UCA-NI NEWS
Welcome! WORKFORCE SUPPORT
Welcome to the final edition for 2020. This has been an unprecedented year for all in the health service and particularly so for community pharmacy. In February, there was a vote for strike action but, merely two weeks later, we demonstrated an extraordinary effort and commitment to our patients as our workload tripled overnight. We have been challenged to our core, but from the trials of COVID, community pharmacy has shone out as a beacon of healthcare in the community, open when all others were closed.
The contribution of our teams has been recognised throughout the Health service and by the public, and we have not seen such high levels of cooperation between Health & social Care Board, Department of Health and Community Pharmacy Northern Ireland in over a decade.
This has led to some great success stories: the emergency supply service continues to benefit patients, unable to get a prescription in time, while the flu vaccination service is a resounding success, with community pharmacies showing their ability to vaccinate the most difficult to reach groups.
These successes are made more impressive considering they were started during the peak waves of the pandemic, when the workload on pharmacy staff was already unbearable. Community pharmacy should rightly be very proud of itself.
As the year ends, there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon, with the announcement of COvID vaccines. I am extremely proud of our profession and our hard-working pharmacy staff. I hope that the response and commitment shown this year will continue to be recognised into the future and that a new contract, which fully utilises the skills of community pharmacy will not be far away.
36 - PHARMACy IN FOCus
The Department of Health (DoH) has launched the long-awaited Pharmacy Workforce Review 2019, which has laid bare the current situation in pharmacy across each sector, and outlined a series of actions required to ensure that pharmacy has the ability and capacity to take on new roles and services in the next five to ten years.
The report has acknowledged that the solution not only requires a boost
in pharmacist numbers, but also growth in support staff, particularly pharmacy technicians.
With increased workload before and during the pandemic, the community pharmacy sector will agree wholeheartedly with the estimated numbers of posts identified.
Accompanying the report was the launch of the fantastic new campaign to help recruit, attract and retain pharmacists in Northern Ireland.
TEST AND TRACE
Whilst community pharmacies in Northern Ireland put in place stringent new policies to ensure that their premises were ‘COVID-secure’, many were still frustrated that Test & Trace staff did not seem to acknowledge these COVID- security measures, which should have allowed some staff to continue working.
HsCB responded by introducing a PHA Duty Room number to handle pharmacy-specific queries and we're delighted to say that this resulted in huge improvements to the system. This couldn’t prevent all enforced absences of course, so uCA issued a staff briefing template to assist managers in communicating the need to adhere strictly to all COvID- security measures. Pharmacies once
again rose to the challenge by providing additional screens plus PPe and social distancing policies at all times through the working day. The winter period is likely to be tough from a staffing point of view, and although there is the prospect of a vaccine in the near future, vigilance is required until the spring. you can access the staff Briefing template via the Docstore on
www.uca.org.uk
INITIAL EDUCATION & TRAINING REFORMS
Significant reforms were announced back in July 2020 to the initial education and training of pharmacists across the UK. Details are now starting to emerge with PSNI, DoH and NICPLD hosting an information event for pharmacists mid-November (slides are available on
www.psni.org.uk).
The basic structure of a four-year degree plus pre-registration year will remain. However, the big change will be in the content of those early years with the vision being to train all pharmacists to be independent
prescribers (IPs) upon registration. This is an exciting development, especially as it comes with a recognition that there will have to be opportunities for all current registrants to gain the qualification not just newly-qualified.
The changes will start with the new university intake in 2021 but there will be changes from next year, at every stage including the pre-reg year which will become the Foundation Period.
Foundation status will continue post- registration to continue the learning process and eventually help
pharmacists move towards advanced and consultation IP status.
It is 20 years since the idea of pharmacist IPs was first put in motion. The progress has been painfully slow, with only 22 per cent of registrants claiming the IP annotation and even fewer actually utilising those skills for the benefit of patients.
There is much work to be done in order to fulfil this ambition, but it is hoped that with all sectors and stakeholders contributing to the discussions, the reforms will be embedded quickly.
PharmacyFuturesNI is overseen by the Pharmacy Forum for NI and there is a signposting facility on the website to vacancies advertised in any sector.
Candidates can also link to uCALocumOnline for locum vacancies. uCALocumOnline is a free facility to all pharmacies across NI to advertise locum, part-time or full- time positions.
For more information contact
natalie@uca.org.uk
UCA-NI LTD
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