The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 272 No 7295 p480-481
17 April 2004

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British Pharmaceutical Students Association

Is remote supervision a good thing? Opinion among students is divided

Remote supervision of a pharmacy should not be rolled out nationwide; this was a motion that students at the conference could not agree upon.

Richard Ketley, Aston, who proposed the motion, said that since pharmacists are supposed to be the first port of call for patients, he was concerned that they might not be pleased to find a computer screen instead of a person. He referred participants to an article in The Journal (27 March, p377) which describes a system designed to facilitate remote supervision. He pointed out that body language is an important part of the two-way communication process between pharmacists and patients. Pharmacists’ body language can help them to get their message across, and patients’ body language can often indicate how they are feeling, he said. “Things might not be picked up if the pharmacist is in a remote situation,” he added.

Mr Ketley suggested that remote supervision might lead to patients requiring an appointment to consult their pharmacist, and may even result in patients going to visit their GPs instead. “If customers have to wait while an assistant types in questions to transmit to the pharmacist they will get irate — people will walk away,” he said.

Chinelo Onyiagha, Portsmouth, seconded the motion saying that if pharmacists are busy advising patients via a computer screen, she did not understand how this will free their time to carry out other roles.

Thomas Wyllie, Nottingham, said that he agreed with the motion, however he could see that there are benefits with the computer system, for example, having set questions that have to be asked before the sale of specific over-the-counter products.

Ravina Tasgaonkar, Portsmouth, said that the technology will allow pharmacists to be accessible for longer periods, for example, during unsocial hours. She suggested that a pilot in a range of pharmacies would be helpful.

Richard Taggart, Manchester, said that remote supervision may in the future allow a patient who has difficulty in getting to a pharmacy to dial in and speak to a pharmacist from their home. He suggested that another advantage is that pharmacists could refer suitable patients to specialist pharmacists via the videolink.

Emily Richards, Portsmouth, asked whether remote supervision is legal. She said that until the Department of Health has made a decision on this then the BPSA cannot rule on the motion.

In summing up, Mr Ketley said that the public expects a pharmacist to be there and that implementing remote supervision will be like taking a step backwards.

There were 26 votes for, six against and 33 abstentions; the motion was neither carried nor defeated.

Concern about lack of preregistration placements

Concern that not all pharmacy graduates will be able to obtain preregistration placements was an issue that came up several times during the conference. Students had the opportunity to ask Gill Hawksworth, President of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, for her views on the matter following a presentation by Dr Hawskworth on why pharmacists can be confident about the future.

“It is being discussed at the moment that, in the future, preregistration placements will be looked at in terms of clinical placements,” said Dr Hawksworth. She explained that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society sees that pharmacists are being trained in ways different from doctors and nurses. “[The Society] needs to make sure that our students are being trained in the same way,” said Dr Hawksworth. She added that the MPharm at Bradford University is a good model for how things might happen, but warned that it is still early days.

Later in a question and answer session chaired by Digby Emson, superintendent pharmacist, Boots The Chemists, where the same concerns were raised, she said: “Instead of tagging on 12 months’ training at the end of the course ... a clinical placement type of training is something that the Society is working towards looking at how it could be done.” She added that it would need to be funded in a different way.

Students were perplexed as to why new schools of pharmacy are opening when there do not appear to be enough training places to accommodate students graduating from existing schools. “New schools of pharmacy are opening because in the future we are going to need a lot more pharmacists. The schools that have made it to come on board are going to be good because they are new, modern and thinking about working differently,” said Dr Hawksworth.

During the question and answer session, John D’Arcy, chief executive, National Pharmaceutical Association, said that the question is whether pharmacy is a degree that guarantees you become a pharmacist or an academic degree in its own right. It looks like in the future there will be more people with a pharmacy degree than pharmacists, he said. “We are going to have to consider the implications of that. One of the attractions of pharmacy is that you have got a job at the end of that — has that ended,” he asked.

Jonathan Burton, a community pharmacist in Stirling, said that he is not surprised that there are not enough preregistration places. Speaking as a new preregistration tutor, he said that the system of registration and payment to take on a trainee needs an overhaul. Regarding the degree course, he believes that it should not just be a science degree. “The course needs to be focused on producing practitioners, and more practitioners, if we are going to take on these new roles.”

Body to represent individual pharmacists

Emily Richards, Portsmouth, asked members of the panel how they felt about the general absence of a body or organisation that solely represents the interests of British pharmacists and that promotes their worth to society.

Mr Burton said: “With diversification of roles of pharmacists and some of the changes that are happening in the NHS, which may put more emphasis on individual pharmacists rather than contractors and businesses, there is certainly a gap that needs to be filled.”

Dr Hawksworth observed that people have tried and failed to set up a trade union in the past, but commented that “it may be the time is right for other people to look at doing it”.

John D’Arcy said that there are three elements that you need to look at in terms of a representative body: protection, promotion, and providing advice, information and back-up. “I think it is probably true to say that this is being done already through a combination of the various [existing] bodies,” he said. However, he warned that pharmacy is already heavily fragmented and suggested that there may be a way of plugging into an existing resource. “For example, the NPA could expand to take on an individual pharmacist category.”

Elizabeth Doran, BPSA president, commented that the most important thing about how pharmacy is promoted to the public is that pharmacists appear to be singing from the same hymn sheet. “The Royal College of Nursing gets things done because it is so loud and so united — that is why the progressions in nursing have happened a lot earlier than those in pharmacy,” she suggested.

Pharmacy student of the year and patient counselling competition winners announced

James Wood elected president of BPSA

James Wood, a fourth-year student at Aston University, was elected as the new president of the BPSA on 9 April. Mr Wood was a conference organiser this year.

Lucy Wakefield, a third-year student at the University of Nottingham, was elected vice-president.

Elizabeth Doran, outgoing president of the BPSA, was made an honorary life member, as was Kristy Link, Bradford, and David Kearney, a long-term supporter of the BPSA.