Pharmacists are experts in medicines and drugs, patient dosages and how the medicines work. Around 70% of pharmacists work in the community, 20% within NHS hospitals and the residue in a variety of industry and academic settings.
The basic role of a community or hospital pharmacists is to dispense medicines to patients. Academic pharmacists are more involved with the teaching and research side of the subject. Industrial pharmacists are involved in the research and testing of new medicines and are experts in the chemical compounds that make up the new medicines.
Those pharmacists that work in the community are generally in pharmacy shop on some local high streets and / or more commonly nowadays, adjacent to a GP practice. A community pharmacist works according to legal and ethical guidelines to ensure the correct and safe supply of medical products to the general public. They are involved in maintaining and improving people’s health by providing advice and information as well as supplying prescription medicines. Community pharmacists will also sell over-the-counter medical products and instruct patients on the use of medicines and medical appliances. Some pharmacists will also offer specialist health checks, such as blood pressure monitoring and diabetes screening, run stop smoking clinics, weight reduction programmes and are able to prescribe as well as dispense medicines.
Other services which community pharmacies may provide include:
- Prescription dispensing
- Quality health advice, such as help with quitting smoking and losing weight
- Advice about, and treatment of, minor ailments and conditions without prescription
- Safe disposal of unwanted medicines
- Advice on where to go for further care and treatment
- Treatment of long-term conditions, such as diabetes, heart problems and asthma
- Supervising and administering the correct dosage of prescribed medicines
- Providing emergency contraception
- Diabetes testing
- Needle and syringe exchange for substance abusers
- Providing very specialist medicines including oral chemotherapy tablets
- An at home oxygen therapy service for the terminally ill
- Support and advice for those in care homes
For more depth and descriptions of the other pharmacy specialties please see A-Z Specialities further down the article.
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