Responsible Pharmacists

Change is always a bit of a concern especially when there is so much uncertainty about how the change might impact you. The introduction of the concept of a Responsible Pharmacist is such a change.

Is it something to be worried about? Is it just formalising what has always happened in the past? Not sure to be honest. We have all worked in branches with more than one pharmacist where one takes the “senior” role. In many cases when a locum is working with an employee pharmacist, the employee takes the senior role. However what happens in a pharmacy post October 2009 when two locums work together in a pharmacy? Who takes the RP responsibility? If one locum becomes the RP are they remunerated more for the additional responsibility?

The other issue is around record keeping. Either an electronic or written needs to be kept to confirm who the was on a given day and entries made when the RP leaves the premises. How will a locum who works across many pharmacies and companies keep track of where and when they were the RP?

My third and major concern surrounds the ability of an RP to be absent from the premises for up to two hours a day. I have no problem with this happening if a second pharmacist is on duty. However are we saying that for 25% of the day a responsible pharmacist is not needed? When does 25% become 50% and so on.

I can remember a number of occasions when I really needed to leave the premises for acute professional reasons. On one occasion I had a patient who was obviously in the last few hours of life after a long fight with lung cancer. She was going through Oxygen at an alarming rate and our delivery driver was off for the afternoon. I had to explain to waiting customers that they would have to wait until I returned. The ability to keep running while I was out in these circumstances would have been helpful.

My concern is that this 2 hour break could be abused by unscrupulous pharmacy operators. Four lots of two hours covers a pharmacy for the day. So could you operate five pharmacists with four pharmacists? Hopefully this could not happen but recent experience has taught me that some pharmacy operators seem to see pharmacists as a necessary evil at the moment and especially locums. The credit crunch has caused this in some instances and exacerbated it in others.

My own personal view is that a one hours gap would have been more appropriate but it’s too late to change that now. Second best is that all absences of the RP should be documented and reasons given so that the absences can be audited at a later date by the PCT or RPSGB. There should also be “specific regulatory guidance” in place to clarify what is an acceptable reason for leaving the premisis.  Lunch, absultely – no more sandwiches sat on a kick-stool at the back of the dispensary and also fine for home visits. However I don’t think it’s acceptable for an RP to leave their pharmacy to visit a second pharmacy they may have line-management respeonsibility for or to meet their area manager. In my view  written guidance and auditable documentation are key to safeguarding both the profession and the public.

Shaun Hockey B Pharm(Hons) MRPharmS

Managing Director PL-UK Recruitment Ltd

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Tags: LOCUM, LOCUM PHARMACIST, responsible pharmacist, rpsgb

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