Pharmacists looking for work could differentiate themselves from rival candidates by training in areas such as warfarin clinics or independent prescribing, speakers told the C+D Senate on education and training earlier this month (May 16).

Day Lewis head of pharmacy Tim Rendell said that the independent chain would consider building centres of excellence around specialist clinical areas, potentially boosting recruitment. "In those pharmacies, I can see two pharmacists operating and I think it's a really big opportunity for the future," he said.

"We need a new niche so, if someone does have a specialist interest like warfarin clinics, potentially that's an avenue we need to look at" Al Patel, contractor	More from the C+D Senate The C+D Senate: Back to school Q&A: C+D Senate on education Plans to include prescribing in pharmacy degree       shelved, Senators reveal MORE NEWS
	Al Patel, contractor at Lee Pharmacy, Lambeth, agreed that developing a niche could help pharmacists secure jobs. "In terms of career development, there are too many pharmacists out there and everyone knows London's got a big locum problem," he said. "We need a new niche so, if someone does have a specialist interest like warfarin clinics, potentially that's an avenue we need to look at."

However, London Pharmacy Education & Training director Susan Sanders warned that skills would have to meet demand. "When non-medical prescribing came in, I worked in supporting our prescribers," she said. "What we ended up with was investing our training money in quite a few community pharmacists who became prescribers and were then not able to use their skills."

"We need to make sure [training] is focused on a patient outcome," Ms Sanders stressed.

The comments were echoed by British Pharmaceutical Students' Association public relations officer Lottie Bain, who argued that the drive for pharmacy to take on more services had led to "huge interest" in independent prescribing among students, which may not be put into practice.

"What worries me is people will want to do it because they can and I'm still not entirely sure of how much they will be able to use it," Ms Bain said.

Catch up with the Senate as it happened with C+D's live blog.