The Royal College of Pharmacy (RCPharm) has published an open letter urging the Scottish government to “make better use” of the pharmacy workforce as it looks to prioritise public service reform.
RCPharm Scotland director Laura Wilson said yesterday that pharmacists are an “underutilised clinical resource” and can help “deliver better outcomes for patients across Scotland”.
But she said she is “concerned” that the Scottish Parliament’s recent public service reform committee consultation does not give “sufficient space for stakeholders to contribute ideas about the fundamental redesign of services”.
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The Scottish government said the reforms aim to ensure public services are “inclusive, sustainable, and effective in improving people’s outcomes”.
The RCPharm’s letter, written by fellow and Scottish Pharmacy Advisory Council chair Catriona Sinclair, welcomed the government’s “ambition” but said the consultation’s questions on “efficiency savings, workforce reduction targets and budgetary mechanisms” risk “obscuring” the question of how Scotland should redesign its public services.
Digital and workforce
Sinclair said “making full use of the pharmacy workforce” is “one of the clearest opportunities for transformative reform” and referenced the RCPharm’s vision for pharmacy in 2030, which she said aligns with public service reform aims, such as having a “modern digital infrastructure”.
The letter called for an “integrated digital health and care record, accessible to all relevant healthcare professionals and capable of being both read and updated by them”, adding that this is “essential national infrastructure”.
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Sinclair said the “slow pace of digital transformation” is a barrier to reform and that interoperability, effective data-sharing across health and social care and multi-year investment are needed to ensure progress is made.
The letter also questioned whether reducing workforce numbers is “a reform strategy in itself”, and said the aim of public service reform should be to “improve productivity and outcomes through redesign”.
It said there are opportunities to “redesign patient pathways” to make use of pharmacy technicians and the pharmacists now qualifying as prescribers at registration, adding that pharmacists can take responsibility for “prescribing, medicines optimisation, prevention and long-term condition management” when integrated into multidisciplinary and multi-agency teams.
Frontline and Pharmacy First
Sinclair also called for clarity on “what constitutes a frontline role” and argued that “pharmacists are often incorrectly viewed through the lens of medicines supply rather than clinical care”.
She said they are “frontline clinicians who deliver direct patient care every day”, are “among the most accessible healthcare professionals” and are “increasingly qualified to provide advanced clinical care and prescribing services”.
Sinclair praised the “value of preventative investment” that Pharmacy First offers in providing treatment “closer to home” and reducing pressure on the NHS, and said reform should focus on “value-based services” that “demonstrably improve outcomes”.
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“Ultimately, Scotland’s reform agenda should be driven not by the pursuit of short-term efficiencies alone, but by a long-term vision of high-quality, integrated, preventative public services,” she added.
It comes after the RCPharm expressed “significant concerns” over some of the General Pharmaceutical Council’s proposed reforms to internationally qualified pharmacist training last month.
And it follows the college telling MPs that introducing a performers list for pharmacy could offer an “additional mechanism other than a fitness-to-practise referral”.
