The role of the pharmacy technician in the skill-mixed district nursing team

Registered nurses in the district nursing service delegate a broad range of medication administration activities to healthcare assistants. Although healthcare assistants have provided extra capacity, not all activities are suitable for delegation to unregulated practitioners. At the same time, their competency assessment is often patient-specific and demands significant registered nursing input. The purpose of this 6-month pilot programme was to test the premise that the employment of a pharmacy technician in the district nursing service would enhance productivity levels and deliver cost savings. Activities delegated included the administration of oral tablets and subcutaneous insulin and low molecular weight heparin injections. The evaluation found that the introduction of the pharmacy technician was associated with neither enhanced productivity nor more than modest cost savings. However, role redesign is a long-term activity and their role could be built on with further competency analysis.