What Is a PCN Pharmacist?
In Wakefield, our PCN pharmacists are part of multidisciplinary teams embedded within Primary Care Networks. They bring expert medicines knowledge to the frontline of patient care by conducting medication reviews, managing long-term conditions, overseeing medicines safety, and supporting public health initiatives. Many are also independent prescribers, able to initiate or adjust treatment in agreement with patients and other clinicians.
How Do PCN Pharmacists Improve Local Health?
- Personalised medication support: Pharmacists in PCNs undertake structured medication reviews, helping patients with complex needs or multiple medicines to better understand and manage their treatment. This reduces side effects, improves adherence, and optimises outcomes.
- Support in Long-Term condition management: By working directly with patients who have long-term illnesses such as diabetes, asthma, cardiovascular diseases, or mental health conditions, PCN pharmacists ensure treatment is evidence-based and tailored to individual circumstances.
- Medicines safety and reconciliation: Pharmacists play a key role in preventing medication errors, especially during transitions of care (such as after hospital discharge), and regularly review practice prescribing to minimise risk and improve safety.
- Prevention and public health: PCN pharmacists are champions of prevention, helping to deliver cardiovascular disease screening, supporting vaccination programmes, aiding in early cancer diagnosis, and addressing health inequalities through targeted interventions.
- Enhanced access: By taking on activities such as responding to acute prescription requests and managing repeat prescriptions, pharmacists help free up GP time, which enables patients to get the right care, from the right professional, at the right time.
Conexus Healthcare and PCN Support
Conexus Healthcare supports Wakefield’s PCNs by providing vital infrastructure, recruitment, and development support. Conexus employs pharmacists and other roles through the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS), helping to attract, develop and retain highly skilled staff inside the PCNs. We also support ongoing professional growth with training, workshops, and quality improvement initiatives, ensuring that clinical pharmacists remain at the cutting edge of community health and medicines optimisation.
Having PCN pharmacists embedded in the community isn’t just about better medicines, it’s about ensuring everyone in Wakefield has access to expert advice, safer prescriptions, and personalised support, no matter where their healthcare journey begins.
Our Pharmacy staff in numbers:
