As the role of pharmacist independent prescribers continues to expand across NHS services and community pharmacy, concerns have been raised that current training arrangements do not provide equal opportunities for all pharmacists. In particular, locum pharmacists and those working part-time.
Many experienced pharmacists face an insurmountable challenge to meet eligibility criteria, obstructed by rules agreed with Community Pharmacy Scotland which enable only pharmacists who are directly employed by a contractor and who can work 27 hours or more per week in one single community pharmacy.
The PDA has highlighted that these barriers risk excluding experienced pharmacists who may wish to develop prescribing skills at a time when healthcare systems are increasingly developing policy around pharmacist prescribers to improve patient access to care.
Unlike the other UK nations, this policy only applies in Scotland, affecting the self-employed and discriminating against part-time workers, many of the latter being female employees with young families.
Workforce concerns
The PDA believes that access to funded prescribing training should be based only on professional capability and patient need, rather than employment status or contractual arrangements.
Many locum pharmacists work across multiple employers and pharmacy settings, making it impossible to identify suitable funded training pathways or secure workplace support. Similarly, pharmacists working part-time or in portfolio arrangements are unable to meet restrictive programme requirements within their existing working arrangements, despite making a valuable contribution to patient care and the wider pharmacy workforce.
The PDA has heard from members who are keen to undertake prescribing training but feel disadvantaged compared with colleagues in permanent full-time positions.
Priority discussions with Scottish government
The issue has been raised in ongoing discussions with the Scottish Government, where the PDA is pressing for greater flexibility and more inclusive arrangements to ensure that all pharmacists have a fair and equal opportunity to access funded training.
The PDA is calling for workforce development plans to recognise the diverse nature of the pharmacy workforce and to ensure that locum and part-time pharmacists are not left behind as prescribing becomes increasingly embedded within pharmacy practice.
Supporting a sustainable prescribing workforce
The PDA has also emphasised that achieving Scotland’s ambitions for pharmacist prescribing will require investment in the whole workforce. Restricting access to training risks creating workforce inequalities and limiting the pool of pharmacists able to take on enhanced clinical roles in the future. It believes that expanding access to funded IP training would not only benefit individual pharmacists, but would also help strengthen service capacity, improve career development opportunities and support better patient access to care.
Maurice Hickey, Head of Policy for the PDA in Scotland said, “Independent prescribing is transforming pharmacy practice and creating new opportunities for pharmacists to contribute to patient care. However, these opportunities must be made available to all pharmacists, regardless of whether they work full time, part time or as locums.
We are concerned that some pharmacists face unnecessary barriers when trying to access funded training. As prescribing responsibilities continue to expand, it is essential that workforce development arrangements are fair, inclusive and support the entire pharmacy profession The ongoing exclusion of so many experienced pharmacists and the damage it might do to their careers is an abject failure of the Scottish Government’s flagship Fair Work criteria.
It is essential that the IP workforce includes pharmacists who are able to provide locum and holiday cover for the existing IP network, or can work part-time or peripatetically filling in the gaps in service provision. A network that is only able to provide cover 27 hours a week, 47 weeks a year, is incomplete and Scottish patients deserve better.
The PDA see this as a priority issue in its discussions with the Scottish Government and will continue to press for solutions that ensure all pharmacists have an equitable opportunity to develop as independent prescribers if they so wish.”
The PDA will continue to engage with policymakers and stakeholders to ensure that workforce planning and educational funding arrangements support a diverse, sustainable and future-ready pharmacy profession
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