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As most community pharmacists gradually get to grips with the new pharmacy
contract concerns are being raised that one group of pharmacists are
feeling left behind — community locums.
Making up a significant number of the pharmacy workforce (8,500 in 2003),
the locum population has a considerable impact on patient care. In terms
of the provision of advanced services, locums can not only hold the fort
while the regular pharmacist is performing medicines use reviews, for
example, but can become accredited to perform MURs themselves, helping
primary care trusts to meet their targets.
However, according to Jeremy Reuben, managing director of Locumlink,
an agency, there is a lack of understanding among locums about how the
new contract will change the way they work, and where they should go
for information. “Many locums are unclear about continuing professional
development requirements, new training regulations and how to get accredited
to carry out advanced services,” he says.
Writing in a recent Broad spectrum article (PJ, 9 April, p420), Malcolm
Almond, a community pharmacist from West Yorkshire, called for more training
for locum pharmacists.
“As the profession changes little training is currently offered
to freelance locums to cope with new roles,” he wrote. “Local
services such as supervised methadone consumption and head lice treatment
have
been introduced and community pharmacists have been offered appropriate
training. However, the freelance locum is thrown in at the deep end to
sink or swim.”
Mr Reuben says that some locums believe that their colleagues who work
for multiples or who are independent contractors receiving support from
virtual chains are spoon-fed information and training, and that locums
who do not have such head office support are being overlooked.
He explains how Locumlink has teamed up with the National Pharmaceutical
Association to try to bridge this gap. Locumlink is now running a number
of seminars across England covering essential and advanced services and
continuing professional development. The seminars are designed to make
sure locums understand how the new contract will affect them, and to
address any questions they may have.
Amal Hamood, a community pharmacy locum from the London area, says that
she is keen to be able to provide advanced and enhanced services, but
was not sure how to go about it before attending one of the seminars.
“As a locum you can feel quite isolated and have to work harder
to find information,” she says.
Miss Hamood says that she wants to be as versatile as she can in the
services that she can provide, to make the most of her clinical skills
and put her learning into practice. She says that the seminar has made
her more aware of the training available from higher education institutes,
and the help available from NPA Link, a level of NPA membership available
to pharmacists in any field of practice, including locums.
Mr Reuben says that the intention of the seminars is to encourage locums
to use Locumlink as a starting point for information and Locumlink will
then point them in the right direction to obtain the help they need.
Locums are required to register with the agency but Mr Reuben says that
access to information and training is independent of locums taking bookings.
He adds that Locumlink plans to develop these training sessions further
to include courses on services such as smoking cessation and diabetes
clinics.
Marketability
An advertisement placed in The Journal in February seeks a well
trained locum |
As self-employed people, locums should bear in mind the increased marketability
that undertaking extra training will provide for them, says Sukhjit
Grewal, assistant head of education and training at the NPA. He says
that locums need to keep up with the changes in order to maintain
their marketability and provide the best services for patients, as pharmacy
contractors are beginning to offer advanced services.
It follows that a locum trained to offer a higher levels of service
could demand a higher fee, he points out, and pharmacies are already
starting
to advertise for locums equipped with these skills (see illustration
right).
However, Mr Grewal acknowledges that locums may understandably want
to wait until they are sure of demand for these services in the areas
in
which they work before committing their time and resources to training. CPD
Mr Grewal notes that locums can record relevant training and accreditation
as CPD. Some locums have expressed concerns about how CPD will apply
to them, but Mr Grewal points out that locums will be monitored for
CPD in the same way as other pharmacists are and that the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society’s “Plan and record” resource is unbiased
towards locums or other pharmacists.
Mr Grewal believes that locums will benefit from higher standards of
working practices in the future. Standard operating procedures will enable
the pharmacist to see which staff are trained to carry out duties such
as accuracy checks. “This will allow the locum to spend more time
out at the counter, where the public now expect to see their pharmacist,” he
says. PCT registration
Mr Reuben says that one of the main areas worrying locums is the issue
of whether accreditation is transferable across primary care organisation
areas, and whether locums will have to be registered separately in
each area in which they may want to work.
Alastair Buxton, head of NHS services at the Pharmaceutical Services
Negotiating Committee, told The Journal that although the profession
is waiting for ministers to clarify this issue in the Fitness to Practise
regulations, the suggestion so far is that locums will only have to enrol
on the supplementary list of the PCT in which they are registered.
Mr Buxton says that this registration will help primary care trusts to
improve communication with their locums, which may prevent locums feeling
left out of the loop.
“PCTs currently have no idea which locum pharmacists are working
in their area,” he said. “If there was a register of locums
then local pharmaceutical committees and PCTs could inform locums about
current
issues and local training events, for example.”
Mr Buxton does not think that locum pharmacists are currently disadvantaged
in terms of access to national training. He points out that locums have
the same access to open learning packs from the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate
Education, higher education institutes, professional journals, and online
resources as contractors. Rather, he feels that it is the locums themselves
who need to be proactive and make the most of these opportunities. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal