The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has published two new handbooks to support pharmacists in providing 'much-needed' mental health services.
The federation unveiled "Mental healthcare - A handbook for pharmacists" and "Knowledge and skills reference guide for professional development in mental health
care" on Thursday July 7.
The handbooks, developed in collaboration with an international group of experts, aim to support pharmacy practice, presenting the many potential mental health
care actions that pharmacists can perform, from preventing mental illness and screening for signs to optimising medication and responding to mental health crises.
The reference guide is intended to accompany the handbook and defines the knowledge and skills that pharmacists need to acquire to provide such services.
Pharmacists delivering to the Scottish prison service have been notified by their employer LloydsPharmacy that they may be transferred to another employer or
even be at risk of redundancy.
The Pharmacists Defence Association said: "It is supporting pharmacists employed by LloydsPharmacy who have been advised that the company has not retendered for the
contract to provide pharmacy services to the Scottish prison service.
As a result of LloydsPharmacy exiting the contract, those pharmacists may transfer to whichever employer takes over the service, or if their function does not
transfer to a new employer they will be at risk of redundancy."
The PDA Union will be representing these individuals to ensure they understand and can exercise their rights at work to either continue their current role under a
new employer, transfer to a suitable alternative role, or leave with the appropriate redundancy compensation.
PDA members impacted by this change can contact the PDA Service Centre for advice.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has released findings from its fifth annual workforce wellbeing survey, which was conducted in collaboration with the
profession's charity, Pharmacist Support.
Exposing the mental health challenges faced by pharmacists, the survey revealed a troubling statistic: 86 per cent of pharmacists are at a high risk of burnout.
Inadequate staffing was the main factor contributing to burnout, followed by lack of work-life balance, insufficient protected learning time, absence of colleague
or senior support, and long working hours.
While pharmacies are encouraged to provide more clinical services, more than 60 per cent of pharmacists surveyed reported that they were not being offered
"sufficient protected learning time" to focus on their professional development and learning needs.
The survey also exposed a distressing trend of workplace abuse, with over 40 per cent of pharmacists reporting verbal abuse from the public, and 25 per cent
from colleagues or managers.
In a recent survey of 2,000 UK adults, 34 per cent preferred consulting pharmacists for health advice after researching symptoms, while for those surveyed
specifically from Wales, this figure increased to 35 per cent, according to 2San - a global supplier of healthcare products and solutions.
The survey said women had a higher tendency, with 39 per cent seeking their pharmacist's guidance compared to 29 per cent of men surveyed.
According to the survey findings, over one-fifth of people in the UK are turning to pharmacists instead of their primary care physician or doctor for guidance
and advice with medical symptoms.
"With more than 38 million patients in the UK waiting more than two weeks for a GP appointment, it is unsurprising that 34 per cent of people surveyed asked a
pharmacist for advice over their primary care physician/doctor in the last 12 months," 2san said.
In Wales, over a third of people prefer their community pharmacist for support and advice, while those aged 65 and above still tend to consult their primary care
physician.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) says the pharmacy regulator should maintain a two-year post qualification eligibility criteria, in addition to
the qualitative measures being introduced which would be in the best interest of patient safety, before a pharmacist is allowed to commence an IP course.
The association was responding to an announcement by the GPhC's move to scrap the two year requirement for Independent Prescribing (IP) course.
"The PDA accepts that the qualitative approach could mean greater individual consideration of potential IP course candidates and the two-year measure could have
sometimes been a blunt tool. However, the PDA is already seeing cases of patient harm and allegations around fitness to practice arising from IP," the association
said.
The association also said that it supports individual pharmacists with near misses, as well as actual incidents, giving the organisation possibly the most
comprehensive understanding of risk.
Frontline pharmacists also recognise these issues and in a survey of over 1,000 pharmacists undertaken by the PDA in late 2021, of those who had 2+ years'
experience of practice and who were already independent prescribers, 90 per cent said the qualifying period should be two years or more.
Numark is set to launch a large-scale broadcast campaign to promote its Hey Pharmacist repeat prescription service on May 22.
The new campaign introduces, 'Repeat prescriptions. Made simple,' with a set of three TV adverts that feature three different heightened-reality scenarios. In
each advert, the hero discovers they have forgotten to order their repeat prescription at a less than ideal time but thanks to Hey Pharmacist, a few taps later
their problems are solved.
The adverts highlight how managing your repeat prescriptions has never been quicker or simpler in a tongue-in-cheek, comedic tone.
The campaign - which incorporates national broadcast and SkyAdSmart TV alongside digital, social, and in-store campaigns across England - promotes the Hey Pharmacist
app which provides Numark members in England with an end-to-end online repeat prescription proposition, helping them deliver a best-in-class digital capability which
highlights the benefits for patients who choose to collect their medication from their local Numark pharmacy.
Jeremy Meader, managing director of Numark, commented: "It is very exciting to see our first TV campaign go live. The creative does a brilliant job in bringing to life the benefits of Hey Pharmacist, highlighting how easy and effortless managing
prescriptions can be. We look forward to assisting more everyday heroes and supporting our members in showcasing this exciting digital proposition to a larger audience."
While thanking the provisionally registered pharmacists and their employers for supporting NHS services during the pandemic, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has asked the 63 eligible candidates to join the main register by January 31 to continue practicing.
A total number of 4,799 provisionally-registered pharmacists have been on the provisional register since it was introduced in July 2020 in response to the Covid-19
pandemic, which had affected the registration assessment schedule.
As of Tuesday (January 18), 237 were still on the provisional register, of which 84 have begun the process to join the main register, 90 did not sat an assessment, while 63 eligible candidates are yet to start their application.
The register enabled trainees who had completed their training to support NHS services and provide patient care effectively as provisionally-registered pharmacists,
while they waited to sit the registration assessment.
After providing three potential opportunities to trainees to sit the registration assessment - in March, July and November 2021, the provisional register will close
on January 31, 2022.
More than half of people (52%) do not feel confident in treating backache and less than half (44%) uses community pharmacists' advice as their first step on
self-treatable conditions, a self-care attitudes 2022 survey has revealed.
PAGB, the consumer healthcare association, surveyed over 2,000 adults across the UK about their attitudes towards self-care and access to health services.
According to the survey, the public is in favour of self-care but many people lack the confidence and knowledge to care for the most common self-treatable conditions
including backaches, headaches, diarrhoea and constipation.
Four in five respondents (79%) said that people should take more responsibility for their own health and three-quarters (73%) believe that the NHS should make
self-treatment easier.
Behaviours around the current use of pharmacy varied - with less than half (44%) using community pharmacists as their first step in in getting advice on
self-treatable conditions - but longer term attitudes were encouraging, with 69% supporting the idea of GPs being able to make referrals to pharmacists.
Respondents also supported expanding the role of pharmacists so that their skills can be better utilised.
To support the mental health and wellbeing of pharmacists, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) is running its fourth annual Workforce Wellbeing survey, in
partnership with Pharmacist Support.
This year it's focussed on exploring some of the obstacles that prevent workforce wellbeing measures being implemented in practice.
It's vital that workplace supports good mental health and wellbeing and provides the right environment to help prevent the negative effects of working under intense
pressure.
RPS urges: "Please complete the survey as soon as you can. It's anonymous, open to pharmacists in all settings including students and you don't need to be a member
of RPS to take part."
"We'll take the results of the survey to governments across Great Britain, the NHS, and wider stakeholders to advocate for improvements to support the mental health
and wellbeing of pharmacists."
The new data from NHS England has revealed that more than 100,000 patients were treated for minor illness by their high street pharmacist in just one month.
According to new NHS figures, in June, 118,123 people with minor illnesses such as a sore throat or constipation, or those in need of medicine urgently, received
a same-day consultation with their local pharmacist after calling NHS 111 or their GP practice - an increase of more than four-fifths (83%) on the number in the same
month last year (64,512).
The data comes alongside expanded roles for community pharmacies ahead of winter, announced at the NHS England board meeting today.
"From this week, NHS 111 online can directly refer people to their high street pharmacist for a same-day consultation, rather than patients needing to call the
phone line," said NHS England.
Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said: "Our local pharmacies ensure hundreds of thousands of people every week get the support and medication they need and
today's figures show that in just one month, over 100,000 patients have also had consultations with their local pharmacist for minor illnesses - this means patients
are getting the care they need quickly but also in a convenient way that can fit in with their busy lives.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has introduced a new comprehensive learning programme to support pharmacists in Wales to deliver the Pharmacy
Independent Prescribing Service (PIPS).
