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The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) has called on the Scottish Government to ensure locum and part-time community pharmacists are not excluded from funded independent prescribing (IP) training.

The PDA said funding rules, agreed between the Government and Community Pharmacy Scotland (CPS), has left many experienced pharmacists facing “an insurmountable challenge to meet eligibility criteria”.

Currently, only pharmacists employed by contractors who can work 27 hours or more each week in one community pharmacy are eligible for funding for IP training.

“These barriers risk excluding experienced pharmacists who may wish to develop prescribing skills at a time when healthcare systems are increasingly developing policy around pharmacist prescribers to improve patient access to care,” the PDA said.

“Unlike the other UK nations, this policy only applies in Scotland, affecting the self-employed and discriminating against part-time workers, many of the latter being female employees with young families.”

The PDA said decisions on who should have access to funded prescribing training “should be based only on professional capability and patient need rather than employment status or contractual arrangements”.

Insisting its members are keen to take up prescribing training “but feel disadvantaged compared with colleagues in permanent full-time positions”, the PDA added: “Many locum pharmacists work across multiple employers and pharmacy settings, making it impossible to identify suitable funded training pathways or secure workplace support.

“Similarly, pharmacists working part-time or in portfolio arrangements are unable to meet restrictive programme requirements within their existing working arrangements, despite making a valuable contribution to patient care and the wider pharmacy workforce.”

The PDA also called for workforce development plans “to recognise the diverse nature of the pharmacy workforce and ensure locum and part-time pharmacists are not left behind as prescribing becomes increasingly embedded within pharmacy practice”.

Independent Community Pharmacist has contacted the Scottish Government and CPS for a response.