Work pressures affect MUR quality for one in six readers
Almost one in six respondents to C+D’s 2016 Salary Survey said pressures at work caused them to deliver poor-quality medicines reviews
EXCLUSIVE
Some 16% of pharmacists and pharmacy staff face levels of emotional pressure at work that mean they are unable to perform high-quality medicines optimisation reviews.
Respondents to the C+D Salary Survey 2016 – which asked 1,292 community pharmacy professionals for their views on the job and the profession in November and December 2015 – revealed that 210 felt the level of emotional pressure at work meant they carried our "poor-quality" medicines use reviews (MURs) or new medicine service (NMS) checks.
C+D conducted the survey four months before the Guardian published allegations that managers at Boots routinely pressure pharmacy staff to perform unnecessary MURs to hit financial targets.
However, C+D's survey suggests the issue of target pressures, and their impact on pharmacists’ ability to deliver clinical work, is not isolated to one pharmacy chain.
Pharmacists who took part in C+D’s Twitter debate on inappropriate MURs last Friday (April 22) gave candid examples of the effect pressures to perform MURs can have on patient care.
Twitter reaction
#MURabuse in the past we had to make a weekly call saying how many we had completed, the no. we planned to complete & action plan if not
— deborah ferrigan (@debbie_ferrigan) 22 April 2016
@CandDAnnabelle The majority of MURs give real benefits but forced MURs undermine our ethics, patient confidence and our need for investment
— Chris Bonsell (@ChrisBCPPE) April 22, 2016
@CandDJamesW @amishpatel1985 lol dementia patients, colleagues, I have seen MUR's done on methadone & psychiatric patients as well
— Sudeesh (@Sudeesh74) 22 April 2016
@CandDBeth the target groups help but in my experience some "ideal" pt's don't benefit and some "non-target" pt's find them invaluable
— Brendon Jiang (@BrendonJiang) 22 April 2016
This is the first in a series of articles exploring the issue of MUR abuse, folllowing on from our Twitter debate. We'll be sharing more exclusive data on the profession's view on MURs, and coverage of the debate, later this week.
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