Competencies for advanced services announced
The competencies community pharmacists will need to possess in order to provide advanced services under the new pharmacy contract in England and Wales were announced this week.
Alongside the competency framework, the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating
Committee also published a standard form that can be used by pharmacists
during the medicines review process.
The competency framework is designed for higher education institutes
since they will be responsible for accrediting pharmacists to provide
advanced services. It will be up to the institutes to decide how to carry
out the assessments, which could involve paper-based or online methods.
Alastair Buxton, head of NHS services at the PSNC, said that a number
of higher
education institutes had expressed interest in providing assessments.
However, it is too early to say how many institutes will do so, what
form they will take and when assessments will start.
A number of different approaches are expected, with some education providers
setting up separate training courses for the advanced services accreditation,
some adding the assessment into the process of gaining existing postgraduate
qualifications, such as clinical diplomas, and others providing stand-alone
assessments without a training course. Pharmacists do not have to undertake
specific training before being assessed.
Five competency areas are specified in the framework:
· Demonstrate relevant clinical and pharmaceutical knowledge to deliver
a medicines use review (MUR), taking into account the patient’s
individual needs
· Demonstrate the ability to identify and make recommendations around
therapeutic issues relating to patient safety, and clinical and cost-effectiveness
· Demonstrate the ability to identify, access, evaluate and use available
written sources of information
· Demonstrate the ability to reach a shared agreement with patients
· Ensure recommendations agreed with the patients are documented and
appropriately communicated in a timely manner
Two services currently fit into the advanced services tier: the MUR
and a prescription intervention service. Both consist of the same medicines
review; the only difference is the way in which they are initiated (PJ,
23 October 2004, p602).
Copies of the new standard form to be used during the reviews can be
downloaded from the “new
contract” section of the PSNC website and a Word e-form will
be made available soon. It is likely that a paper copy of the form will
be produced and it is also
expected that pharmacy software suppliers will incorporate the form into
their systems.
Mr Buxton hopes that the specifications for the enhanced services will
be made available in the first quarter of this year. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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