Current posts/where we are now
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While the majority of consultant pharmacist posts are in the hospital sector and specific clinical specialties, the importance of primary care contribution is increasingly clear and new roles recognise this.
Current posts/where we are now
While the majority
of consultant pharmacist posts are in the hospital sector and specific clinical
specialties, the importance of primary care contribution is increasingly clear
and new roles recognise this. In addition, the guidance is flexible enough to
allow a number of different models of consultant role.
The models include:
·
Specialist hospital consultant pharmacist: for example in
critical care, human immunodeficiency virus, where the pharmacist provides
on-site expertise to a specific cohort of patients in a ward and/or
clinic-based setting. In the latter example, there are strong connections with
primary care.
·
Generalist hospital consultant pharmacists: this model can
include a consultancy role where pharmacists have a number of areas of
expertise (two or three, rather than one) and their caseload is through
referral from other pharmacists and healthcare professionals. They may also
have ward-based commitment.
Another version of
this model is seen within the acute admissions unit in hospitals where
consultant pharmacists are the lead pharmacy practitioners for these units that
admit general medicine and/or surgery patients.
·
Specialist primary care consultant pharmacist: this role is less common but includes
practitioners leading general practice services and/or running their own
clinics, such as cardiology or substance abuse.
·
Generalist primary care consultant pharmacist: this is a
developing role and currently only exists for care of older people; however,
there is great potential
for support of community pharmacists and pharmacists with a special interest
(see Department of Health guidance).
At present there are
no established consultant pharmacist posts in service-led pharmacy, for example
medicines information, technical services, although there are many recognised
pharmacy experts in these areas. In the current financial climate,
establishment of consultant posts must demonstrate clear outcomes for patient
benefit that maximise use of resources in a difficult health economy.
