Do we do too much?

I have just completed my cross sector placement in community, and upon returning to hospital, undoubtedly, I see the place through new eyes.

In the community setting, during the dispensing process, if a pharmacist dispenses an item in order to ensure accuracy, clinical safety and appropriateness, a dispenser can complete the final accuracy check. In hospital, for a non-pharmacist to complete the accuracy check; they must become more qualified and register with the GPhC as a checking technician.

Neither of the two professionals; a dispenser or the registered technician, actively want to make a dispensing error, yet one has worked a lot harder (and often tolerated a financial burden) to be able to work according to their employers SOP's.

This is an example of the Hospital Pharmacy setting pushing qualifications, paper and metaphorical bureaucracy into a position of power which is can not be supported; given that it is not in place in community. Considering the argument, hospital patients are more ill hence dispensing staff should be more qualified? Hospital patients are cared for by Qualified Nurses, who complete their own dispensing process on the ward. Ultimately this means that hospital dispensations are checked at least three times more than their community counterparts. Is this really necessary? Clearly more research is needed.

After the GPhC's inspectors talk this week, we were told a story of a Pharmacist that went on holiday, and unknowingly left two dispensers to run their business. The Pharmacy operated all morning without a pharmacist present, with patients coming and going collecting prescriptions. As I understand it, no major incident occured. Which makes me wonder, why do pharmacists need to be physically present? It suggests that there may be something to the 'Supervision' argument after all.