The Department of Health and Social Care aims to amend the Human Medicines Regulations 2012, thereby enabling pharmacy technicians to provide and administer
specific medicines through a patient group direction. In line with this initiative, the Department introduced a six-week consultation to assess whether registered
pharmacy technicians should be authorised to dispense medicines using a PGD.
The proposals, backed by all four Home Nations, apply exclusively to registered pharmacy technicians. Meanwhile, this coverage will extend to include pharmacy
technicians in Northern Ireland upon their achievement of registered professional status.
"The proposed statutory instrument, presently applicable in England, Scotland, and Wales would offer 'clear benefits,' especially in areas such as vaccination
and the provision of oral contraception and EHC," the DHSC said.
According to the Department, facilitating registered pharmacy technicians to execute PGDs might amplify their workload, yet it could simultaneously enhance
overall efficiency and cost-effectiveness for pharmacy teams by optimising the utilisation of skill diversity.
Day Lewis Pharmacy has enlisted Locate a Locum, a Belfast-based healthcare technology innovator, to deploy and manage a digital solution aimed at enhancing
locum staffing and management across its 267-pharmacy network.
"We sought a faster, user-friendly system for instant locum bookings, particularly for last-minute shifts," said Sam Patel, Executive Director at Day Lewis
Pharmacy. "This tool improves communication between potential locums and our coordinators, creating more opportunities to attract talent from across the country.
Our customers are our priority, and ensuring they have access to staff and advice when needed is our main focus."
Locate a Locum will implement a cloud-based digital solution across the Day Lewis Pharmacy estate, allowing locums to securely search, manage, request, and receive
payment for shifts, Day Lewis said in a statement. This platform enables locum staff to manage their work diaries, location preferences, and commitments, promoting
balanced work-life planning.
"The Locate a Locum platform allows for swift, complete payments to our locums and offers them instant booking, eliminating the need for shift confirmation wait
times," Patel added. "In a dynamic market with rising demand for pharmacy services, this platform is a game-changer, driving growth and unlocking potential."
The Scottish Government and Community Pharmacy Scotland have agreed to roll out next month a new national service to provide emergency access to supplies
of naloxone.
An NHS circular signed by Alison Strath, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer of Scotland, advises that the emergency supply service will be added to the community
pharmacy Public Health Service from 30 October 2023. It states that community pharmacy contractors and pharmacy teams should ensure they are familiar with the
new arrangements.
Community pharmacy contractors have been asked to ensure that pharmacy teams complete the e-learning module for naloxone emergency supply. They are also encouraged
to join webinars to support the implementation of the service which will be held on Wednesday 4 October and Tuesday 14 November at 19:30. Details of how to register
can be found at on NHS Scotland's Turas platform.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has appointed Laura Wilson as Director for Scotland commencing 23rd January 2023.
Laura, is currently Policy and Practice Lead for RPS in Scotland. She is accountable for bringing national RPS policy to life for members in Scotland, while
contributing to the GB wide professional leadership agenda.
She will work closely with the Scottish Pharmacy Board, senior NHS officials and other key stakeholders across the breadth of the pharmacy profession and beyond
to ensure pharmacy is on the forefront of healthcare in Scotland.
She joins the existing team of RPS Country Directors, which includes Elen Jones, Director for Wales and James Davies, Director for England and will report directly
to the Chief Executive.
Laura Wilson said: "I am delighted to be appointed Director for Scotland having worked as part of the RPS Scotland team as the policy and practice lead. It will
be an honour to continue the fantastic work started by former Director Clare Morrison to bring Pharmacy 2030, our vision for pharmacy in Scotland in the future,
to life and supporting pharmacy teams to deliver person centred care.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has published Pharmacy: Delivering a Healthier Wales that outlines a plan focusing on what can be achieved by end of 2025.
The society has urged people to share their views by responding to the consultation on four key themes which were already set out in Pharmacy: Delivering a Healthier
Wales -enhancing patient experience; developing the pharmacy workforce; seamless pharmaceutical care; and harnessing innovation and technology.
"We want to hear from as many of you as possible. It is important that the aims for pharmacy over the next three years are right. So please take a look at the draft
2025 goals, the proposed activity and measures and complete our consultation response form by 11 September," said RPS.
