Journal of Pharmacy Management - Jan 2022

Journal of Pharmacy Management • Volume 38 • Issue 1 • January 2022 in two areas of England. Not only could this development of the role encourage peer PCN pharmacist support and networks more widely, it will also allow sharing the cost of the consultant pharmacist resource across PCNs. Limitations Limitations include the use of only one consultant pharmacist and three PCN pharmacists in the project. Biases may have occurred during the interviews, including social desirability bias, acquiescence bias and confirmation bias. Another limitation is that only one PCN was included and that the data did not reach saturation. While the consultant pharmacist was not involved in data collection or interpretation, they supported the author in the write up. If carried out again it would be interesting to interview the consultant pharmacist to assess the impact they thought they had on the PCN pharmacists as well as how the future of this could be implemented across other PCNs. Lastly, the author did not ask the PCN pharmacists in the interviews about benefits of GP mentoring as this was outside the remit but this is something to consider in future work. Next steps We believe that this model was unique in that it was a Trust employing & managing the pharmacists and consultant pharmacist with expertise in this area coaching and mentoring them. Future work could explore the benefit of the manager, GP, mentor and from the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) or nationally commissioned courses/support, looking at how this can be delivered in the real world and perhaps funded by multiple PCNs coming together to employ the Consultant Pharmacist to provide coaching sessions. Evaluationmeasures could include exploration of type and quality of PCN pharmacist input, interventions and outcome as well as PCN pharmacist satisfaction and length of stay (retention) in their role, compared to the national average. Conclusion This exploratory work concurs with literature for doctors and nurses, that coaching and mentoring has a positive impact on professional development and personal wellbeing, and suggests that PCN pharmacists can also benefit from coaching and mentoring. The benefits of having a Consultant Pharmacist for PCN pharmacists, particularly those new to primary care, is that it aids them in reflecting on and then improving their practice, managing difficult situations with patients in the workplace and helping integrate them into the GP practice, thus increasing their confidence in their new role. Further exploration of this service may include having a consultant pharmacist support a number of PCNs to optimise the benefits in relation to this resource. Declaration of interests The authors have no interests to declare. 21