Pharmacists might seem busy enough doling out medications and getting to grips with the latest new treatments.
But they are now being expected to complete training in climate change and carbon literacy.
It comes as a body representing pharmacists say they already have too little time to complete existing training requirements.
Training on the extra, woke topics have been introduced in Wales, as part of a ‘quality and safety scheme’ in line with the Welsh government’s Net Zero Wales ambitions.
And chemists are expected to ensure the training is carried out by the end of next month to meet a target set by the Cardiff administration.
Community Pharmacy Wales has issued guidance to pharmacists, urging them to ‘provide an overview of climate change and sustainability in Wales/the UK and the world’.
They must also ‘evaluate the impact of climate change on health’ and ‘explore good practice in sustainability as a global citizen’.
Community Pharmacies Wales added: ‘Pharmacy contractors can arrange for staff to access any training resource that at a minimum meets the learning objectives’.
Pharmacists are now being expected to complete training in climate change and carbon literacy (stock image)
It comes as a body representing pharmacists say they already have too little time to complete existing training requirements (stock image)
Pharmacies can claim £642 from the cash-strapped Welsh NHS to cover the cost of the course.
Among the course modules listed is Carbon Literacy for Healthcare, which aims to foster a ‘deep understanding of the critical link between climate change and healthcare’.
The course description states: ‘Discover how climate change is putting the health of our patients at risk and explore the remarkable strides the NHS has made in leading the charge against greenhouse gas emissions.
‘Learn how you can contribute and play your part in shaping a low carbon NHS that delivers exceptional care while safeguarding the health of future generations.’
The Welsh government’s push for green policy comes as a lobby group representing pharmacists across the UK called for staff to be given more time for training to be ‘safe practitioners’.
Last week, the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists (GHP) launched a campaign calling for NHS pharmacists to be given 10% of their contracted hours as ‘protected time for learning, development and training’.
The guild said there is currently ‘no consistency’ in the UK or within the four nations in terms of how much time for supporting professional activities pharmacists are given.
But the organisation added there is a ‘consistent amount of development that is required to allow pharmacists to be able to be safe practitioners, to meet the demands of service development, and to be able to safely mentor and supervise more junior colleagues’.
Training on the extra, woke topics have been introduced in Wales, as part of a ‘quality and safety scheme’ in line with the Welsh government’s Net Zero Wales ambitions (stock image)
It added that many pharmacists end up doing unpaid work in order to catch up with the required training or end up completing self-learning in their own time.
Rob Connah, president of the GHP, said the need for mandated protected learning time (PLT) was more pressing than ever – especially with newly-registered pharmacists being able to prescribe medication themselves from next year.
He said: ‘This increase in responsibility is a national expectation with little additional resource seen for individual pharmacists to accommodate. Services are limited by poor recruitment, retention and staff burnout.’
According to a survey by The Pharmaceutical Journal in 2020, half of pharmacists who responded said they were never given ‘protected learning time’.
It comes as the Welsh government provided £775,000 of taxpayers’ cash towards a gender equality-linked climate change project in Uganda, central Africa.
The funds were granted to The Size of Wales climate change charity for the year up to last March.
The charity said: ‘Thanks to funding from the Welsh Government, Size of Wales in partnership with our local partner, the Mount Elgon Tree Growing Enterprise (METGE) has set up this new gender equality project as part of the Mbale Trees Programme.
‘Women and other marginalised groups such as disabled people and youth of Lukuma village are receiving training in sustainable land management, agroforestry, conservation and gender mainstreaming.’
The Mbale Trees programme supports the local community to plant, nurture and conserve 50 million trees by 2030.
