Greg Lawton
@thisislawton
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Pharmacist specializing in patient & medicines safety, staffing, data protection, privacy and healthcare policy. Personal account.
Joined July 2011
Is the Prime Minister of the United Kingston any relation to the Prince of Whales?
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2016/17: There are 3000 too many pharmacies. We need to close them. 2021: Thank goodness we have a network of so many pharmacies for delivering the Covid vaccine.
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What a 4 year MPharm degree looks like, in ring binders (they’re all full). #LoveIsland #pharmacy
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RIP Joy. It was a privilege working with you. Only wish you'd had longer to enjoy your retirement. #pharmacy
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Please can we not have a Twitter round of “omg Boris knows pharmacists exist”.
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Pharmacists should be able to help any medical colleagues wondering how this will play out. We’ve seen similar in pharmacy over the past 20 years, driven by money/cost-cutting. The meaning of words will be strained beyond what is credible, such that the point being made no.
"Physician associates are medically trained, generalist healthcare professionals, who work alongside doctors and provide medical care as an integral part of the multidisciplinary team".Same words, repeated across multiple sites. So, how are PAs different to doctors?.
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The latest MEP (Ed 44) has a section on "workplace stress", advising that pressure and anxiety are “part of normal life”. It recommends daily “worry time”, where pharmacists proactively worry in advance of whatever causes it. If that’s not normalising it, I’m not sure what is. 1/.
Come along to the next Workforce Wellbeing Action Group meeting to share your views!. We'll hear from @RSharmaPharma and @Danielle__Hunt, Chief Executive @PharmaSupport to discuss the workforce wellbeing survey results. 📅Wednesday 26 January. Book now:
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Patients accessing the #PharmacyFirst service would be well advised to ask in future: are you a pharmacist or a pharmacy technician?. #Pharmacy24.
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Have I seen tweets from the RPS recently on:. Working conditions - No. Bullying - No. Opposing pharmacist apprenticeships - No. Crocodiles - Yes. #pharmacy.
Have you had a chance to visit our Nile Crocodile?. Crocodiles and alligators were a symbol of the apothecary shop, but we’re not sure why. It could be because they look like a Wyvern, a dragon that represents disease. Visit the #RPSMuseum: #MuseumMonday
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Reasons you won’t have to pass the registration assessment before you can practise as a #pharmacist:.1. Global pandemics.2. GPhC fiascos. Thread/.
GPhC to offer provisional registration for eligible candidates who experienced severe delays during their #RegistrationAssessment. It comes after The GPhC Council held an emergency meeting to review the situation. Read more here >>
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Info banner: “There's currently the lowest number of pharmacists since 2015”. No. There is currently the highest number of pharmacists on the register, ever. GB News is not the only outlet to confuse pharmacists with pharmacies, and go uncorrected. Pharmacists are people.
'We've been saying to the Government that we want to do more, but fund us appropriately and pay us what we deserve.'. Dr Leyla Hannbeck, from the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies, says that 'a lot of pharmacies are working out of pocket'.
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A rundown of some of the arguments advanced for dropping the pre-reg exam. In no particular order. Thread /.
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In the discussion about whether there’s a shortage of pharmacists, there’s been a dearth of evidence on both sides of the debate. Here’s some. Thread/.
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“Building resilience” does not address the root causes of workplace pressure. It implies that the problem lies with the individual and not the working conditions.
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If you're designing SOPs which can't be followed due to inadequate staffing, you should consider whether you're protecting the organisation or the patient. Are you working in patient safety, or doing the job of a company lawyer?.
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Dear @rpharms,. I’ve decided to renew my membership this year. I like my MEP, the BNF, the PJ and the faculty. I like the fact that you run a Medicines Safety Conference and I still feel some pride in being a member of my professional body. This isn’t an exhaustive list.
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Pharmacists study a 4 yr Masters degree with substantial science content + 1 yr pre-registration training. At some (all?) Universities you can finish after 3 yrs & qualify with a BSc in Pharmaceutical Science.~1700 pharmacists work in industry e.g. designing medicines #LoveIsland.
