Pharmacy PLB Blog

I started the Workplace Pressure campaign because I had listened to the concerns of pharmacists and wanted to work with you to help find practical solutions to the pressures you face in your jobs. The profession as a whole has to address the problem of workplace pressure - this is not an issue a single organisation can resolve on its own.

As part of the campaign, the Pharmacy Practice Research Trust and the Society held a symposium last month to examine the impacts of workload and stress on the profession and, potentially, patient safety…

The symposium brought together representatives from the major employers, employee associations, trade unions, hospital pharmacy and academia, in addition to pharmacy superintendents, to look collectively for solutions to the problems of pressure and workload in pharmacy.

The speakers at the symposium presented their findings of key issues during this two day symposium. According to Professor Karen Hassell, the rising number of prescriptions and the additional work generated by the contractual framework for community pharmacy, for example, Medicines Use Reviews have contributed to the increased workload of pharmacists. For many, this results in work overload and is leading to stress, dissatisfaction, anxiety and fatigue in a significant number of the profession.

Dr Phil Tucker, suggested shift systems and long working hours impact the performance and wellbeing of a workforce,

Susan Sanders mentioned the shortfall in the number of newly qualified pharmacists, stating that the impact of these vacant posts is leading to stressed and overworked staff and a lack of human resources for training.

The findings from these seminars will be widely shared and will form the basis for professional practice guidance and resources for employers and employees. To read a full report on the symposium, please visit the Pharmacy Practice Research Trust at;  www.pprt.org.uk/Events/EventsHeld.aspx

I am keen to identify other areas where you feel the Society and, in the future, the new professional body, should take the lead in supporting you and the wider profession. Please email me at

support-for-you@rpsgb.org to let me know what you think we can do to help you improve the quality of your professional life and service to your patients. Your commitment to the profession and your patients is what we are here to support – and you have my personal assurance that we will do so.

Steve Churton

President, RPSGB

There now appears to be a real commitment to tackle the causes of workplace stress amongst pharmacists. This mood was very evident at the recent symposium on workplace pressure held in London and our charity Pharmacist Support is pleased to be involved in this debate.

We often see the causes of workplace stress and pressure and the damaging affects that stress can have on someone’s health; finances, career and personal relationships. It is important to deal with stress and the causes of stress by providing the appropriate support at the earliest opportunity. Often we find that pharmacists will suffer unhealthy levels of stress for long periods of time before they seek help even suffering a break down. This is in part due to professional responsibility and the fear of being seen as unable to cope. 

Whilst we fully support any practical solutions that may transpire from the campaign we also want to raise awareness of the services that are available to pharmacists and their families who are already suffering from stress. These services include the Listening Friends scheme which offers a telephone listening service staffed by volunteer pharmacists trained in this area. We also provide financial assistance on a temporary or long term basis to help someone overcome a crisis or to ‘top up low incomes’ as well as access to specialist advice on debt and benefits. Another service we provide is support for pharmacists who have alcohol or other addictions.

We encourage all pharmacists (practicing or not – on or off the register) and their dependents to contact the charity. All enquiries are dealt with in complete confidence.

We would also encourage all pharmacists to help a colleague who they feel maybe in need of support by mentioning our services.

Let’s hope that the workplace pressure campaign starts to tackle some of the causes of stress but let’s also recognise that many pharmacists will need support at some point in their careers. Asking for help when you need it is not such a bad thing and should be encouraged.

For further information on Pharmacist Support and their services, contact 0808 168 2233 or visit www.pharmacistsupport.org

David Qualter - Pharmacist Support Manager

This week sees the launch of the first professional support tool on the pharmacyplb website. The new practice guidance is for pharmacists and their staff providing any form of diagnostic testing or screening service

The professional support workstream has a project looking at the delivery of professional support tools for the new professional body and, as the work stream lead, I welcome this new guidance. The material has been prepared with you in mind. We hope you find the design of the guidance user-friendly and the content, including
the ten “principles of good practice”, relevant to your needs.

Support material will soon be launched on additional topics including a “responsible pharmacist toolkit”  that has been developed using a new approach bringing together pharmacists to review the toolkit.

Professional support was recently considered at an important stakeholder event and I would like to thank everyone involved, for their ideas and comments and to those who put their names forward for further involvement in the projects. If you would like to be part of this process please select “get involved” from our website
homepage.

We would like to hear which professional support tools you find useful.

Please comment on this blog - let us know what you think of the new guidance and what we need to do further.

Meghna Joshi.

Professional Support Project Manager.