Conclusion
This report demonstrates that the CPWC is a validated tool for determining clinical pharmacy staffing requirements for medical and surgical inpatients in acute hospitals. We would further contend that it has demonstrated the four criteria of an acceptable staffing calculator, namely that it is simple to operate, adaptable to changing service delivery models, seen as valid by experts and its outputs accepted and understood by non-clinicians [11]. The methodology adopted to develop the CPWC is transferable to other settings and is a practical approach to addressing the issue of staffing levels for pharmacy practice internationally.
The process of validating the CPWC has generated a consensus-based description of the full scope of clinical pharmacy activities required to deliver pharmaceutical care to hospital in-patients and, therefore, sets a benchmark for future comparison. The CPWC does not identify ‘safe’ staffing levels, as that was not within the scope of this study. However, there is evidence from the literature that delivery of these tasks is associated with improved patient safety. Whilst not disputing that unwarranted variations exist in the delivery of healthcare within the UK, among other countries, the results of this study suggest the variation in pharmacy service provision is probably not located at what hospital pharmacy managers consider the fundamental principles of pharmaceutical care to be, but rather on how to deliver this care within the actual staff resource available.