Primary Care is shifting, and with the incoming move towards neighbourhood health, embracing all the talents of your new integrated teams will be important for a smooth transition and enhanced patient care.
Whether you are hiring clinical pharmacists for the first time, or you already have an existing team in place; unlocking the true potential of your pharmacists relies on having some fundamentals in place to ensure your pharmacists can thrive.
In this blog, we’ll examine what constitutes best practice, and effective strategies for recruitment, retention and effective management of PCN pharmacists in your Primary Care Network.
The Role of Clinical Pharmacists in PCNs:
The traditional perception of a pharmacist often centres on the dispensing of medications. However, the role of a Clinical Pharmacist within primary care networks has undergone substantial expansion over the years.
Pharmacists are highly-skilled professionals who can contribute their extensive expertise in medicines optimisation and patient-centred care. In some PCNs, the role of a clinical pharmacist can be very limited, far below their capability.
The ideal responsibilities of a PCN Clinical Pharmacist are multifaceted, including:
Structured Medication Reviews (SMRs): This is an important one. Pharmacists take a thorough look at a patient’s medications, especially if they have complex health needs, are on many different medicines (polypharmacy), or live in a care home. The main goal is to ensure their medicines are safe, effective, and genuinely needed.
Looking After Long-Term Conditions: They’re a great help for patients with conditions like diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, and heart problems. This involves adjusting medications, educating patients about their condition, and supporting them in sticking to their treatment plans.
Tackling Polypharmacy and Deprescribing: As people get older, they often find themselves on numerous medications. Clinical pharmacists are skilled at identifying when some of these might be causing more harm than good and can guide patients in safely reducing or stopping them.
Medicines Reconciliation: You know when patients move between different care settings, like from hospital to home? It’s crucial that their medication lists are accurate. Pharmacists play a leading role here to maintain safety.
Patient Education and Franchisement: Communicating with patients (either in person, by phone, or video) to discuss their medicines, answer any questions, and work together to create a care plan.
Staff Education: They act as the go-to experts for any medicine-related queries from GPs or other staff. Plus, they implement safety alerts and assist with audits to ensure high standards are maintained.
Helping Practices Run Smoothly: By taking on these varied medicine-related tasks, they help free up GP time, manage repeat prescription processes, and deal with urgent medication requests. They’re a significant support!
What Your PCN Clinical Pharmacist Could Be Doing…
Those core responsibilities are definitely important, but did you know many PCNs are just beginning to explore the full potential of their clinical pharmacy team? These are some of the areas where pharmacists can add particular additional value in the shift to neighbourhood care.
So, if you’re looking to really see them shine, consider these areas:
Running Specialist Clinics: If you have IP Pharmacists (Independent Prescribing Pharmacists), they can manage their own clinics for conditions such as mental health, high blood pressure, or respiratory issues. They can manage patients with a good degree of autonomy, from assessment (within their area of expertise) right through to treatment. It’s a fantastic use of their skills!
Getting Proactive with Population Health: Using data to find groups of patients who might be at higher risk (like older folks who are a bit frail, or people who might end up in hospital because of medicine issues) and stepping in early.
Support between care settings: Not just doing basic reviews, but liaising with different care settings to ensure continuity and safety of care as patients move between care settings.
Shaping Local Prescribing: Using their know-how to make sure prescribing is based on the best evidence and creating clear ways of doing things across the PCN.
Training and Mentoring Others: Senior clinical pharmacists can be amazing mentors for newer pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and even other healthcare folks in the PCN.
Sparking New Ideas: Get your pharmacists involved in local research and projects. Empower them to suggest new and better ways to improve patient outcomes.
What Clinical Pharmacists In PCNs Shouldn’t Be Doing
To make sure your clinical pharmacists are using their skills to the max and feel good about their job, it’s just as important to be clear on what they shouldn’t be spending all their time on:
Too Much Paperwork: Look, a bit of admin is part of any job, but pharmacists shouldn’t be drowning in tasks that admin staff or pharmacy technicians could do (like chasing hospital letters that aren’t about medicines changes, or tons of appointment booking).
Just Being a Prescription or SMR Machine: Yes, managing repeat prescriptions is part of it, but it shouldn’t be their only job. If your clinical pharmacists are just dealing with Structured Medication Reviews and repeat prescriptions, you are missing out on an awful lot of experience and knowledge that could greatly improve patient care.
Flying Solo: Pharmacy services work best when they’re part of the team. They shouldn’t be stuck working alone without good ways to communicate and being included in what the wider PCN team is doing.
Having a clear idea of their role, backed up by good job descriptions and making sure everyone in the PCN is on the same page, is a game-changer. And hey, using pharmacy technicians smartly can free up your clinical pharmacists for the really complex clinical stuff!
Common Headaches for Clinical Pharmacists in PCNs
Knowing what challenges your pharmacists are up against is the first step to fixing them and keeping everyone happy. As part of our jobs, we talk to clinical pharmacists and senior pharmacists up and down the country.