Developed in collaboration with Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW), the programme is designed to "equip pharmacists with the essential knowledge,
skills, and confidence needed to provide excellent patient care."
While the primary emphasis is on pharmacists operating within primary care settings, those from various practice settings are also encouraged to register and
participate in the programme.
Commenting on the collaboration with HEIW, Elen Jones, director for Wales at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said that it will empower pharmacists across the
country to deliver high-quality prescribing services to local communities.
The Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA) has expressed its interest to support pharmacists impacted with the latest announcement of the closure of Tesco
pharmacies.
"Tesco have followed ASDA and LloydsPharmacy (at Sainsbury's) to announce cost cutting changes to their stores, impacting hundreds of jobs," the association said.
The PDA's interests in the announcement relate to the planned closure of eight in-store Tesco pharmacies and the impact of those closures upon pharmacists, however
the union is of course concerned for all those impacted.
The PDA Union will support individual PDA members impacted by the decision so that they are aware of, and can exercise, their rights at work in relation to this
situation.
Paul Day, PDA Union Director said, "In addition to the immediate impact on pharmacists employed at the stores marked for closure, this is the third instance in just
twelve days of reductions in the overall access to a pharmacy for NHS patients. We expect those who represent communities to be concerned about the loss of a key
part of their local NHS service."
The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has released a handbook today (February 23) on guidance for pharmacists on supporting self-care.
The handbook, "Empowering self-care: A handbook for pharmacists", covers six areas of self-care - sore throat, gastrointestinal complaints, musculoskeletal pain, fever in children, sexual health and disinfection.
Commenting on the release, Rúben Viegas, co-author of the handbook, said: Community pharmacists already help people in self-care by giving advice on non-prescription
medicines, nutrition, physical activity and lifestyle choices, but this new resource from FIP offers added support for these professional services that demonstrate our profession's commitment to primary health care."
The publication, also intended as an advocacy resource for FIP's member organisations, discusses latest trends and strategies in self-care and explores innovations adopted across several practice areas.
It aims to provide pharmacists with concise guidance on coaching practices and person-centred approaches to promote self-care.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has announced that it will support its member impacted by the decision to close 300 more Boots pharmacies.
After the announcement of closure of 300 Boots pharmacies over the next year, the association believes this is approximately one out of every eight current
Boots pharmacy locations.
The company has insisted that the objective of this exercise is not to make existing pharmacist employees redundant, and they hope to be able to redeploy
individuals into nearby alternative locations. However, PDA believes that it is unlikely that suitable alternative roles will be available for all and
redundancy is a possibility for some.
The PDA Union will provide pharmacists with information, support, and representation as part of the recognition agreement so that members are aware of and
can exercise their rights at work. PDA officials will be in continued dialogue with the company throughout this closure programme.
The GP Community Pharmacist Consultation Service (GP CPCS) is also delivering 'unexpected' insights to help transform patient care and facilitate integrated
working between pharmacists and GPs across Greater Manchester.
Since April 2021, almost 14,000 appointments have been referred using the GP CPCS across the Greater Manchester Health and Social Care Partnership - a figure that
is growing as its success gathers pace and they continue to support practices to increase referral activity.
Joshua Nolan, a pharmacist at Internet Pharmacy in Heywood, one of the first in the area to join the referral service, said: "The number of patients we're seeing
from GP CPCS has been building consistently month-on-month. On average we see around 50 patients, but recently we recorded 53 in just one week."
The pharmacist, who has been practising for six years and is also an independent prescriber, believes the GP CPCS has helped bring about more awareness to the
clinical services community pharmacy can offer.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has raised concern over the Health Education England (HEE)'s decision on cutting funding to independent prescribing
training.
The HEE has reportedly decided that no funding will be available to back-fill trainees undertaking the pharmacist independent prescribing (PIP) qualification, or
for the supervision of trainees by DPPs and DMPs.
The PDA noted that, whilst all successful trainee pharmacists will be entering the GPhC register as independent prescribers from 2026, the existing pharmacist
workforce is reliant on opportunities to undertake prescriber training through release from their employment, and the ability to secure a Designated Medical
Practitioner (DMP) or Designated Prescribing Practitioner (DPP) to support the 90 days of supervised practice required.
