The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7325 p703
13 November 2004

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Locums vote with their feet over poor conditions

Locum pharmacists are reluctant to report poor practice and are more likely to vote with their feet by not returning to that pharmacy, according to a report published this week.

The report, “An exploration of the diversity and complexity of the pharmacy locum workforce”, was commissioned by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society following the 2002 pharmacy workforce census, which showed that 8,000 pharmacists were working as locums (PJ, 10 May 2003, pp658–9). The research was carried out by Karen Hassell and colleagues at the University of Manchester and comprised qualitative telephone interviews with 34 locums, two focus group discussions with six to eight locums and a questionnaire survey measuring job satisfaction distributed to 234 locums.

Poor practice ranged from cramped conditions and lack of support staff to witnessing illegal practices and being intimidated by support staff. The consensus of locums in the focus groups was that if it was a serious breach of practice that could put people’s safety at risk then it was correct to “blow the whistle”. However, in individual interviews some said that they simply would not go back to work at the pharmacy in question. The report concludes that further research would be useful to establish how widespread problems are and what can be done about them.

Lynsey Balmer, head of professional ethics at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society,
commented: “The safety of patients and the public must be the prime consideration,
overriding any personal, professional or commercial loyalties.” She went on: “A
pharmacist’s failure to act on genuine concerns and ignore practices that may pose a risk to patient safety could form the basis of a complaint or professional misconduct. The Society is currently working on guidance to support pharmacists in reporting any such concerns.”

The report also revealed that the most common reason for pharmacists to work as locums is the flexibility it allows, with the freedom to choose both where and when to work being important. According to the report, job satisfaction among locums is high and for many is derived from core aspects of working as a health care professional, such as giving advice on medicines, liaising with other health care professionals and patient contact.

The report is available via PJ Online (www.pjonline.com/links/pj).