Here’s some of the most common reasons we hear for why they are looking to leave their current employment:
Fuzzy Roles: This pops up a lot. If it’s not clear what they’re supposed to be doing, or if the rest of the team doesn’t get it, pharmacists can feel like they’re not being used properly or are being pulled in too many directions. This can also cause disruption in pharmacist teams, where some may feel they are doing more than others.
Fitting In: Feeling like an outsider or not part of the practice and PCN teams can demotivate staff, leaving them feeling isolated. Engaged pharmacy teams are happier and more confident in their ability to make decisions.
Not Enough Guidance: Especially if they’re new to primary care, having regular clinical supervision (from a senior pharmacist and a clinical supervisor) is a must.
Workload Overload and Burnout: Demand for pharmacist services in primary care has increased exponentially since the introduction of ARRS. Bringing in additional pharmacists isn’t always easy when demand is high. Mitigate burnout risk by giving your PCN pharmacists clear priorities, backup (like from pharmacy technicians), and realistic expectations.
Hitting a Career Ceiling: Pharmacists, like everyone, want to see ways to grow and move forward in their careers. Provide visible pathways of progression and training opportunities. Afford them adequate time to complete their mandatory training and complete the prescribing pathway. If they feel that your PCN doesn’t value the skills and knowledge they are gaining, they will look to use them elsewhere.
How to Recruit Clinical Pharmacists in Your PCN
Well, the obvious answer is, talk to us! But, if you are building your team in-house, getting the right people on board needs a clear plan:
Plan For The Future: When looking to hire, don’t just look at what you need as a quick fix right now. Think about what you want your pharmacists to be doing in 6 months, 1 year, 2 years. Take in to account changes to primary care delivery. Use this analysis to think about what knowledge, experience and soft skills you want your hire to have.
Write Clear and Candidate-Focused Job Ads: Be very clear about the role, what they’ll be doing, chances to learn and grow, and what a great, supportive place your PCN is.
Shine a Light on Development: Make a big deal about training (including those IP courses), mentoring, and how they can climb the career ladder with you. Talk about how you accommodate their desire to learn and why it’s valued in your network.
Show Off Your PCN’s Culture: When you’re interviewing, let them see how collaborative and supportive your PCN is. If you have one already, get your current pharmacy team involved.
Make Applying Easy: Your application and recruitment process is the first introduction to your PCN’s culture. So, keep your processes smooth and friendly for candidates.
Keeping Your PCN Pharmacists Happy
Getting them in the door is just step one. Keeping your PCN clinical pharmacists happy and thriving means investing in them long-term:
The Primary Care Pharmacy Education Pathway (PCPEP): This 18-month course is a must for ARRS-funded clinical pharmacists. It gives them the essential skills for primary care. Make sure your pharmacists are signed up and have the support they need to get through it.
Independent Prescribing (IP) Training: Helping your pharmacists become IPs? If not, you should be. It gives them more independence, lets them offer more services and keeps your team adding value while remaining fulfilled.
ARRS Funding: Get your head around the ARRS guidelines and how they support pharmacist roles. Make sure your roles are set up to meet the ARRS rules so you can get the most out of that funding.
Clinical Supervision: This is so important. Regular, dedicated time with a clinical supervisor and a mentor is absolutely key for their development, making sure everything’s done right, and just general support. If you know this is an area your PCN will struggle with capacity-wise, please talk to us about our fully-managed services. We employ our pharmacists directly, so are able to provide supervision and direction in a way a locum agency isn’t allowed to by IR35.
Time to Learn and Grow: Make sure they have protected time for CPD, training, and just thinking things through.
Clear Paths to Move Up: Show them how they can progress in your PCN pharmacy team (think senior clinical pharmacist or lead pharmacist roles).
Listen and Act: Chat with your pharmacy team regularly, find out what’s important to them, what things may be creating roadblocks and actually do something about it.
Meeting Future Challenges
Clinical pharmacists in PCNs aren’t just another box to tick; they’re vital partners in giving patients top-quality care and helping your PCN hit its goals.
When you really ‘get’ what they can do and support them to get there, you’ll build a pharmacy team that will continue to add value well into the future and the move to neighbourhood health. And that’s not just great for patients – it helps out your GPs and the whole primary care team.
How Medacy Can Help
We realise that the advice above would be perfect in an ideal world. But, especially in Primary Care, where budgets and time are tight, some of the advice may be difficult to follow through on.
For example, we hear from practices quite often that the time they save on medicines tasks by bringing in pharmacists can be quickly eaten up with clinical oversight and supervision.
That’s where we come in… We’ve designed our services and operating model around negating as many of the challenges both pharmacists and primary care face. We employ our teams of experienced, prescribing pharmacists and pharmacy technicians directly. Meaning we take on the responsibility of clinical oversight and quality.
We hire pharmacists with extensive primary care exposure, most of whom have already completed the PCPEP and provide regular training and support to keep them learning, developing and engaged.
While our flagship service is our fully-managed clinical pharmacy solution, we also offer targeted projects designed to improve health outcomes for specific conditions or in specific settings, and to meet the changing regulatory and delivery landscapes.
For more information, get in touch with us and we’ll advise on the fully-managed service that suits your needs.
