PillTime sees blister pack demand rocket amid pharmacy ‘staffing crisis’
Online pharmacy PillTime is experiencing increased demand for multi-compartment compliance aids (MCCAs) due to a “staffing crisis” in community pharmacy that means many other businesses do not have the time to fill them, it has told C+D.
Pharmacy teams who are “too busy to take on” another blister pack referral amid a "staffing crisis" in the sector are instead opting to send patients to PillTime, its chief medical officer, Peter Thnoia claimed to C+D.
PillTime superintendent pharmacist Sadik Al-Hassan did not name specific businesses, but claimed the online pharmacy is seeing MCCA referrals “from everywhere” – including other pharmacies, care homes and hospitals.
This has allowed PillTime to “step in to provide the service”, Mr Thnoia said. The online business began offering MCCAs when it was established in 2016.
Read more: Are community pharmacies moving away from providing blister packs?
It follows Boots’ decision earlier this year to explore “alternative ways to support” patients to whom it provides multi-compartment compliance aids (MCCAs).
The multiple began exploring its options following the latest Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) guidance, which “indicates that the use of MCCAs is not always the most appropriate option for all patients”, it said at the time.
But Boots' stance has attracted criticism in the media, with patient advocates and experts in elderly medicine questioning the move.
PillTime “built with pouching in mind”
Mr Al-Hassan told C+D that the online pharmacy was “built with pouching in mind”.
The RPS is “right in saying that helping patients with their medicines isn’t always a one size fits all in community pharmacy”, he added.
However, he argued that “the choices that community pharmacy makes aren’t always the decision that a patient might want and there is an argument around patient preference”.
Read more: Invest in pharmacy blister pack services, AIMp urges commissioners.
“There is definitely a pressure on community pharmacy at the moment. I’m acutely aware. Community pharmacy legitimately just does not have the time to do it,” he said.
It comes as issues around the community pharmacy workforce remains a hotly debated topic, with some claiming these are down to a shortage of pharmacists, while others say there is a lack of pharmacists willing to work in the sector in its current state.
