The world that community pharmacy operates within is one of change, and pharmacy businesses need to constantly move their activity on to where new opportunities lie. Busy pharmacists can’t take on more, but they can work differently. This means that there are decisions to be made.

The workload within a community pharmacy has become more challenging than ever. Reductions in payments for the dispensing supply function we undertake, means we are faced with growing challenges at the same time as having to maintain or reduce our costs. How can we cope?

We have to ask ourselves if we are making the best use of our resources. Are we doing things we don’t have to? What other important things don’t get done as a result?

You may already have delegated as much as you can, but this needs regular review. Community pharmacy must be prepared for the future and a wider role in the NHS.

We can’t do any of that if we are struggling to run our own ship. We all have comfort zones that we operate within, but now is the time to challenge these. This article will provide you with ideas for ways to make this transition.