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Clearly defined role is crucial

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Clearly defined role is crucial

Greater clarity is needed regarding the role and responsibilities of pharmacy technicians, following a recent report looking at the quality of pharmacy techniciain education and training

The authors of the report, which was conducted by the Centre for Pharmacy Workforce Studies, University of Manchester, on behalf of the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), highlighted that the roles of pharmacy technicians were not defined, and in some cases, were not that different to those of other members of the pharmacy support team.

“It is crucial that we look at what the role of a community pharmacy technician is,” said Dr Ellen Schafheutle, senior lecturer in law and professionalism in pharmacy and one of the report’s authors. “Then we can look at what the training needs to be to enable pharmacy technicians to fulfil that role.” The report, which took a census of 1,500 newly registered pharmacy technicians (in community and hospital settings) between February 2013 and February 2014, found that most pharmacy technicians were satisfied with their training.

However, community pharmacy technicians have less support from their employers and colleagues and feel more isolated than their hospital counterparts (almost one-fifth of community pharmacy technicians compared to just over a tenth of those in hospital). Almost all community pharmacy technicians (92.9 per cent) use a distance learning provider for their training and do not benefit from protected learning time, compared to hospital pharmacy technicians, who use further education colleges and are not yet seen as part of the workforce, so can be released for study.

In contrast, training in community pharmacy settings tends to be very opportunistic and not organised, structured or regulated, said the authors. It’s unsurprising then that the report also found community pharmacy technicians took longer to complete their training than hospital pharmacy technicians.

Ash Soni, president of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, told TM: “It is important to support pharmacy technicians in their training. Protected learning time is a challenge in community pharmacy, and it affects pharmacists too. It’s unfortunate that the environment we work in doesn’t allow for protected time.” The researchers also called for current training requirements to be updated to reflect current practice and include areas such as professionalism and accountability.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Duncan Rudkin, GPhC chief executive, said the report, which is the first piece of work to look at pharmacy technician training, provided valuable information to help the profession move forward: “There is a balance between moving forward and doing so with structure, knowledge and facts. This [report] is a solid evidence base to inform development.”

The GPhC is working with the RPS and Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) on a framework to better assess pharmacy technicians. A review into the standards of training and education, in line with the national occupational standards, is expected at the end of 2015 or early 2016.

 

Pharmacy technician profile

The report also gave some insight into the pharmacy technician workforce. It found:

  • 75.9 per cent of pharmacy technicians work in a community setting
  • 88 per cent of pharmacy technicians are female
  • 79 per cent are white British
  • The average age of a community pharmacy technician is 37 years while in hospital pharmacy, the average age is 30
  • 92.9 per cent of community pharmacy technicians use distance learning providers for their training
  • In community pharmacy, most pharmacy technicians (41-42 per cent) earned between £14,000 and £18,000 a year as a trainee and once qualified
  • In hospital pharmacy, most pharmacy technicians (66 per cent) earned between £14,000 and £18,000 a year as a trainee but for most (79 per cent), this increased to between £18,000 and £22,000 a year once qualified.
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