Changes to skills required 

In order to assess what changes are required to the skills in your team (and yourself), have a look back at last month’s module, which includes tips for competency assessments. 

In addition, you need to know what new skills the proposed business change requires. This will allow you to consider how best to incorporate the new skills into individual PDPs.

If the skills are to be in a service-led business model, you may be able to piggy-back onto some of the services that are already in place. Additional service specifications and data can be found on the Community Pharmacy England (CPE) website: cpe.org.uk. 

How to satisfy the need for additional training

If you decide that additional external training is required, there are a number of places that information can be found. Remember to consult the GPhC’s guidance on the training requirements for support staff. If you are a member of a pharmacy support organisation, you can check their websites for additional information and support.

Health Education England is working with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK and NHS England to deliver training and development opportunities. These are designed to help pharmacy professionals deliver better, safer services to patients and the public. If you think you need information and support to train team members yourself, the Centre for Pharmacy Post Graduate Education (CPPE) has a support package to help you called Train my Team.

If training is not possible, you might have to buy in the skills you require. You will be able to use your competency matrix to support effective interviewing and recruitment.  

Optimising your skill mix 

Once skills and training have been identified and completed, you can move tasks around team members and delegate more of the workload accordingly. 

From 28 March this year, there have been amendments to the NHS Service Act 2006 to allow pharmacy technicians to deliver the hypertension case finding and smoking cessation services.

It is possible that additional services may become deliverable by pharmacy technicians, so it’s worth considering how your team could support this move in the future.