Julie Bolam, head of professional development at the NPA, talks about new training to upskill and develop staff who deliver medicines to patients’ homes

Offering patients the choice to have their medicines delivered to their homes can be of great benefit, particularly to those who are too frail or ill to collect their prescriptions. It’s therefore important that pharmacies factor delivery drivers into their staff training and development plans. Delivery drivers are the face of the pharmacy to housebound patients and it’s important that high standards of professionalism and safety are met with each delivery.

To help NPA members upskill and develop delivery drivers, the NPA has launched new training which is suitable for staff collecting prescriptions from the surgery and delivering medicines to patients’ homes or other locations. The training is the first of its kind and is accredited by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). The course has been developed following feedback from NPA members, who want to be confident that delivery drivers are providing a good service to their patients and are acting according to the necessary rules and regulations. The training is split into four sections and covers:

• Essentials of pharmacy practice – including standard operating procedures (SOPs), confidentiality and Responsible Pharmacist regulations
• Delivering a good customer service to patients
• Working as part of a team
• Health and safety

The training will give delivery drivers an understanding of community pharmacy and the importance of following processes. For example, the course covers the importance of following SOPs, how to correctly handle Controlled Drugs and also considers risks, such as posting medicines through a letter box if a patient isn’t in.

As well as covering the rules and regulations, the course will also develop ‘soft’ skills. The NPA understands that a frustrating part of a delivery driver’s job is when they are held up at a GP practice because a prescription isn’t ready or when they have to travel a few miles up the road because it has been processed at a sister practice. The training covers how to form and build relationships with GPs and practice managers to make these situations easier.

The course also looks at how the delivery driver interacts with other members of the pharmacy team. For example, the importance of clear record-keeping so that pharmacy teams know what products have gone out for delivery and which have been returned because the patient was not at home.

The training is a self-study, distance-learning course and takes approximately 15 hours to complete over a period of three months. Completion of the course can also be used as evidence of staff competence for GPhC inspections.

To find out more about the course or to enrol, contact the NPA’s Professional Development Team on: 01727 800402.