Introduction and module overview

This module will help you to understand where you are now, with a challenge to critically consider your business focus, guiding you to support the drafting of competency profiles and the introduction of personal development plans (PDPs) for your team members. 

It will help you to consider where you want to get to, and how your goals can be achieved through optimising the skill mix in your business by reassigning tasks, sourcing and training in new skills or considering recruitment of new team members.  

Everyone needs to be assured that their business is sustainable. The work completed in these modules should help to future-proof your business. This will be supported by introducing a process of ongoing assessment and a consideration of a basic succession plan to protect your business going forward. Two areas in last month’s module were identified as needing additional information, which you will find as you work through this module:

• Additional training required/planned
• Optimising skill mix/training in new skills/buying in new skills.

Where are you now?

Most readers will have NHS dispensing as their main business focus. There are other areas of your business that could be revisited – particularly, but not exclusively, service provision. Your retail offer and the stocking of specialist products could be a future potential focus too. No opportunity for development should be dismissed out of hand. 

It will be beneficial to consider what other pharmacies are doing – or not doing – in your area. Other useful tactics include talking to your team and having a small number of customers complete a user survey.