Pharmacist workforce issues drive employment solutions – Flame Health Blog

“In some areas”, NHSE&I has seen “pockets of shortages of clinical pharmacists”, Will Tate, head of delivery for the primary care workforce, said at the NHS ConfedExpo conference in Liverpool yesterday (June 15).,

“That can make recruitment between organisations a little bit tricky, with the sense that primary care networks (PCNs) are taking staff,”. He told delegates during a session on embedding multi-disciplinary teamworking in primary care.

However, that has resulted into some “quite innovative employment models” in some areas, he added.

Read more: PDA fires back after CCA accuses union of 'dismissing' workforce pressures

Rather than “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, he said, adopting “shared posts” or “rotational working” enables the pharmacy workforce to “integrate services more closely”.

It is important that “there is sharing capacity”. With pharmacy teams sharing their “experience and knowledge of what happens in a community pharmacy and what happens in a PCN”.

Last year, pharmacists were added to the government’s shortage occupation list. A decision that was welcomed by some employers and questioned by some locums and the Pharmacists’ Defence Association.