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Pharmacist sanctioned for self-checking a prescription, and associated matters. The decision raises questions. The decision states:.“In line with other pharmacy settings and in accordance with accepted good practice the pharmacy procedures required the picking, clinical checks
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20,924 reported #pharmacy closures in a year. Most common reported reason: “locum could not be found”. Was the locum hiding somewhere, in a bizarre game of hide and seek?.Or couldn’t they find a locum *willing to work in the conditions on offer*?.Did they try to find a locum?. 1/
A C+D investigation has found that more than 20,000 instances of reported temporary #pharmacy closures occurred in England over a 12-month period. But what were the most common reasons #pharmacies told @NHSEngland were behind these closures?.
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there’s-a-shortage-of-pharmacists-but-we’re-making-some-redundant.
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Global pharmacy chains are being sued in relation to their role in the opioid crisis. Surprising then to see a chain in the UK contacting all of its pharmacies about maintaining targets for codeine sales. 1/
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Businesses that respond to employees like this, when they raise concerns about working conditions, could find themselves involved in employment claims. This is the response of the Chief Executive of an organisation that represents *all* pharmacy contractor businesses in England.
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With pharmacists starting to deliver #PharmacyFirst PGDs, it should be noted that the government has been paving the way for these to be done by pharmacy technicians instead. Each Pharmacy First PGD states that it can be carried out by any “Registered healthcare professional.
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The medical profession is seeing the same approach that the pharmacy profession has experienced for years. It involves misrepresenting the abilities of an occupational group which costs less to employ, for the sole purpose of cutting costs. If it follows in pharmacy’s footsteps,.
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Comments on the Wayt & McPherson v Boots employment tribunal case. It reveals some of the internal culture at Boots. Two Area Managers ("AMs") successfully claimed unfair dismissal, after a restructure made their workload unmanageable. Thread/.
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I have a joke about pharmacy but there are no staff to tell it to.
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@PauletteHamilto @CommonsHealth Thank you for asking this question Paulette. You’re right that the term “pharmacy professionals” is one of the things deliberately blurring the lines. It’s an issue of importance to many pharmacists. I raised it in my letter to the committee of 6 July 2023, as amended on 20
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Face coverings on public transport by law. but for #pharmacy staff, who see 6 million patients per day and for whom the risk of exposure to infection is self-evident, #PPE is “not recommended”. Does a facepalm count as a face covering?
Wearing face coverings on public transport to be compulsory in England from 15 June
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Pharmacists in PDA Safer Pharmacies survey, ~last 6 months of 2021: 2.6% had enough staff "All of the time", 76.2% half the time or less. GPhC inspections, last 6 months of 2021: 96% of pharmacies had enough staff for the safe and effective provision of pharmacy services. 1/5.
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Whilst this is focussed on the supply of prescription-only medicines via PGDs, following related comments, to give an idea of one of the areas of comparison between pharmacy technicians and pharmacists, 50% of pharmacy technicians have an NVQ3 (as the initial qualification, with.
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@realDonaldTrump @FoxNews Everyone smocking your spelling!. And as for the rest of your Tweet, we all know there’s no smock without a fire. #SmockingGun.
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If you make a calculation error, it’s an error. If you were to keep repeating the result of the erroneous calculation, and you were aware that it’s wrong, then it would be dishonest. It would demonstrate a lack of integrity and credibility. I sure hope nobody would do that.
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My experience of submitting a subject access request (“SAR”) to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society @rpharms. Thread 🧵.
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One issue with community pharmacist prescribing (for example, antibiotics) is that there’d be a financial incentive to overprescribe, particularly where the pharmacy is vertically integrated with a wholesaler. How could this issue be overcome, and public confidence maintained?.
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Does the GPhC realise that this finding means it has failed to take sufficient action to prevent these issues, year on year? . If these were pharmacists, there would have been considerable sanctions. #pharmacy. 1/.
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It seems that there are claims of a pharmacist shortage in the US, which pharmacists are refuting, as is the case here in the UK. I wonder, are there any companies with interests both in the US and the UK which could be responsible for manufacturing such claims?.
