Pharmacies Hit With Staff Shortages Amid Workload Rise: Survey

• Pharmacists say there is unsustainable pressure on the sector and patients are suffering as a result
• The Pharmaceutical Society has put out an urgent call for more funding and professional support
• A survey found over the past year 90% of hospital and community pharmacies experienced staff shortages

Pharmacists say the stress on the country's health system is placing unsustainable pressure on the pharmacy sector and patients are suffering as a result.

The Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand (PSNZ) has put out an urgent call for more funding and professional support for the sector, on the back of its latest workforce survey of 431 members.

Results showed that over the past 12 months, 94 percent of community pharmacies, 90 percent of hospital pharmacies, 74 percent of general practices and 82 percent of non-patient facing respondents have experienced staff shortages.

Other key findings were:

• 66 percent of community pharmacies, 55 percent of hospital pharmacies, 50 percent of non-patient facing and 36 percent of general practice respondents report their work has had a negative impact on their mental health and well-being
• there had been an 80 percent increase in requests from community pharmacy patients unable to access general practice
• there had been a 54 percent increase in requests for healthcare advice for minor conditions from community pharmacy patients, and a 43 percent increase in requests for healthcare advice for more serious conditions from community pharmacy patients
• there had been a 59 percent increase in delays in the prescriptions sent to community pharmacies
• almost 60 percent of imprest (stock) lists in hospitals have required amendment, with 65 percent of hospital pharmacy respondents saying patient health is being put at risk due to delays caused by medicine supply issues

  PSNZ president Michael Hammond said the survey results highlighted how members were under sustained pressures across all settings.

  "The pressures being felt throughout the health system are affecting patient care and creating enormous stress for New Zealand's pharmacists, technicians and pharmacy teams who are doing everything possible to care for patients in the face of unsustainable workloads, inadequate funding and supply chain shortages," he said.

  "The herculean efforts pharmacists and pharmacy teams made during Covid and beyond are no longer sustainable without a significant increase in funding and resources.

  "The deep well of goodwill which has seen our members putting the 'greater good' ahead of personal and team wellbeing for far too long has run dry."

  Hammond said the state of pharmacies in New Zealand posed a significant threat to the entire health system because pharmacists and technicians were crucial to patient care in hospitals, community pharmacies, and across primary care settings.

  RNZ has approached Health NZ for comment.