WORKFORCE SHORTAGE: ACTION SOUGHT
As pharmacy teams across Scotland – and the entire United Kingdom for that matter – continue to struggle with increased workload, pharmacy bodies are calling for the issue to be dealt with….and quickly!
T
he move of so many community pharmacists and hospital pharmacists into GP surgeries over the last five years or so
has undoubtedly created a shortage in workforce, with many pharmacy contractors now unable to source new pharmacists and locum cover.
As a result, many pharmacists are finding themselves working six-day weeks: a fact that has been exacerbated by the pressures created by the pandemic. At present, there is no end in sight to this issue and now the various pharmacy bodies have spoken out on the matter, requesting that the various governments move to solve the problems caused by the appointment of the PBPs.
First to speak out was Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS), which, on 31 August, issued a strongly-worded statement in which it called for a temporary stop to the recruitment of pharmacy workforce to GP primary care support roles.
‘Over the last three to four years,’ the CPS said in its statement, ‘almost 600 WTE pharmacists and 300 WTE pharmacist technicians have been employed to support the pharmacotherapy element of the GP contract. This workforce shift has occurred with no planning to account for the needs of hospital or community pharmacy services, with the vast majority of individuals coming from the latter. These roles are critical to even the most basic functions of our 1258-strong network of pharmacy teams.
‘The CPS Board takes recent workforce challenges seriously and is considering the strategic options in addressing the situation. However, we would argue that alongside natural movement away from the sector this level of workforce drain is unsustainable. To be clear, we believe that anywhere decisions about medicines are being made, pharmacist and pharmacy technician input is beneficial to patients.
‘While we appreciate this added value that our professions can bring to other areas of NHS Scotland, we believe this uncoordinated recruitment is now one of the major and enduring contributing factors to our unprecedented workforce pressures. There are simply not enough pharmacist and pharmacy technician hours in the country to satisfy the combined demands of all three sectors, yet the recently- published Memorandum of Understanding in July
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scottishpharmacist.com
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