says that it would have “serious
reservations about schemes which left pharmacies without pharmacists
for periods of time or which made pharmacists personally responsible
for more than one pharmacy at the same time.” The Society adds
that pharmacies will need adequate resources and support in order to
develop appropriately skilled support staff, without whom they will not
be able to deliver or sustain new services.
To the PSNC, having a pharmacist present at all times is community pharmacy’s
unique selling point. It adds: “It seems inconceivable that the
Department should on the one hand highlight and encourage provision of
pharmacist managed services and on the other hand suggest that community
pharmacies can be supervised from afar.”
The NPA says that little is known about whether pharmacy support staff
actually want to take on such extended roles. As for pharmacists, “it
is possible that allowing pharmacists to leave the pharmacy will be a
step too far for pharmacists who currently cannot remove themselves even
from the mechanical dispensing process, let alone the pharmaceutical
assessment,” the NPA adds. It describes proposals to let pharmacists
leave their pharmacies, while at the same time increasing referrals to
community pharmacies through NHS Direct and other schemes, as “mutually
antagonistic”.
Other parts of the vision which are criticised include proposals on moving
to patient packs (“A missed opportunity” — PSNC, “Do
not go far enough” — the Society); the chief pharmaceutical
officer’s 10 key roles for pharmacy (“Not aspirational enough” — NPA);
and the role of pharmacists on primary care trusts, where there is a
unanimous desire to see community pharmacists appointed to all PCT professional
executive committees. |
