Job Satisfaction

Due to changes in the pharmacy degree course, pharmacists are now more capable than ever to extend their role. The current shortage of pharmacists in the UK can be partly explained by the extended degree course and can be partly solved by new schools of pharmacy offering Pharmacy degrees. However, these measures cannot explain nor solve the increasing tendency for pharmacists to leave community pharmacy due to high workload, long inflexible hours, lack of breaks and isolation from peers.

CAPA does not directly aim to solve these issues, but can contribute to giving pharmacists improved tools to perform their job to the best of their ability and with ease. By further liberating the pharmacist to leave the premises to engage in new roles, CAPA compliments the new contract and the efforts being made by the DoH and RPSGB to see additional activities for pharmacists.

Clinical governance

Professional accountability is becoming an increasing requirement for all healthcare professionals. CAPA provides for this in numerous ways from ensuring that every transaction is auditable and accountable. From who said what and when and the questions asked to the patient, to the video session that was held relating to a particular sale. CAPA has been designed to minimise errors at the point of dispensing through a validation tool. Even if a dispensing error is made, CAPA provides for tools to record these and learn from them.

Audit & Recognition

The inability for the profession to quantify its direct contribution to patient care has been noticeable. Professional audit and reporting is essential in gaining new roles and funding streams which remunerate appropriately. CAPA enables easy audit in many aspects ranging from creating an intervention at a press of a button and sending referrals to GPs to recording presenting symptoms of a patient and their test results. CAPA even gives the ability to identify every P medicine that has been rejected for sale because it was inappropriate for the patient. Pharmacists can use this information to demonstrate to PCTs, their contribution in an effort to receive recognition for even their basic responsibilities. With such audit, there is the likelihood of increased range of P medicines within the Pharmacy category adding to the pharmacist range of counter prescribing options.