NEWS LAIRD’S SHOUT
ACTS PLAY VITAL ROLE
I am a strong advocate of pharmacy technicians. It’s important for me to declare that I have probably learned more about pharmacy practice from my pharmacy accuracy checking technician than any other pharmacy professional in my short career.
I always feel guilty spending more time with some patients, but I know that my accredited checking technician (ACT) and the rest of the pharmacy team are in the dispensary holding the fort. Without this trust, based on competence, I could not fulfi l my clinical role in community pharmacy. I practice many brief interventions in asthma and other areas and without my ACT and pharmacy team, this work would simply not be possible.
So what makes a good pharmacy technician?
I think pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have varying skill sets underpinned by common core areas of competence. In terms of the running of my dispensary, my ACT fulfi ls nearly all the traditional functions that perhaps a number of years ago would have been the preserve of the pharmacist.
The ability of a pharmacy technician to accuracy check prescriptions, in my practice, has been a revelation. An ACT is no less capable of this, in my view, than a pharmacist. To do the clinical check of a prescription and then hand the dispensing process over to the team, led by an ACT, is a key enabler to deliver ever more clinical care in the community pharmacy setting. But we all know pharmacy technicians can do much more than this.
In terms of the future roles for pharmacy technicians, my view would be that the ball is fi rmly in the court of pharmacy technicians. Just like pharmacists, it’s diffi cult to fi nd a path
46 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST
to innovative and prove ones worth to key stakeholders, but innovate you must. I would like to see registered technicians appropriately trained to deliver clinical services in community pharmacy. For example, my ACT is comfortable conducting smoking cessation consultations and will ask for advice if required. Just like being a pharmacist, a pharmacist independent prescriber, or even a general practitioner, pharmacy technicians must be mindful of the obligation to work within their personal area of competence. That said, I think they should be allowed to do more, much more!
Practising as a registered pharmacy technician holds the same legal and ethical requirements of other professions. Protection of the public and improving care remain the priorities. The concept of competence and demonstration of continued professional development is critical to the success of any professional.
My relationship with my ACT is as professional equals. She is registered with the professional body and so am I. I no longer see her as a junior partner in our working relationship, although there is no getting around the fact that the responsible pharmacist holds ultimate responsibility at the end of the day. I am always grateful for her feedback on my practice and hopefully this is reciprocated.
See more at
www.pharmacyinpractice.org or follow Johnathan on Twitter @johnathalaird
Janice Oman
Scotland Representation Manager
THE PRESCRIPTION FOR EXCELLENCE NEWSLETTER IN THE SPRING TALKED ABOUT THE ‘CRITICAL CONTRIBUTION’ THAT PHARMACY CAN MAKE TO CHANGE OUR HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE SYSTEM, PARTICULARLY IN THE REDESIGN OF SERVICES AND THE USE OF AUTOMATED TECHNOLOGIES.
The NPA welcomes the news that a new Capital Grant Fund is now being made available to community pharmacies in Scotland for evaluating automated technology. The aim of the grant is to understand how patient outcomes can potentially be improved by redesigning community pharmacy services using technology such as dispensing robots and scanning technology.
We hope that members considering the use of automated technology will be able to utilise this grant to support an evidence base for its positive benefi ts to patient care.
Recently, the NPA responded to the Department of Health’s proposed legislative amendments enabling Hub and Spoke dispensing across different business entities. The reasons cited for developing a hub and spoke model have included increased effi ciency, reduced costs and improved safety. However, the NPA has expressed concerns that the advantages of hub and spoke dispensing models have been overstated and that inter-company hub and spoke models could lead to serious unintended consequences, including an increase in medicine costs for the NHS.
It is therefore welcome news that Scottish Government is taking the trouble to more fully understand the application of automated technologies and hub and spoke.
We continue to support NPA members to improve business and practice. We have recently produced for Scottish members a new Administrative Activity Planner and Deadline Tracker to help manage bureaucratic burden. Members can also now access an ‘essential pharmacy business pack’ which has been developed to help pharmacies develop new sources of income and protect against fi nancial loss.
Finally, we are offering highly competitive member rates on an extensive range of fl u and travel PGDs. For more information contact
npapgdservices@npa.co.uk.
Please do not hesitate to contact Janice on
j.oman@
npa.co.uk if you have any issues you would like to raise.
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