@Pharmassists We don’t have a pharmacist shortage, we have a shortage of desirable pharmacy jobs.
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Earlier this year, it was 20 years since The Peppermint Water Case, a landmark event in #pharmacy. I've been writing this history of what happened (alongside my opinions/observations), on and off for 2-3 years. I hope someone finds it useful.
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Summary of the ITV @thismorning saga:. ITV: Pharmacists are pretend doctors .RPS: No! Do a new show.ITV: Pharmacists can take the pressure off doctors and do the stuff doctors would be doing if their waiting lists weren’t so long.RPS: look at what we’ve done for the profession.
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I think it's important to focus on preventing pharmacists being put in that position. Thread/.
5 days into the new opening hours and this is what is happening. Pharmacists not helping themselves by agreeing to this? @thisislawton @EducationPDA @PharmacistCoop @TohidMPharm
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A young pharmacist has sadly passed away to COVID-19. 33 years old I’m told. Rest in peace.
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Remarkable report of a GPhC inspection of a distance selling pharmacy which dispensed cannabis-based products on private prescription and delivered nationwide. Thread/
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New internal Lloydspharmacy documents reveal how it manages the GPhC, and how the GPhC allows itself to be managed. Thread /🧵
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"The regional manager, divisional manager and three experienced dispensers from other branches came.to the pharmacy to help after the locum pharmacist’s call to the superintendent pharmacist explaining.that the GPhC inspector was on the premises.".
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Remember the surprise #pharmacist #apprenticeship proposal? An FOI request was submitted to the IfATE to find out a few things. Thread/.
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The GPhC has proposed raising its fees by 7.5% from April 2024, and has invited feedback via an online consultation survey.
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It appears that there’s a critical “error” in @CCApharmacy’s calculations, and that it draws attention to evidence which, far from showing a shortage of pharmacists, suggests a surplus. @Telegraph @ChemistDruggist @lizrob92 .@NHS_HealthEdEng @DHSCgovuk @APPGPharmacy. Thread/.
🗣️The CCA's Review on the Community Pharmacist Workforce has uncovered that there is a shortfall of over 3,000 pharmacists in England. 📖Read the full paper, which uses the latest data from @NHS_HealthEdEng and @TheGPhC, here: .
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Provisional registration was a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Is it a legitimate response to the GPhC registration assessment disorder? Perhaps make arrangements for people to sit the exam again as soon as possible, and *stop getting it wrong*?.
Update on #registrationassessment- we are actively and urgently exploring the options for provisional registration for the candidates affected by severe delays yesterday who do not pass and will give a further update asap.
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After 1000s joined the GPhC register this year, and a day after announcing its sale, Lloyds announces it’s cutting the hours of its 100 hour pharmacies situated in Sainsbury's stores, and staff will be asked to change their shifts or cut their contracted hours.
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“The pharmacy is not operating safely. It doesn't effectively identify and manage the risks associated with its services. And it’s working environment is extremely unsafe.”. 1/.
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I’m interested to know what new clinical work people think pharmacists will be doing as a result of removing the requirement for pharmacist supervision of medicines assembly/sale/supply. It isn’t “the Pharmacy First Scheme” because that’s being done under existing supervision.
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The questions is, are YOU preparing for the registration assessment in November, @TheGPhC?.
Are you preparing to sit the #RegistrationAssessment in November? Have a look at our dedicated registration assessment page for further details on applying to sit the assessment >>
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In the midst of alleged “pharmacist shortages”, why are redundancies and reductions to contracted hours being actively undertaken?.
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Pharmacists are doing a great job of raising awareness of medicines shortages at the moment. When the public is interested, that’s also the time to talk about the root causes.
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The problem with the calls for increased #pharmacy funding is that they’re seldom accompanied by calls for a requirement to account for how it's spent. 1/4.
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ASDA recognises “£3m Opportunity” of #PharmacyFirst, initially setting its stores a target of 30 consultations per month. It tells staff that link selling is key - and that most customers will need pain relief
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Congratulations to Boots pharmacists 🎈 🎉 🎊.
