Abstract
Pharmacy technicians’ roles are rapidly evolving in Great Britain (GB) as they undertake more extended activities with increased autonomy across the different pharmacy sectors. This paper compares the GB pharmacy regulator initial education and training standards recently introduced (2017) with the qualifications currently used in practice and discusses whether future qualifications will be ‘fit for purpose’. In this context, knowledge, skills, and competence are reviewed to assess whether they will meet the expectations and underpin the evolving pharmacy technician role as integral to healthcare provision. Based on drivers, policy change, and the changing GB healthcare landscape, effectiveness of skill mix is analysed to establish whether this is being optimised to support person-centred pharmacy in response to the challenges and pressures faced within the NHS. On this basis and given there is a limited evidence base, this review has highlighted a need for larger scale research to reassure the pharmacy and wider healthcare professions, and the public, that the evolving pharmacy technician role presents no increased risk to patient safety and contributes significantly to releasing pharmacists time for person-centred clinical activities.
Highlights
Pharmacy technicians in Great Britain were first accepted onto the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) register, the pharmacy regulator, in 2011 and practice to the same GPhC professional standards as pharmacists [1]
The UK government vision for the community pharmacist role has significantly changed from the supply of medicines to the clinical provision of patient care—and this gives opportunities for pharmacy technician role development—this has been slower to evolve in community pharmacy
To better understand the evolving role in Great Britain (GB), in this article we will look at the main drivers for change of the pharmacy technician role, how the role has evolved in response to this, what needs to change to support the transition, and how the role may evolve further in the future
Summary
Pharmacy technicians in Great Britain were first accepted onto the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) register, the pharmacy regulator, in 2011 and practice to the same GPhC professional standards as pharmacists [1]. In the hospital sector, with specific training, these extended roles have evolved from traditional pharmacy technician activities such as dispensing and stock management, to final accuracy checking (in the UK this is a nonclinical check for accuracy of prescribed and dispensed medicines, as opposed to the clinical check conducted by a pharmacist for clinical appropriateness for a patient), medicines optimisation skills* (see Table 1), and pharmacy management. All of these roles have previously been traditional pharmacists’ roles. To better understand the evolving role in GB, in this article we will look at the main drivers for change of the pharmacy technician role, how the role has evolved in response to this, what needs to change to support the transition (education), and how the role may evolve further in the future
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