The Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee (PSNC) has backed calls for community pharmacists to have access to ‘more’ wellbeing support funded by the NHS.
Yesterday (10 December), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and the charity Pharmacist Support announced the results of a joint survey into the workplace pressures of over 1,300 pharmacists.
More than half of pharmacists (52%) have been forced to ‘reconsider their career’ as a result of burnout, while nearly three-quarters (74%) said their work or training had impacted their mental health, the research found.
The findings will be used to campaign for NHS-funded mental health support services – which are now available to all doctors and dentists – to be extended to pharmacists not directly employed by the NHS.
PSNC chief Simon Dukes yesterday (10 December) said that the negotiator ‘support[s] calls for pharmacists to have access to more wellbeing support funded by the NHS’.
Committee ‘remains very concerned’
Mr Dukes said: ‘PSNC shares the RPS and Pharmacist Support’s concerns about the mental health and wellbeing of everyone working in the community pharmacy sector.
‘We have previously raised concerns about the pressure on pharmacies to Ministers and will continue to do so, and we support calls for pharmacists to have access to more wellbeing support funded by the NHS.’
He added: ‘In recent years, many pharmacy teams have raised concerns about being asked to do more for less, and the PSNC committee remains very concerned about the financial and capacity pressures currently facing many community pharmacies.’
PSNC will continue to ‘discuss the potential impact of changes on the sector’ with the Government as part of its ongoing negotiations about the current pharmacy contract and its built-in annual reviews, Mr Dukes added.
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