Pharmacy’s mental health crisis: building back better post-pandemic

The stress and uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a detrimental impact on everyone’s mental health; however, the impact on frontline healthcare workers has been particularly acute. For some of these individuals, it will have a long-lasting effect and they may require support for a number of years to come. In this podcast, Julia Robinson investigates the experiences of pharmacists redeployed to intensive care units during the height of the pandemic and the impact it has had on their mental health and wellbeing. Robinson also looks at the longer term implications for the whole of the pharmacy profession, speaking with Nina Barnett, a consultant pharmacist with extensive experience in providing coaching, mentoring and education for healthcare professionals, and Clare Gerada, medical director of NHS Practitioner Health, a free confidential counselling service previously just available to doctors and dentists, about the support that is needed going forward. Thank you to Paresh, Sarah, Hira and "Jane" for sharing their personal stories with us. This podcast was produced by Geoff Marsh. For support and to access resources from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Wellbeing hub: https://www.rpharms.com/resources/pharmacy-guides/your-wellbeing#2