Clinical pharmacists in primary care general practices: evaluation of current workforce and their distribution

Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice

Research

Ankie Hazen¹  Inderpal Dehele²  Elisha Chopra²  Tanvi Choudhary²  Vibhu Paudyal²  Sunil Shrestha³ 

[1] Julius Center for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands;School of Pharmacy, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK;School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, Jalan Lagoon Selatan, 47500, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia;

关键词: Clinical pharmacist;    Primary care;    General practice;    Physician offices;    Workforce;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40545-022-00483-3

 received in 2022-08-25, accepted in 2022-11-03,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundGeneral practices in primary care across England are increasingly employing clinical pharmacists to help tackle the workforce crisis and alleviate pressure. Clinical pharmacists can provide administrative and clinical duties, including non-medical prescribing, advice on polypharmacy and medicines optimisation. The aim of this study was to investigate the distribution of clinical pharmacists in general practice across England, and explore the relationship between the distribution and regional demography.MethodsThis study used publicly available government database from various sources pertaining to primary care general practice workforce and population demographics of England. The number and distribution of pharmacists working within general practices in England were analysed and compared across practices considering general practitioner (GP), nurse and patient population in the practices, patients age ≥ 65 years and over and the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) scores.ResultsTwenty two percentage (1469 of 6674) of practices in England were found to have access to a clinical pharmacist, equating to 1358 full-time equivalent (FTE) pharmacists and a mean pharmacist FTE of 10.07 (95% CI 8.40, 11.75, SD = 9.84) per Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). A significant relationship between pharmacist FTE and the number of patients 65 years and older [r (132) = 0.75, P < 0.001)] was observed; however, the distribution was not related to population deprivation scores.ConclusionsApproximately one in five general practices in England have access to a clinical pharmacist. Further research is needed to ensure wider and equitable distribution based on workforce needs and practice population demography.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022

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