Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) chair Mark Koziol has encouraged pharmacists to support a “scope of practice” legal action launched by doctors against their regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC), he announced last month (September 25).

In a “personal blog”, Koziol said the attempt by doctors’ group Anaesthetists United’s (AU) to curb the growing influence and “blurred” scope of so-called medical associate professions (MAPs) is “very relevant to all of us in pharmacy”.

Read more: ‘Toxic’ debates a ‘threat’ to expanding pharmacy technician role, says GPhC

Koziol said that he had donated to a legal fund in support of AU’s case against the GMC, because it aims to force the regulator to impose “clear and enforceable” limits on MAPs - which include physician associates (PAs), anaesthesia associates (AAs) and surgical care practitioners.

In a recent meeting between the PDA and the doctors that are leading the fight against the GMC, Koziol said it became “apparent that their objectives are very similar to the solutions that are required in pharmacy”.

 

Not on “a similar level”

 

Like the PDA’s call for an end to the use of “pharmacy professionals” to refer jointly to pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, AU wants to bring an end to the GMC’s use of “medical professionals” which “undermines doctors” and “confuses patients”.

Koziol said that the term “pharmacy professionals” implies that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians “could be on a similar level - which clearly, they are not”.

Koziol said the PDA’s “attempts to raise sensible discussions about role definition, skill mix, defining scope of practice and the link to patient safety” about pharmacy technicians with pharmacy bodies are “labelled as unhelpful and even toxic”.

Read more: PDA considers legal action over term ‘pharmacy professionals’

“Pharmacists supporting the uncontrolled blurring of the lines between the roles of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians do nothing more than collude in the demise of their own profession,” said Koziol.

While the PDA’s members support “a symbiotic way” of working with pharmacy technicians, Koziol said that pharmacy technicians were being encouraged to “push the boundaries of their practice beyond sensible limits” by “senior NHS pharmacy officials”.

Read more: PDA airs ‘role substitution’ fears amid pharmacy technician reforms

Koziol warned of “a factory style, production line of new groups of healthcare workers”, adding that patient safety was placed at risk when “skill mix is replaced with role substitution”.

Koziol said that the trade union would remain in touch with “those who are seeking to challenge the establishment”.

 

Blurring lines

 

In September, General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) chief executive Duncan Rudkin said that e public acceptance of pharmacy technicians was “fragile” as he criticised parliamentarians who had raised “toxic and difficult challenges” to debates about expanding pharmacy technicians’ scope of practice.

In July, C+D reported that the PDA was considering legal action over the term “pharmacy professionals” to ensure that patients are not “confused” by the different skills and expertise a pharmacist and pharmacy technician have.

Read more: PDA: Pharmacy technician qualification levels ‘too low’ to handle PGDs

In March, the trade union warned MPs that allowing pharmacy technicians to use patient group directions (PGDs) was a safety risk, because pharmacy technicians “underpinning knowledge [is] just too low”.

But in June legislative amendments to permit pharmacy technicians to supply and administer prescription drugs under PGDs were pushed through in a pre-election wash-up.