YES. The Boots ballot results are in and the PDAU will be recognised after an overwhelming win for pharmacists. Read more:
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“Freeing up pharmacists’ time” is often used insincerely as code for “cutting staffing levels”. Those who use it in that way should experience cognitive dissonance, but that would require sufficient integrity for what they have said to rest uneasy in their minds.
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The "Supervision in Community Pharmacy" report, produced without any input from the profession itself, and seemingly without legal advice, is another discreditable chapter in the history of pharmacy supervision. Thread 🧵/.
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Initiatives focusing on resilience as a solution to workplace stress suggest that the person experiencing the stress wouldn't suffer so much if they were more resilient. The blame for the stress, therefore, is placed on the individual for not being resilient enough. Thread/.
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If you did something good but you didn’t put it on Twitter with a selfie pointing out how wonderful you are, can you be sure it actually happened?. #didithappen.
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@ianbirrell @BorisJohnson @bbcnickrobinson There’s also this nonsense banner from the ongoing conference which directly associates Brexit with their NHS plans, a variation on the notorious bus lie
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Does the regulator understand the importance of a robust registration assessment, in terms of protecting the public, providing assurance to the public, and as part of maintaining the status of pharmacists as a profession?. 3/.
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As a membership organisation, the @rpharms should know that it has members who would be firmly behind it in support if it decided to tackle these issues. #countmein
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The vision for our profession mustn’t be defined by the ability to relieve pressure on GPs. Our expertise and role is in caring for patients through the safe use of medicines. Relieving GP pressure is a positive outcome, not the raison d'être. #pharmacy
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Remember the furore last year when pre-reg exam questions from the first sitting were shared overnight with those undertaking the second sitting? The GPhC’s initial statement, and the response it gave later to an FOI request. #pharmacy
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Have pharmacy orgs any evidence yet to substantiate claims of a shortage? It’s repeated often enough… still nothing beyond “Boots said” or “CCA said”? If pharmacy is evidence-based, do those repeating this discredit themselves by making and publishing claims without evidence?.
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Congratulations to the GPhC on holding an exam without a major incident 🎉🥳.
In total, 941 candidates sat the #RegistrationAssessment in 68 centres across the UK yesterday, with no major issues reported. We would appreciate it if all candidates could fill in the post-assessment survey sent via email.
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Some of the reasons that pharmacist apprenticeships are a bad idea for the profession. The principles could be applied to each sector of #pharmacy practice. Link provided by a friend.
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The #pharmacy supervision impact assessment implicitly acknowledges that the changes could potentially cost pharmacists £15m-£150m per year in lost work, with no guarantee of alternative work in its place. That figure does not take into account any reduction in pharmacist wages.
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16. I’ve had pharmacists telling me I’m right. In fact, they’ve even liked and retweeted what I said!. A: Welcome to pharmacy Twitter, where some people’s self-interest, self-promotion and narcissism know no bounds!.
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Has any pharmacist representative organisation attempted to articulate any benefits to patients and the public of the supervision of medicines assembly/sale/supply being carried out by a pharmacist?. Has any such organisation attempted to articulate the alternative - why it’s.
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It is, I think, symptomatic of the failed leadership in pharmacy. Engage with the front line and they'll tell you how to fix the problem. To do that though, you have to truly understand the front line, and genuinely want to listen and fix things. Therein lies the problem. 6/.
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Is there an agenda to undermine pharmacists' standing, to further other objectives? No assessment to get on the register & cheats allowed to register too -> standards “must not be that high” -> pharmacists “must be easily replaceable”, also flood the register -> cut costs. 4/.
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Consultation response: 98% opposed to apprenticeships. @PJOnline_News: “The reaction from pharmacy was mixed”.
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The CCA doesn’t recognise the PDA “as an authority on matters of pharmacy safety”. Given the dire results of the recent PDA Safer Pharmacies survey, who does the CCA recognise as such an authority? Perhaps the same authority that came up with its pharmacist “shortages” figures?.