"We have been proud to continue to manage this important ambition for Wales, working on behalf of the Welsh Pharmaceutical Committee and with colleagues from all
over Wales. Over 300 of you have already contributed to our face to face and virtual engagement sessions we held over the past three months and we thank you for your
valuable input.
HubRx has appointed Dr Sarah Passmore as superintendent pharmacist ahead of launching what the company called "the UK's first state-of-the-art automated pharmacy
hub".
Dr Passmore brings more than 20 years of pharmacy experience - having held key regulatory roles with Rowlands Pharmacy over a 11-year tenure, which also saw her
involved in a number of pharmacy automation projects.
Commenting on her appointment, Dr Passmore said: "As a pharmacist, who has spent more than 10 years working within community pharmacy, I'm excited by what a hub and
spoke model for prescription dispensing can bring.
"Pharmacists are highly trained in delivering clinical services to patients - and like me - it's often a part of their job that they thoroughly enjoy. The option of
using hub and spoke to support dispensing prescriptions will give community pharmacists the gift of more time that can be spent helping patients.
"I'm excited to join HubRx and for it to become the first state-of-the-art automated pharmacy hub designed for independent community pharmacists to launch in the UK."
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has announced that the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England, David Webb will be among the keynote speakers at the
Pharmacy Odyssey Conference on 13 October.
He and other special guests will discuss the future of community pharmacy within the NHS, during a day of insight and practical advice for pharmacy teams.
The NPA promises expert opinion on the current pressures in the sector and a thorough exploration of the long-term picture.
NPA Director of Membership, Simon Tebbutt, explains: "With the NPA centenary in 2021 behind us, this will be a foray into the future - mapping the coming decade,
and next half-century - as well as covering the many challenges of the present time."
The theme of the conference, to be held online and sponsored by Novo Nordisk, is Pharmacy Odyssey: Services, Supply and Sustainability.
Pharmacy bodies have welcomed the new minister in charge of the profession amid warnings that he will find the sector in a state that is "more fragile that
ever" due to "untenable funding and workforce pressures".
Neil O'Brien was re-appointed as parliamentary under secretary of state in the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) on October 25 and was later assigned the
pharmacy brief.
The Conservative MP for Harborough - who will have a wide-ranging portfolio of responsibilities, including primary care and pharmacy - has taken over the position
from Will Quince MP, who had a brief stint as pharmacy minister but remains at the department on a different role.
O'Brien was was handed a junior minister's job at DHSC on 7 September 2022 in the government led by Liz Truss but fellow Conservative Quince was assigned primary
care duties including pharmacy.
Welcoming him to his new role, The Company Chemists' Association said that the minister would find that the community pharmacy sector was "more fragile than ever"
with untenable pressures over funding and workforce.
Community Pharmacy England has published new guidance to help members to complete the 2022/23 Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPTK).
The Toolkit is used to make a pharmacy's information governance (IG) declaration and the deadline is Friday (30 June).
Community Pharmacy England collaborated with the NHS DSPTK team to keep the workload associated with Toolkit completion manageable whilst maintaining the
appropriate data security protections.
Key differences in this year's Toolkit include- improvements to the Toolkit's layout; improvements to the question wording and pharmacy-specific tips; and the
Toolkit displays the answers submitted by the pharmacy in the previous submission for various questions, allowing pharmacy owners to simply confirm that the
information remains accurate and adjust this if necessary.
The NHS Parent Organisation Code (POC) headquarters (HQ) batch submission feature also continues to enable to allow pharmacy owners (that own three or more
pharmacies) to complete a single submission for all their premises.
Blackwells Chemist, a community pharmacy in South East London did not meet all the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) standards.
The pharmacy was inspected on Thursday (01 June) and it was found it did not keep all its records up to date and accurate, particularly its responsible pharmacist
records. Investigation report stated that the principle of Governance and principle of Services, including medicines management was 'not met at all'.
Under the principle Governance, the report stated: "The pharmacy generally manages the risks associated with its services adequately. People using the pharmacy can
provide feedback or raise concerns. And staff generally protect people's personal information well. Team members know what to do to help protect the welfare of a
vulnerable person. The pharmacy has written procedures, but these are not easily accessible to team members to refer to. And they are not regularly updated. So,
they may be less useful to staff, and may not reflect current best practice."
