As money is squeezed tighter, Joanne Taylor asks what the funding cuts mean for the pharmacy technician workforce

With the huge amount of publicity, you will no doubt be aware of the proposed cuts to the community pharmacy contract funding.

The Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK (APTUK) is responding to the proposals, taking into consideration the professional leadership role and the safeguarding of the current and future role of pharmacy technicians. The response also considers the potential impact of funding cuts on the skill mix of the pharmacy team and the effect this may have on pharmacy services.

One of APTUK’s main concerns is that the cuts will increase pressure within the pharmacy team, as staffing levels and skill mixes are reviewed and potentially compromised. This in turn will affect the motivation of staff, will reduce staff training and development and potentially destabilise the workforce. APTUK is also concerned about the impact on pharmacies and services to patients and the public at a time when there is significant growth in workload and changing healthcare needs of the population.

Community pharmacy has already proved its worth in numerous ways and APTUK applauds the attributes of the sector and its evolution into the clinical network that patients can now benefit from. Yet the development and training of the whole pharmacy workforce to make patient-facing roles the norm can only be achieved through adequate funding.

What’s more, there is currently an under supply of pharmacy technicians and pre-registration trainee pharmacy technicians. A reduction in funding will compound this and may affect plans for future pharmacy services. This will have a detrimental effect on the provision of pharmaceutical care for those with long-term conditions and the elderly, given the increase in population and changing demographics, at a time when there is a potentially increased role for the community pharmacy team.

Pharmacists should be freed up to support patients to make the most of their medicines, promote health and provide advice to help people live better, but this can only be achieved by utilising the skills of registered pharmacy technicians. This, in addition to the skills of the wider pharmacy team, will enable the support and delivery of high quality patientcentred healthcare. As an organisation, APTUK supports and believes that this will mirror the medicines optimisation model employed in hospital pharmacy.

So what are your thoughts on this? How do you see your role changing as a result of the proposals? There’s a lot to consider, so have a chat with your team and see what you can do to find out more: it’s really important that everyone engages with the consultation.

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.