Peter Pratt: the psychiatric pharmacy placement programme aims “to
sow the seed of enthusiasm” |
Overall there is a national shortage of pharmacists who choose to work
in psychiatry or mental health, says Peter Pratt, Chief Pharmacist at
Doncaster and South Humber Healthcare NHS Trust.
Mr Pratt’s novel solution to this problem is to offer a programme
of one-day taster
placements to pharmacists who are interested in a change of direction
and want to find out more about working in mental health
pharmacy.
“A lot of pharmacists or pharmacy students have never had the chance
to experience working in the fascinating field of mental health,” Mr
Pratt explains. “This
project gives us the opportunity to show pharmacists and pharmacy students
how
interesting and rewarding it can be to work in psychiatric practice.”
Mr Pratt believes that simply giving pharmacists the chance to see what
mental health pharmacy involves should help persuade them to apply for
positions in the area.The lack of enthusiasm is, to some degree, Mr Pratt
argues, a result of inadequacies in
undergraduate psychiatric training.
“I can distinctly remember the total lack of any contact with patients
in my training,” he says, arguing that this lack of contact leads
to the notion that mental health is all about biochemistry and neurones
and a failure to appreciate the “people side” of mental illness.
By giving pharmacists the opportunity to see the difference they can
make to the lives of psychiatric patients, Mr Pratt hopes to be able
to help generate the enthusiasm necessary to make pharmacists apply for
positions in mental health pharmacy.
“The idea is to sow the seed of enthusiasm, so that people aren’t
scared of mental
illness and can see whether their skills and
experience can be applied,” Mr Pratt
explains.
Funding
The National Institute for Mental Health in England is providing the
funding for the project, as part of the Mental Health Care Group Workforce
team looking at modern roles and ways of working in mental health.
The team includes Barry Foley, mental health lead at NIHME and Roslyn
Hope, director of the National Workforce Programme.
One of the keys aims of the workforce
strategy is “to identify and use creative means to recruit and
retain people in the workforce in order to increase the overall numbers
in
successive years”.
The concept of taster placements provides an innovative solution to recruitment
problems and, since money was specifically ring-fenced for mental health
pharmacy, Mr Pratt was able to put in a bid for £9,000 to fund
the project, allowing reasonable travel and accommodation costs to be
refunded to successful candidates. Importantly, the funds will also be
able to cover locum fees, so that
potential applicants need not worry that they will have to pay out of
their own pockets to cover absences. Individual tailoring
At the initial interview, each applicant
is asked in which areas of psychiatric
pharmacy they are particularly interested and each taster day is then
designed around the applicant’s preferences. These can include
acute inpatient care, outreach and early
intervention, substance misuse, old-age
psychiatry, rehabilitation psychiatry or any other area. Applicants are
also asked why they want to come for a taster and what their
career aspirations are.
Since the taster days are individually tailored, options can be discussed
which are not directly covered in the Doncaster and South Humber Healthcare
NHS Trust area.
The programme will run for a year and over that time, Mr Pratt aims to
give
placements to 40 pharmacists. If the
programme fails to recruit enough
pharmacists, a stand at a major pharmacy conference will be organised
to promote
the scheme to potential applicants. The
stand could also be used to explain the
programme to other specialist pharmacists who may be interested in starting
a similar scheme to help recruitment in their specialty,
Mr Pratt suggests.
Mr Pratt is determined that the project should take off and achieve its
aims. “We need to make sure this isn’t just another bright
idea. We need to learn from it — learn what works well and what
the problems are,” adds Mr Pratt, pointing out that good ideas
often founder in the detail of their implementation.
He decided, therefore, that, for the taster programme to be successful,
the administrative details have to be right. A secretary
has therefore been given the specific job
of organising the administration of the
project.
Evaluation of the project will begin before pharmacists come for their
placements. There will also be post-project assessment, Mr Pratt says: “They
will be followed up two to three months later to see whether anyone has
bitten the bullet and made the move to psychiatric pharmacy.”
The results of this evaluation will be
crucial when applying for further funds.
If the project is successful, it will mean the idea can be presented
to other primary care trusts, with the simple message: “This is
something you should be doing as part of your own recruitment and retention
campaign.” Generic applicability
Although the programme is primarily aimed at pharmacists, it should
certainly be possible, Mr Pratt points out, to arrange something beyond
the programme,
so that pharmacy students or preregistration trainees thinking of going
into psychiatric pharmacy can see what specialist psychiatric pharmacists
do and the difference that pharmacists can make to patient care.
There is also no reason, Mr Pratt argues, why the idea should not be
extended
to any other specialist pharmacy areas
facing recruitment difficulties: “Maybe all
difficult-to-recruit-to specialties will think about this.”
Putting money aside for such placements would also make financial sense
given the costs incurred when recruitment fails, Mr Pratt argues. “Why
has nobody thought ‘We’ll put £10,000 aside [for recruitment].’ Because
not being able to recruit anyone for three or four months will cost that.
Three or four
adverts will cost that.”
It may be, then, that the profession will
see similar placements in other specialties in
the future, giving pharmacists who
are looking to change careers a real
understanding of what specialist pharmacy can offer. Anyone who would
like to apply for one of the taster placements should
contact Doncaster and South Humber Healthcare NHS Trust on 01302 796226. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal