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John Hughes is a community pharmacy locum working
within the UK
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A recent Broad
spectrum article expressed the view that the
new contract has “cast adrift” the locum pharmacist (PJ,
9 April, p420). It is clearly a view sincerely held by Malcolm Almond,
author of the
above, and perhaps many more pharmacists, locums and non-locums.
I also work as a community pharmacy locum butsee things from a different
perspective. I would like to challenge the contract implications raised
by Mr Almond because I believe that, contrary
to being “cast adrift”, locums have a pivotal role to play
in delivering the new contract services.
The introduction of standard
operating procedures (SOPs) presents a significant
challenge to locum pharmacists. Locums need to have an ability to understand
rapidly the procedures that have been adopted in a particular business.
It is to be hoped that no problems arise as a result of this appraisal.
It is clear to me thus far, at least, that the introduction of SOPs has
led to a higher standard of operation being adopted in many businesses.
The means of adopting a plan has meant that all pharmacy staff have been
able to think through the method of their work, with inevitable improvements
made.
There can be little doubt that the introduction of checking technicians
has brought about changes to the role of the locum pharmacist. The issues
surrounding this are certainly provocative and in many ways a little
scary. Who will take responsibility for any errors made in the dispensing
process? This can be viewed simply as either a problem, with one answer
being to avoid pharmacies where there are technicians, or, in fact, an
opportunity to engage businesses in dialogue about the needs and expectations
of locums. After all there is a great demand for locum pharmacists. And
this is tied to the main thrust of my view regarding the new contract
implications for locums.
As a community pharmacy locum, I see that it is my responsibility to
prepare myself for whatever I may face. After all, I choose to be in
this role and work in particular pharmacies. I must therefore adapt myself
to a company’s practices. It is up to me to be able to provide
the services offered in a place I choose to work.
Therein lies the opportunity for locums — to be able to offer all
services. This means being proactive about continuing professional development.
It is up to me to keep myself informed about new roles and how to gain
the skills to deliver them, following a suitable assessment of my needs.
My personal challenge is to be able to offer any service provided by
a business, be it dispensing, repeat dispensing, health promotion, medicines
use review,
smoking cessation or whatever the different levels
of the new contract may
demand.
There are difficulties in juggling this with the preparations required
for accreditation. One must read and research topics to keep abreast
of initiatives. Nonetheless, my central tenet is to look for ways to
improve the service I offer to pharmacies and I believe I need to take
control of this, as part of a proactive approach to my CPD.
My aim is to be able and therefore prepared to work in any pharmacy whatever
their circumstances. Thus I want to be able to offer the new services
whether they are essential, advanced or enhanced. This will be an opportunity
to create a unique selling point for me.
It is clear that all locums will need to undertake some form of training
to meet the demands placed upon them in the future. It is therefore more
important than ever that locums keep up to date with the changes being
implemented so that they can be ready to deal with situations arising.
There can be no doubt that achieving a situation whereby I am able to
deliver differing levels of service, to different businesses in different
primary care trusts, represents a significant challenge. One of the difficulties
may well be pulling it all together in a manner that allows easy working
across different trusts, while having to register with each one independently.
It is not clear to me what needs to be done yet about this. I can work,
and presently do, in any number of different PCTs. It would be sensible
to be able to register for accreditation centrally, for instance for
supplying emergency hormonal contraception under a patient group direction,
rather than in each PCT.
A key difficulty here is finding an effective mode of communication.
It does not seem unreasonable for locums to be provided with a registration
system database accessible from all PCTs. This could contain relevant
information to be cascaded to avoid situations where a locum can deliver
a service in one PCT, but not in another, neighbouring one. Who is representing
locums with regard to this issue?
The new community pharmacy contract is a major change to the delivery
of pharmacy services in the future. I see it as a great opportunity for
locum pharmacists to participate in whatever services are being offered.
Locum pharmacists who are proactive and prepared will find no shortage
of demand for their services. Indeed opportunities exist, I am sure,
to negotiate different fees for providing different levels of service.
Like it or not, the new contract is here to stay. Locums will remain
in demand,
playing an important role, having adopted a proactive, enabling approach
to their own development.
While writing this article, I received a letter from a pharmacy chain
offering me the opportunity to see why a career with it could be a rewarding
alternative to locum work. This letter presented a host of suggested
difficulties faced by locums in relation to the new contract, compared
with what that particular company could offer someone as an employee.
For example, “How will you maintain your mandatory CPD?” versus “assistance
throughout the year, accredited courses and bonuses”.
Having outlined my thoughts to myself, suddenly I had a well presented,
well-meaning and intentional challenge to them. I have no objection to
having received such an approach. On the contrary, I found myself needing
to
rethink what I was saying in the article. Maybe locums are being cast
adrift? Maybe one would be better off as an employee with lots of support?
And yet, having rethought my stance, I still believe the opportunity
is vast for locums. If anything, my experience suggests that for any
locum who believes there is a problem, there are suitable alternatives,
and the support offered appears to be good and well organised. Information
and support is available to locums if they are also prepared to go look
for it.
The best approach ought to be one of seizing the opportunity and making
the most of it, enabling locums to ensure they are essential for delivery
of the new contract. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal