Jonathan Burton on leading pharmacy out of a crisis

Pharmacy In Practice Podcast

Jonathan Burton is Chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Scottish Pharmacy Board and he has been on the frontline in community pharmacy throughout the COVID-19 crisis.

We caught up to have a chat about the myriad of unprecedented things that pharmacists and their teams have had to cope with over the last few months. Changes in legislation, delays in registration of pre-registration pharmacists, opportunism by certain organisations and the performance of the RPS during the crisis.

Below are some of the questions we put to Jonathan. We hope you enjoy the podcast to hear how he responded.

Where do we go next in pharmacy?

From a general perspective how do think the government in Scotland has performed in response to the pandemic?

Has the national question in Scotland and the way decisions are taken favoured the profession?

How has the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) performed during the crisis?

How do you think RPS members feel about the decision to make resources free to the whole profession at the point when the RPS value proposition is arguably most potent?

Have you got any concerns about some of the decisions made by any organisation during the pandemic?

How can RPS support provisionally registered pharmacists?

Do you think there will be increased responsibility on pre-reg tutors during this provisional registration process?

Do you think there is a chance that the issue of vicarious liability could become an issue for pre-reg tutors especially if a provisionally registered student that they are supervising fail the registration exam?

Do you feel that pharmacists have adequate development opportunities over the years and if not why has investment been lacking?

If we encourage remote consultation services like NHS Near Me in community pharmacy why will people need to go to a community pharmacy?

Can you tell us about your early experiences of using NHS Near Me?

Who do you think the next Chief Pharmaceutical Officer of Scotland will be?