2014 seems to have flown by, says Joanne Taylor, and after witnessing the year’s changes at Vittoria Healthcare and pharmacy in general, she asks: what will next year bring?

I remember that when I was training as a pharmacy technician, one of my college assignments was to look at how pharmacy would evolve in the future. This work is now 20 years old and it makes for interesting reading – and what were just distant ideas have since become realities.

I remember APTUK calling for the registration of pharmacy technicians; this seemed light years away, but now we are here and it is mandatory. I also wrote about drive-through pharmacies and the use of robotics, as well as prescriptions being sent electronically from a GP. And now we are familiar with all of these concepts.

I feel that one of the most significant changes has been in technology and the electronic prescription service. Over the last 12 months, we have seen a huge increase in the number of prescriptions we dispense electronically, which has had its benefits as well as its drawbacks. When the concept was first introduced, it was advertised as a paperless system. Although I’m sure you will agree that this is generally not the case at all, as most pharmacies print the tokens prior to dispensing. It will no doubt be a paperless system for GPs, but alas, not for us.

It has had a positive impact on business as patient feedback shows us that they prefer to collect their prescription from a pharmacy nearer their home, whereas before they may have collected their prescription themselves and taken it to a pharmacy near their GP, or even within it. This has been one benefit for us, especially as our pharmacies are placed in the heart of local communities.

Patients are becoming familiar with the process of being able to order repeat prescriptions online and collecting them directly from the pharmacy. A disadvantage of the system, however, is that an Internet pharmacy offering direct delivery has targeted some of our patients. Fortunately, our patients have remained loyal to us as we give the personal service they require, and one that they would fail to get from an Internet pharmacy.

So, with all this in mind, what will next year bring us? What advances in technology do you feel have made a difference to patient choice and patient care? Has the pharmacy technician role changed at all since mandatory registration, and if not, why not? Are there possibilities for the pharmacy technician role to evolve in the next 12 months ahead? I’m sure we will see some great entries in the TM Recognition of Excellence Awards in 2015, so start thinking about nominations now and let’s hear about your experiences in practice.

 

Joanne is a registered pharmacy technician and ACPT, and is professional standards lead at Vittoria Healthcare. She is national secretary for the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK), and is a member of the Medicines Rebalancing Programme Board at the Department of Health as well as TM’s editorial advisory panel.