Working in isolation and time pressures are preventing pharmacists from developing their skills to their full potential, a survey has revealed.

The results, which were released this week, revealed that more than half of the 300 pharmacists surveyed felt there was a lack of communication and peer-to-peer training in their jobs, which hampered their abilities.

Nearly a third of those who felt there was insufficient sharing of information blamed the "isolated" nature of their jobs, found the survey, which was conducted by Reckitt Benckiser in September.

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	Time pressures were also named as a barrier to training, as a third said they did not spend more than 30 minutes a week training online during work time. In contrast, 63 per cent spent between 30 minutes and four hours a week training online at home. When it came to gaps in knowledge, half said the area they would most like to learn more about was business skills.

Fin McCaul, chair of the Independent Pharmacy Federation, said the research highlighted the time pressures facing community pharmacy, but warned pharmacists could not afford to compromise training.

"The government agenda for pharmacy to take a greater role, as well as the Which? report, means it is more important than ever for pharmacies to have the best possible training," he said.

The research followed the launch of the Reckitt Benckiser training portal last month, which includes online modules on topics such as winter ailments, headache, back pain and business skills.