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Gareth Jones is editor of Hospital Pharmacist |
Long-held aspirations of many hospital
pharmacists to practise their profession at the highest level and for
the highest rewards — without following the path to senior management — may
now be achieved by the
introduction of consultant pharmacist posts. This
development has come about with the publication by the Department of
Health of the “Guidance
for the development of consultant pharmacist posts”,1 which follows the first announcement of the policy in “A
vision for pharmacy in the new NHS” in 2003.2
Consultant pharmacists will have four main functions: expert practice;
research, evaluation and service development; education, mentoring and
overview of practice; and professional leadership. The title “consultant
pharmacist” will only apply to those appointed to approved posts
and the guidance states that “consultant pharmacists are not advanced
level practitioners renamed … and will undertake more developed roles”.
A session of the Hospital Pharmacist conference last November heard from
many of those who were involved in developing the consultant pharmacist
guidance. It was noted that the introduction of consultant posts in other
professions has supported local recruitment and retention of staff — ambitious
staff are attracted to posts where they will be working with and learning
from consultants. The extended career path is also likely to encourage
newly-qualified pharmacists to pursue a career in the managed sector.
This new development should also break the earning ceiling that has resulted
in only chief pharmacists receiving the highest salaries. Posts will
be placed in bands 8b, 8c or 8d of Agenda for Change, with salaries ranging
from £40,036 up to £71,494. The pay compares favourably with
many of the highest salaries in the public sector, indeed many consultant
pharmacists will be paid more than a member of parliament (albeit without
the generous allowances).
So what happens now? The guidance suggests that senior managers in trusts
[or groups of trusts] will need to identify a service need and prepare
a business case for developing a consultant pharmacist post and proposing
the infrastructure and additional resources required to support the practitioner.
This proposal will be reviewed by a strategic health authority approval
panel. If the go-ahead for the post is given, the appointment process,
which is managed by the employing organisations, can start. The interview
panel for a consultant post will, as a minimum, consist of a chief pharmacist,
medical consultant and an external assessor with relevant experience.
Other professions Can we now expect to see hundreds of specialist pharmacists becoming
consultants in the next year or two? Probably not. The training of pharmacists
has not been directed towards developing consultant practitioners. Competency
work suggests that, for example, in the area of research and development,
many pharmacists do not believe they practise at the required level to
become a consultant.3
The scenario of many consultant pharmacists in the short term also seems
unlikely if the experiences of nurses and allied health professionals
are repeated. The first allied health professional consultant was appointed
in early 2002. Of the 36,620 registered physiotherapists in the UK, for
example, only 25 had consultant status two-and-a-half years later. This
would suggest that the numbers of pharmacists becoming consultants in
the first couple of years might be closer to the tens than the hundreds.
Questions
Pharmacists who aspire to the role of consultant will probably now be
looking for the answers to two important questions. First of all, what
training and experience will be required to demonstrate the capabilities
that are needed to discharge the duties of a consultant? The guidance
provides some assistance in this area, providing an outline of the competencies
required, based on the advanced and consultant level competency framework.3 It would seem logical for specialist pharmacy organisations to play some
role here in putting flesh on the bones of the guidance. As it is, there
is no clear path for individuals that will allow them to confidently
apply for a position as a consultant.
The second question is are there going to be enough consultant posts
for all those who aspire to them? There is also no workforce planning
to predict how many posts there will be and ensure that enough staff
are training to do these jobs. As a result, there can be no guarantees
that pharmacists who achieve the competencies required for consultant
posts will find the job they want. For this to happen, it would seem
that distinct careers paths would have to be developed to ensure that
the right number of people are being developed for the likely posts.
Only time will tell how many posts are justified, but it will be for
those first into the posts to demonstrate what can be achieved and pave
the way for others to follow. They will also need to demonstrate the
wider benefit of appointing pharmacists at this level and develop the
future practitioners so that consultant pharmacist posts become sustainable.
We look forward to reporting these first appointments on the pages of
Hospital Pharmacist.
References
1. Department of Health. Guidance for the development of
consultant pharmacist posts. London: The Department; 2005.
2. Department of Health. A vision for pharmacy in the new NHS. London:
The Department; 2003.
3. Meadows N, Webb D, McRobbie D, Antoniou S, Bates I, Davies G. Developing
and validating a competency framework for advanced pharmacy practice.
Pharmaceutical Journal 2004;273:789– 92 (PDF 70K) |
Hospital Pharmacist