Pharmacists lack professional image, NHS Alliance chief warns

Why dont you concentrate on your image, son!
Link back to original article

How unfortunate his comments are. He fails to recognise that the NHS is equally to blame for the poor professional image of pharmacists since it has failed to invest in the pharmacy profession adequately (if at all!). As one of the first independent pharmacist prescribers I can say that I have struggled to get NHS funding to provide prescribing services despite demonstrating significant benefits over and over again and winning a pharmaceutical care awards. I find that GP colleagues are much more accepting of pharmacist prescribers now than they used to be. However, the Department of Health has failed to provided a robust structure of funding for pharmacist prescribers. We all know that the NHS would make significant savings if pharmacists were utilised to their fullest potential. Coupled with the reduced NHS reimbursement of community pharmacy professional services and Category M, there are very few pharmacies that will invest in professional services when there is no clear structure of a return on investment. How can the NHS possibly expect high standards when it reimburses at the lowest possible levels? As a provider of training services to community pharmacy, I keep my ear close to the ground, and it seems that the grass roots pharmacists and their staff are very keen on providing more professional services, and an example is the level of intest that we have had for our vaccination training courses; however, on the flip side the only way pharmacies can provide such a service at the moment is by offering it privately - since there is no NHS funding (nationally).... So in response to Mr Sobanja; Pharmacists are ready a willing to take on the challenges, but is the NHS ready to seriously invest in pharmacy?

Pharmacy needs a revelation triggered by just one visionary. This would enable the necessary hyperleap for service provision. And that messiah would need to rain some real funds on the profession and to not claw it back again. Mickey baby, we agree with you but it cannot be achieved with unanswered prayers.

Thank you for all your comments - unsurprisingly this caused quite a lot of controversy at the conference as well! Please keep your thoughts coming.

Emma

Mr Sobanja should realise that the view of the one person he listens to is not better than the views of the general public. The Pharmacist is higly recognised and respected as a healthcare professional generally i can say. On the other hand, the failure to take up the Prescribing Pharmacist service is totally due to the DH poor funding for Pharmacy. Pharmacist are mostly at the receiving end of poor funding, from category M to all kinds of unfair claw backs. I just don't understand this.
We study so hard yet get little recognition from those in power. The idea that we need to do more to get recognition is simply manipulative. The delivery of Pharmacy service in the UK is as cheap and high classed as it can get with the professionals still delivering high quality care. The volume and quality of care an individual Pharmacist gives per unit time far outruns all other health professional by a mile. Do they want us to work for free or as slaves before you recognise the services. A road side garage charges 110 quid per hour just to diagnose my car problem and you think the Pharmacist gets too much for 18.5 quid perhour. The struggle for funding mentioned by the Prescriber above is a clear pointer to what most Pharmacist face. You can put all the effort into becoming a prescriber, but if there is not going to be funding for the service, of what use is it. OR is the idea of turning around to claw back and reduce dispensing fees in a bit to fund advanced services any further than 'robbing peter to pay paul'. Hope the PSNC doesn't think Pharmacist are not sharp enough to understand the schemes, we only haven't got the time to answer them just yet cos we are too busy taking care of our dear patients. Someday when posterity looks favourably upon us or when the populace gets less unwell, we'd have time to sort out these anomalies.

it is true as long as we work in supermarkets where our role is to pump out MURs then we are indeed unproffessional

It's unfortunate that Mrs Sobanja thinks pharmacists are the 'local chemist shop' but when she enters any of these 'shops' (which am sure she has, many times) what does she go there for? to do her laundry? buy a newspaper? or shop for clothes? if she's ever entered one and asked for a simple health care advise and she fails to recognise that she seeking it from a a professional, a pharmacist then i do not know what planet she is on. the local 'chemist shop' has been praised many times by our patients, because we are easily accessible, no appointments, or is it beacuse Mrs Sobanja does not need to book a 48 hour appointment, (sometimes 3-5days appointment with GP surgeries) to seek a phamacists advise that she thinks we are not professionals. Please give us some respect and if the powers that be had stoop up for pharmacy, fighting our corner, for funding etc then i think the story would be different.

in india the situaTION IS MORE BAD OF PARTICULARLY OF HEALTH SECTOR,AS DOCTORS ARE NOW IN MONEY MAKING RACE ANDHE OR SHE DOESN'T HAVE TIME TO EXPLAIN OR SATISFY OR CONVEY ABOUT HEALTH .SO THE RESPONSIBILITY OF PHARMACIST IS TO MUCH EXTEND IS INCREASED.

A professional can only truly be a professional if they have full autonomy. Unfortunately due to lack of strong professional backing we lack that autonomy. Almost everyday we need to fill out lots of useless paperwork to prove that whatever we do is of value. we are unable to make the smallest of decisions without prior consent from GP's. worse still some companies have non-pharmacist managers who DICTATE pharmacists daily decisions only for short-term profits. the coinage of 'responsible pharmacist' title does not hold any true meaning in the real world. Give pharmacists the true autonomy without any bureaucratic non-sense and we will have a class of pharmacists with unimaginable health benefits. As far as Mr Sobanja's comment on independent prescribing, we are ready to provide this service as long as the NHS is prepared to fund us appropriately including the training.