I’ve just come back from a 9 day holiday in the countryside
of France. It was such a nice break!
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| (photo taken by me) |
Back to the grind tomorrow though. I’m doing a locum shift with a company which
requires all their locums to perform 2 Medicine Use Reviews and 1 New MedicineService every day. These are essentially services where the pharmacist sits
down with the patient and reviews their medication with them. Sounds good in
principal, but setting targets means that in reality pharmacists often end up
doing the services on patients who don’t really require the service in order
just to reach targets and earn the company money (the pharmacy gets paid approx
£27 for every one carried out). Some days you just don’t get the patient’s
through the door who match the minimum criteria to allow you to carry out the
service on them, or the patients just don’t agree (are often too much in a
rush) to sit down with you, so trying to reach targets can be pretty stressful.
This is the main reason why I dislike community pharmacy – it’s a business with the main priority of making money. Patient care is secondary and there’s always going to be conflict. I’m glad doctors still work for the NHS where making money isn’t the primary aim.
This is the main reason why I dislike community pharmacy – it’s a business with the main priority of making money. Patient care is secondary and there’s always going to be conflict. I’m glad doctors still work for the NHS where making money isn’t the primary aim.
Ah the wonderful world of MUR targets in community pharmacy! I'm still yet to sit the accreditation stuff (think when I get around to doing it I will do the Medway course). How are you finding locuming as a student? If you don't mind me asking, what would be the best to look for bookings?
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