Chamber and committees

The pharmacy profession and the provision of pharmaceutical services are highly regulated, overseen by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). The GPhC's role includes upholding health and safety standards for the pharmacy workforce, as well as for patients.

The Scottish Government regularly meets with Community Pharmacy Scotland, the representative body for pharmacy owners, to discuss a range of topics including workforce issues, including health and wellbeing. This year the Scottish Government has made £12m available to support the wellbeing of the pharmacist workforce. This includes £8m from the NHS Recovery Plan to provide ongoing wellbeing support for the workforce – alongside an extra £4m to provide further support to address winter pressures.

The funding supports the 24/7 National Wellbeing Helpline, our National Wellbeing Hub, Coaching for Wellbeing and the Workforce Specialist Service, alongside tailored psychological interventions for staff, providing individualised wellbeing support focusing on people’s physical and emotional needs.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for Scotland in a joint letter (8 December 2021) with the leaders from the pharmacy sector, including the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (Scotland), has written to all pharmacy teams outlining the range of wellbeing support available to pharmacy teams and encouraging them to access these resources for support when needed.

Following a successful three year pilot, in 2013 the four nations agreed to a 10 year grant to support those affected by the thalidomide drug. Over the last nine years the Scottish Government has issued a total of £11.512 million to the Thalidomide Trust, for distribution to Scottish survivors. A further £1.636 Million is projected for the final year (2022-23), bringing total funding to £13.15 million.

The Scottish Government receives annual funding from the UK Government as part of the Barnett consequentials, however no funding is specifically ‘ring fenced’ for Thalidomide.

Breakdown of Funding:

The community pharmacy network is a vital part of the primary care team. The Scottish Government continues to work with Community Pharmacy Scotland and other partners to ensure not only the stability of the network but also that a balance is maintained across the whole pharmacy workforce in the hospital, community, and GP practice sectors.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Officer has committed to putting together a workforce forum which will meet in early 2022. The forum will look at the workforce challenges and bring together stakeholders from pharmacy education and pharmacy service provision to set a strategic workforce plan for the profession.

The Scottish Government is not considering the introduction of sanctions for any contractor which breaches its NHS contract at present. The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) (Scotland) Regulations 2009, set out the provision of NHS pharmaceutical services and requirements for those entered on the Boards Pharmaceutical List.

The Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care strategy, published in 2017, commits the Scottish Government to review contractual arrangements and as such may consider the introduction of sanctions as part of any future strategy framework.

The Scottish Government is not considering the possibility of allowing Health Boards to take over the running of community pharmacies that are struggling to remain open. Community pharmacies, along with other primary care contractors, are wholly independent private entities providing NHS services on behalf the Health Board. Any challenges faced by community pharmacy contractors in delivering existing pharmaceutical care services should be discussed with the Health Boards who will be able to consider actions to support service provision.

There are no plans to introduce protected learning time at present. It is a decision for employers to allow staff time to study for additional qualifications.

To support delivery of the Community Pharmacy First Plus service, Community Pharmacist contractors receive backfill (up to £5750) to release community pharmacists to undertake their IP qualification (5 days face to face teaching + 12 days Period of Learning in Practice), clinical skills training (4 days) and also access to a maximum of 3 sessions at a CCC Teach and Treat Training Hub (backfill up to £750).

The pharmacy profession and provision of pharmaceutical care is regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council, who assure and improve standards of care for people using pharmacy services. The Achieving Excellence in Pharmaceutical Care strategy, published in 2017, setting out the priorities, commitments, and actions for improving and integrating NHS pharmaceutical care in Scotland up to 2022. The strategy sets the direction for how pharmaceutical care would be delivered in Scotland and the crucial contribution of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, working together with other health and social care practitioners, to improve the health of the population and impact on health outcomes.

Because of the unpredictable lifecycle of this particular organism, it is not possible to routinely test buildings for an Aspergillus infection. Where water ingress creates the conditions for mould, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde’s staff work to remedy faults as soon as they are found and remove any mould with oversight from Infection Prevention and Control (IPC). Patients with Aspergillus are visited by an infection prevention and control nurse. Advice on the correct antibiotics to administer to patients is given by a Microbiology/ICD/antimicrobial pharmacist on request of the clinical teams.

Causes of death in Scotland are recorded by National Records of Scotland (NRS). The International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) system, which is used in the UK to classify deaths, does not allow deep venous thrombosis to be separated from phlebitis (inflammation of a vein).

Figures from NRS are provided below, for which deep vein thrombosis (DVT) has been taken to refer to thrombosis of the deep veins of the leg. Deaths from DVT frequently occur from complications of the DVT, principally pulmonary embolism, so deaths from pulmonary embolism have been included in these figures. As mentioned above the ICD-10 does not allow DVT to be separated from phlebitis, so these figures may include a small number of deaths due to phlebitis.

Deaths attributed to deep vein thrombosis (DVT)* registered in Scotland, 2014 to 2020

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.