2/2 . the @CCApharmacy does ‘not recognise @the_pda as an authority on matters of pharmacy safety.’ .Harrison said the Charter ‘fails to cover anything that isn’t already being addressed through our joint work with police, the BRC or through adequate legislation and regulation.”.
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#Pharmacy translator:. “It will free up pharmacists’ time”. =. “…to spend at home. Pharmacists will be freed up from the constraints of having a job”.
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Lloyds pushing for MURs, with the consultation room door open, because you might get Covid-19 if it's closed. Unless you're in Lloyds at Sainsbury's, in which case a patient’s privacy becomes important, and the door may be closed. Which do you value most, privacy or your health?
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There appears to be some further misinformation circulating regarding “pharmacist shortages”. This “Locum Rates Study” was prepared for Employers by Locate a Locum. #pharmacy. 1/.
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In the 2021/22 financial year, there were 563 GPhC #pharmacy inspections. In every case, one or more pharmacists were found to be present in the pharmacy during the inspection. Yet another blow to claims of “pharmacist shortages”. 1/5.
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I can imagine how difficult and worrying it must have been for #pharmacy preregs over the past few months. It raises some important questions for the profession, including in relation to provisional registration. Thread /.
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Our pharmacy press continues to demonstrate its worth through its failure to require anyone to publish any evidence of alleged pharmacist shortages. The press plays its part in maintaining the illusion. It is not in its interests to acknowledge the lack of evidence. 1/.
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If you're concerned about staffing levels, say "staffing levels". Don't say "resources" because this makes it easier for people to claim later that they were confused and didn't know what you meant. #safestaffing.
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“Your staffing hours will be cut by x/week.”. “Why’s that? We’re already struggling.”. “You’re permitted to dispense original packs. We’ve calculated that will take you less time. You’re significantly overstaffed.”. 1/.
Pharmacies across the UK could be able to dispense up to 10% more or less than a prescription calls for under government proposals to allow original pack dispensing.
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Certain senior figures in pharmacy have said that inadvertent dispensing errors can now be reported without the fear of prosecution. Ironically, it seems that such folk are free to dispense duff advice on this issue without the fear of any consequences 🧐.
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Pharmacist apprenticeships put on hold, when they were already on hold:. Which I guess just means that you cannot trust at all that they are on hold.
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Watched #Contagion last night. Social distancing, lockdown, panic buying. even a pharmacist with no staff, being abused. The unrealistic bit was that the pharmacist was wearing #PPE and the #pharmacy had a full protective screen.
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Some of the issues with "foregone clinical checks" – where a clinical check is done on a prescription supply then no check is completed for any number of subsequent supplies occurring within a defined period - have not yet been highlighted by #pharmacy bodies. Thread 🧵/.
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The purpose of the #pharmacy pre-reg exam is to protect the public, and to provide patients with assurance that the person they call “pharmacist” is fit to practise. It would be heartening to see some people articulating an understanding of that. 1/3.
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I don’t like the support you have given to the remote responsible pharmacist and supervision proposals; I think they are damaging to the profession, contrary to your Charter and will diminish patient safety if they go ahead. It makes me wonder what interests you‘re representing.
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2 of 2 .Some operators in pharmacy would like you to believe there’s a shortage of pharmacists, I suspect because they’d like to flood the market and cut their salary costs. Perhaps the only shortage is of pharmacists who want to work in the poor conditions on offer.
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Views of @DelaneyMan on @thismorning about #pharmacists will be held more widely. The roots are multifactorial but writing letters, admonishing and pointing out our training is pointless. In some cases, I suspect deliberately so, to avoid what’s really needed: system change.
We are extremely disappointed by comments made about the role of pharmacists in supporting people's health on ITV's This Morning programme today. We haven taken immediate action by writing to ITV to address inaccuracies in the programme. #ThisMorning #wearepharmacy.
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Meanwhile the NHS and the GPhC expect pharmacists to raise concerns when things go wrong. What is the point, if matters like this are not addressed appropriately? What are the consequences for those who make the decisions to close?. 11/.
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