Better communication
Pharmacists became supplementary prescribers over a year ago — the first registered pharmacist to sign a prescription was pictured in The Journal on 27 March 2004 (p369). Earlier this month the Society hosted a meeting to discuss progress made over the past year and the description of proceedings (p513) makes uncomfortable reading.
When supplementary prescribing was first mooted, the Government had high hopes
that there would be 1,000 trained pharmacist supplementary prescribers by the
end of 2004. There are currently 453 on the Register. More tellingly, if those
attending the meeting are anything to go by, only two thirds of those on the
Register will be actively prescribing.
Does this signify any real problems or is it just teething troubles?
The meeting heard about a number of difficulties that supplementary prescribers
are facing. These range from lack of support from GP computer software systems,
together with a lack of access to patient records, to difficulties in establishing
clinical management plans and funding issues. A more surprising difficulty has
come from within the profession, as The Journal reported last week — that
community pharmacists in parts of the country have not been prepared to dispense
prescriptions signed by pharmacists (23 April, p481).
There is one lesson for the governments in the home countries and the profession
if the original hopes for supplementary prescribing — and independent prescribing — are
to be realised. Communication. The Journal has tried to do its bit. We ran a
themed issue at the beginning of 2003, have put the topic on the cover on a number
of other occasions and have been assiduous in following the activities of the
first supplementary prescribers. But that is clearly not enough. If members of
the profession do not understand what supplementary prescribers do, what hope
is there for patients?
And what has the Government done? Very little. The new administration, whatever
its colour, should as a matter of urgency plan a campaign explaining that doctors’ traditional
skills are now shared with other experts, otherwise everyone’s vision for
the health service will falter.
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Whistle-blowing without fear
Whatever walk of life you are in, calling a halt to someone else’s bad behaviour is intimidating. How many people nowadays even have the courage to tell teenagers not to drop litter in the street? How much harder it is for a professional to raise concerns about another professional person’s activities.
The Society has drawn up some guidance, “Raising concerns” (PDF 150K),
which is published as the centre section of this week’s issue.
Although it will not make it easy to take action, following the guidance
will help pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to take appropriate steps
if they are worried about a fellow health care professional’s standards
of practice.
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Pharmaceutical Journal