Supervision in community Pharmacy

Community pharmacies are there to ensure that medicines are effectively and safely dispensed and appropriate advice is given on their use. There is surprising diversity in the operation of community pharmacies internationally.

In some countries, all pharmaceutical services are undertaken or closely supervised by the pharmacist in charge (therefore requiring the pharmacist to be on the premises all
or most of the time, which is the current situation in the UK) and in others there is much more flexibility in pharmacists exercising their responsibility.

This has implications for the pharmacy workforce and skill mix, and the organisation and training of non-pharmacist support staff to deliver community pharmacy services, particularly if pharmacists are to use their clinical skills and expertise more widely.

However, little is known about which kinds of pharmacy activities and services may
safely be undertaken by pharmacy support staff when a pharmacist is not on the pharmacy premises.

This study aimed to investigate current arrangements for supervision, role delegation and skill mix in community pharmacy and to seek stakeholders’ perceived risk levels associated with different types of pharmacy activities and services, and views on potential changes to supervision requirements.