In the inspection it was found that the pharmacy does not always store its medicines properly. It cannot show that it stores all its medicines requiring cold
storage at the appropriate temperatures.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and Pharmacist Support hosted a roundtable on the impact of pharmacy workforce wellbeing on patient safety on Wednesday
(17 May).
It also released its annual Workforce Wellbeing Survey which showed continued pressures on pharmacy teams.
The discussion explored the actions needed to support staff so they can continue providing safe and effective patient care and included representatives from the NHS,
professional bodies, employers, trade unions, education and regulators.
A report of the roundtable will be published in the summer.
Amandeep Doll, RPS Head of Professional Belonging, said: "We know that pharmacy teams go above and beyond for their patients, but are also under enormous pressure.
"Now more than ever, we need to strive to make the pharmacy profession more inclusive and ensure that everyone's wellbeing is supported.
"It is vital that we do all we can to encourage people into pharmacy and to support them so they can enhance their skills, develop their careers, and continue to
deliver high-quality patient care.
"This discussion was a welcome step and showed that making a difference for staff wellbeing requires a concerted effort from stakeholders across the whole of pharmacy.
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) is aiming to reach an agreement with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and NHS England (NHSE) on negotiation
with regards to expanded services and payment model in the pharmacy sector.
Chief Executive Janet Morrison, said: "We are working at pace in negotiations with DHSC and NHSE. The process remains on track with the Government's original
timescale - i.e. aiming for agreement in July, with cross-government clearance later in July, and implementation from July through to September."
CPE is involved in working groups on service expansion of Hypertension Case-Finding and the Pharmacy Contraception Scheme and service design for the Common
Conditions Service; and are in in-depth negotiations on Payment models.
These discussions critically look at the balance between funding core capacity and activity payments, how the funding streams will be distributed and how CPE
will measure delivery and impact.
NHSE has been leading on the development of the PGD pathways for each of the 7 conditions, with external medical, pharmacy and other experts feeding into the
process - pharmacy owners from the Community Pharmacy England Committee have also been involved but the discussions are clinically led to ensure they comply with
NICE principles and concur with Antimicrobial Stewardship policy.
Professional leadership bodies from around the world discussed workforce shortages in community pharmacy and other challenges affecting the sector at a global
meeting held in Paris last month.
Delegated from Denmark, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, US and the UK updated the conference on how the profession was progressing in practice,
technology and workforce development in their respective countries.
The UK was represented at World Pharmacy Council meeting by National Pharmacy Association chair Andrew Lane and chief executive at the Pharmaceutical Services
Negotiating Committee Janet Morrison.
Lane said: "It's very useful to be part of a global network of pharmacy bodies who are all going through similar challenges as we are in the UK. Sharing intelligence
on other pharmacy systems around the world helps us to prepare the right strategy for engaging with the NHS at home.
"Hearing some of the strides in services and digital technology in the profession gives us hope for the future of the sector. It's clear however that key challenges
such as workforce shortages are starting to have an effect in other parts of the world too."
The recent announcement that Royal Mail will be partnering with distance selling pharmacy (DSP) giant pharmacy2U highlights how standards of regulatory
enforcement are being ignored to accommodate the DSP model.
The brunt of these double standards hinges around the levelling down of temperature enforcement standards by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory
Agency (MHRA) which demands mapping must be audited from the point of dispensing to the patient.
The MHRA has a well recognised duty to ensure medicines reach patients in a safe condition. The current anomaly appears to turn a blind eye to this step in the
supply chain at the point the wholesaler releases goods to the pharmacy hub.
Equally the training on delivering medicines safely and effectively direct to patients should apply fully to all hubs including DSPs. Why is it that DSPs are being
treated differently to bricks and mortar pharmacies? It's essentially the same patients receiving the same medicines from the same wholesalers.
A further regulatory disparity exists around how parcels must be "tracked and signed for" to be reasonably certain medicines are delivered into the hand of the
intended recipient, as per existing regulations.
Clearly an untracked, unsigned package cannot be guaranteed to finish in the hands of the intended recipient.
There is a very real possibility that such omission could lead to community pharmacy closures which will, in turn, lead to unemployment and a reduction in the
care services. At a time when integrated care systems have just gone live, the removal of vital support services leading to further inequalities is the wrong
message for both providers and patients alike.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has reacted to the chief pharmaceutical officer (CPhO) for Wales's offer for community pharmacy contractors,
offering a funding uplift for community pharmacy on the condition of an increase in pay for some staff by at least the amount currently being imposed upon NHS
employees.
The PDA has expressed a mixed reaction to the intervention being attempted by the Welsh government.
"It is unusual for a government to be so closely involved in the pay of their suppliers' employees and those at some community pharmacy employers have a contractual
right to a pay review at times of year that may not synchronize with the government's financial cycle, so this initiative may have different impacts at different
employers," said the association.
"In addition, the PDA negotiates pay at the largest two community pharmacy employers and works alongside other trade unions that organise other pharmacy workers.
This government intervention must not disrupt or attempt to bypass those processes."
The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has been in dialogue with the senior management of NHS Property Services to bring down the rent for community
pharmacies based in NHS health centres.
Association said: "Community pharmacies based in NHS health centres are struggling to make ends meet due to expensive rental rates."
It is calling for pharmacies to have the ability to renegotiate rental rates part way through a contract.
Gareth Jones, Director of Corporate Affairs at the NPA, said landlords need to take into account that pharmacy spending power is shrinking and the previous formula
used to set rental rates is no longer fit for purpose.
"It no longer makes sense to calculate based on historical assumptions about how many prescriptions the co-located GP will generate for the pharmacy," he said.
Lord Markham, a health minister suggested the House of Lords on Tuesday (10 January) that plan of 'using pharmacies more for patient will put funding their
way', just like allocation of Covid vaccine provided support.
In a statement to the House of Lords he praised the sector saying they are a 'crucial part of the front line'.
His statement was in response to a question from Lord Grade, who is campaigning on behalf of the community pharmacy sector. Lord Grade warned Government that it must
take action before pharmacies start to close.
On Monday (9 January) the Health Secretary, Steve Barclay MP, commented: "There are many more things that community pharmacists can support with that can ease
pressure on General Practice. The Primary Care recovery plan will set out a range of additional services that Community Pharmacy can deliver."
Pharmacies are the lifeblood of community healthcare, being a vital pathway to care and support in every borough of the UK. There are 11,600 pharmacies across
the country, amongst which yours stands proudly. Pharmacies obviously have a duty of care to their patients and customers, and rigorous safety practices surrounding
the safe storage and dispensation of medicine - but that duty of care also extends to fellow staff.
This is to say that health and safety is a paramount concern for any pharmacy or pharmacist, and that great care should always be taken to uphold the highest
possible standards with regard to health and safety. With this in mind, what follows is a refresher on some of the key hazards that could give way to workplace
injury in your pharmacy - and how to mitigate the risk of injury.
Biological Hazards
Biological hazards are ever-present, and prescient in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. Though the COVID-19 virus was eventually shown not to be
particularly resilient on surfaces, good practice was still to regularly disinfect surfaces and handles where possible - something which should still be a part of
regular routine in your pharmacy. Likewise, face masks are a solid way to reduce the risk of infection or contamination, particularly where the handing over of
biological samples is concerned.
Join us at the 23rd edition of the Pharmacy Business Awards on Wednesday, October 4, 2023, in central London. This prestigious event honors
the very best of community pharmacy, attracting industry leaders, heads of organizations, and government officials. Showcasing the unique services provided by
community pharmacies, submit your entries by July 7, 2023, for a chance to be recognized in one of our award categories. Don't miss this opportunity to celebrate
excellence in pharmacy and make your mark in the industry.
The Challenges
There cannot be anyone working in or with community pharmacy that either feels or sees the pain that emanates from the current operating climate. Pharmacy
closures; increased workload and operating costs; increased patient and commissioner expectations; and, more fundamentally, an inadequate, undervalued and
poorly structured remuneration and reimbursement contractual framework.
As important as they are, we will not focus on these points here as they are not in the control of pharmacy owners and managers. They are the responsibility
of those organisations that represent them at a national and local level who must deliver a better outcome as difficult as that may be.
However, there are matters which are in the control of pharmacy owners and managers. These include their premises, their team, their systems and processes, their
relationships with other healthcare providers and the broader community, their NHS and private service offer, and how they promote and deliver them to give the best
patient experience.
In order to create the head space to develop and implement a business plan, pharmacy owners and managers must make time to work on their business as well as in it.
Then it requires the capacity and capability within their team to deliver the services and that excellent patient experience.
