The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) has today released a report that is three years in the making and outlines a series of recommendations to improve the pharmacy technician register in the UK.

The 250-page report contains eight chapters in all, each one having been released over the last few months, and calls for a suitable training and career framework for both vocations and “overarching workforce plan” in the wake of concerns over pharmacists delegating work to technicians who may not be fully equipped to take on particular roles in the community setting.

The report also calls for a structured career framework “linked to a skills and salary escalator” in the community pharmacy setting to allow for the kind of pharmacy-technician skill-mix transformation as seen in hospital pharmacy practice.

“A number of pharmacy technicians, mainly practising in secondary care, carry out more specialised roles and assume significant levels of responsibility,” the report said.

“However, this level of expertise is not widespread and is rare in community pharmacy. The overall standard of the pharmacy technician register - and therefore of patient care - could be improved by introducing a national structured career framework that would be supported through GPhC register annotation.”

It added: “The structured career framework should be based upon a transparent qualification, suitable experience and a validation framework, alongside regulatory support through an appropriate GPhC register annotation process.”

ICP has contacted the Association of Pharmacy Technicians UK for a response.

Picture: Kritchanut (iStock)