How do you feel about the future? It’s a fair question for anyone, but for community pharmacy it’s an acute one.
So it was heartening to see the replies to this holistic question posed by C+D’s Salary Survey were not completely dominated by the fear of what’s to come.
In fact, the outcome is teetering on a positive one. That might come as a surprise.
Why might it be?
Pessimism
No, of course not everyone is feeling good about the immediate future. Some 36% reported feeling ‘not at all positive’ about the future, and sympathy must lie with anyone who has been ground down to such an extent.
It’s easy, unhappily, to imagine the factors driving the gloom.
Read more: IN FULL: Long delayed funding contract negotiations finally open
They are well versed and documented, high among them is the dearth of funding that has become a perennial drag on current events and future plans. But respondents also revealed worries about workload, wages, the evolving nature of the job, and more.
“Things need to change,” said one respondent. “I moved from Boots after several patient errors and could not deal with the inadequate levels of staffing and complete lack of safety for both the patients and staff.”
“The level of stress is beyond brutal, and the capability of the staff is abysmal,” said another.
Read more: Some 382,000 patients left empty handed in Dec as pharmacies unable to fill prescriptions
“When I started in community pharmacy at the age of 18 it was a highly regarded career and attracted intelligent capable people,” said a third.
“Now we have individuals who struggle to do basic maths, can’t grasp concepts, or even the consequences of getting it wrong. This is disturbing. We are at the forefront of health care. It is a profession, not a job on the checkouts.”
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No disrespect to checkout operators, who also valiantly kept tills ringing during lockdown, and it’s just one opinion, of course. But it is damning, and the sentiments expressed are by no means unique.
“I feel like we work in a factory now,” said another. “Pharmacy owners are grabbing at the dangling carrots of services the GPs don’t want. It’s a horrid job. Stressful and unfulfilling.”
Read more: Jhooty and the GPs: Employee pins miscarriage on pay stress as staff owed thousands
Another said “initially I loved the interaction with patients and providing support and help. But now patients are becoming more abusive and have unrealistic expectations on services and prescription timeframes, often not helped by bad information provided by local GPs.”
As for one retired pharmacist, watching from a distance but retaining a “keen interest in community pharmacy”, he has “very little confidence in the future. I am glad to be out if it.”
Optimism
That said, the majority of respondents, 55%, reported feeling slightly, somewhat or quite positive about the future.
Another 9% felt “very positive” about the future.
It’s possible those ‘dangling carrots’ look more appealing to pharmacists with the operational and staffing capabilities to be able to take advantage of the potential services-based profits on offer.
Read more: ‘Immense pressure’: Managers impose Pharmacy First targets
And maybe that other 55% hovering around the ‘positivity’ vibe do see a healthier future for the industry.
A new funding deal would relieve umbrella pressure, while Hub and Spoke is promising to play a role in reducing the day to day demands of dispensing, though like Pharmacy First it won’t be entirely suitable for all. Nothing ever is.
Read more: Salary Survey: What does community pharmacy think about Hub and Spoke?
Evolution can be uncomfortable, and community pharmacy is evolving – although perhaps it’s more accurate to suggest it’s being evolved whether it likes it or not, with a firm but gentle hand in the lower back.
C+D’s Salary Survey tells us that for some, the shifting sands are a natural evolution that build on the healthcare environment that a community pharmacy can offer – and the future does look promising for those in a position to take advantage.
I imagine they are imagining an upskilled and funded future with a plentiful supply chain, more variety, consultation rooms aplenty, more profits and maybe even polite and patient patients?
Read more: Salary Survey: Do you have faith in the government?
With so many of the legitimate grumbles expressed revolving around basic funding shortfalls, oppressive workload, routine medicine shortages and a lack of government support, it’s hard to escape the fact that these are troubled times.
Yet once the government does implement its plans for community pharmacy, some of these damaging issues will at the very least be tackled. And perhaps after everything pharmacy has been through in recent years, that’s grounds for optimism in itself.