The association said it has already heard examples of potential DMPs or DPPs requesting a significant fee from trainees before they will provide supervision,
adding that meeting that request is not an option for many.
"This latest decision threatens to undermine the availability of the large numbers of pharmacists seeing supervisors as more IP training becomes available," it
said in a statement.
Superdrug has announced a pay increase for newly qualified pharmacists, in a move that will see wages rise to £50,000 - ensuring that Superdrug Pharmacists
continue to receive the strongest renumeration package on the high street today.
Superdrug is also enhancing its patient experience and operational structure, with the introduction of a new role of Pharmacy Team Leader to selected pharmacy stores.
Pharmacy Team Leaders will be dispenser trained and provide a clear line of accountability for day-to-day dispensary activity including adhering to legal and
clinical frameworks whilst supporting, coaching, and developing a high-performing pharmacy team.
The role also allows Superdrug to offer a clear line of progression for talented Pharmacy Dispensers and Technicians who want to do more in their career and recognises
the valuable contribution Pharmacy Dispensers & Technicians play in community pharmacy.
In addition, the appointment of two new Heads of Pharmacy Operations sees the high street retailer driving and improving Superdrug's pharmacy performance to offer the
best possible care for patients. Craig Watt, Pharmacist and previously Area Manager, has been appointed to Head of Pharmacy Operations North and will be responsible
for the operation of Superdrug's central distribution hub serving its e-pharmacy and Online Dr team.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has urged the government to amend medicines legislation to allow pharmacists to make minor amendments to a prescription
without any protocol being needed.
RPS wants to see a change in the law that makes the whole process of supply of medicines easier and quicker, enabling pharmacists to use their knowledge and expertise
in medicines to better support patients.
"At present a prescription can only be changed by a prescriber, which causes unnecessary workload for GPs and delays for patients," said RPS.
RPS President Professor Claire Anderson said: "We want to see all pharmacists across the UK able to supply a different quantity, strength or formulation of a medicine
(for example changing capsules to tablets) when required, to avoid unnecessary bureaucracy and the need for an SSP to be developed, signed and authorised by a
Minister. In effect it would mean that pharmacists can help patients straight away - it would future proof the problem to some degree.
Reena Mehta, consultant pharmacist in the Critical Care team at NHS King's College Hospital, has been announced as chair of the Learning Division for the
Intensive Care Society.
Mehta took up the post with effect from 8th April, and is the first pharmacist to hold the role of Chair of the Learning Division within the Society.
"It is a privilege to be part of the Society and support its life-saving work to enhance our understanding of critical illness and deliver better care to patients,"
"The intensive care community is made up of multiple professions, each playing a vital role within the critical care team, and I am extremely proud to be the first
pharmacist appointed to this important role."
In her role as chair of the Learning Division, Mehta will oversee the content of the Society's study days and be responsible for exploring new opportunities for the
Intensive Care Society to provide training for our multi professional intensive care community.
ECG has launched a new 'simple and straightforward' Patient Group Direction (PGD) service for pharmacists working in primary care, together with a service
which offers direct access to an NHS Consultant for medical advice to offer robust safeguarding as and when needed.
Taking on more clinical services with the PGDs can feel daunting and a big responsibility for healthcare professionals. ECG's new medical advice service (for anyone
purchasing their PGDs) will offer pharmacists the opportunity to call and speak to a clinical member of the ECG team who will triage the calls and support them.
If required, the call will be connected to an experienced NHS Consultant to offer immediate medical advice. The service will start with a Monday-Friday 08:30-16:30hrs
provision with an option to increase to 24 /7 for those working out of hours. This is inclusive in the PGD pricing offer.
ECG has been the market leader in providing vaccination training to pharmacists since 2004, providing robust knowledge and clinical skills to enable pharmacists to
develop their private and NHS commissioned vaccination services (such as flu and covid). By developing their close working relationship with all of the multiples,
many smaller chains, membership groups and independents over the years, ECG has continued to further consolidate their 'one stop shop' approach to supporting the
sector.
ECG wants to offer this sector choices in the level of guidance and support that the individual healthcare professionals feel they need to offer safe care to
patients.