Quote Originally Posted by bobbin View Post
....on to the dole?

Quite frankly, the point at which the powers that be decide that pharmacy does not need dispensing will mark the end of most community pharmacists' careers.

Most PCTs have not been keen to fund new services to any great extent. Some of these services are more appropriate for Health care Assistants at the local surgery, others are simply unrelated to pharmacists' knowledge of medication. The fact that these services are not properly integrated with primary medical services also makes them problematic in some cases.

Of course, there ARE roles for community pharmacists outside the dispensary, but how many such roles exist? Not enough, I can assure you.
Fully agree. The proposed new wonderland of enhanced services and remote supervision are proving to be as useful as a chocolate kettle. If you are a community pharmacist, you dispense drugs. If you wish to do more, then it's up to you, but don't expect to be paid for it. The PCTs have pharmacists who are desperately hanging on to their pensioned jobs as 'professional prescribing advisors'. Don't expect them to relinquish their role to community without a fight. Don't forget the creation of positions such as these instantly reduced retail pharmacy profit. Strangely, I know a couple of guys in those roles, and they were pretty bad performers at the coal face in their time.

Fleeg.