How to plan the dispensary and on-call duty in a pharmacy

Step 1: enter the on-call duty first

The roster comes from the authority, is settled early and is not negotiable. That is why it belongs in the plan first, with the regular service built around it rather than the other way round.

Enter the whole year's rota as soon as it is available, instead of month by month. Only then does the plan show which weeks leave little room for leave anyway. What the obligation follows from is set out on the industry page for pharmacies.

Step 2: staff the dispensary by qualification

Not every activity may be taken on by every person. Compounding, testing and dispensing prescription medicines are tied to the pharmaceutical qualification. In the plan that becomes a staffing rule per activity.

The benefit shows in the check: the plan reports when a time window of the opening duty is staffed without the necessary qualification, instead of it surfacing on the day itself.

• Keep the dispensary, compounding, delivery service and stock management as separate activities.
• Store the qualification per person, so that the staffing rule takes effect.
• Store the authority's exemption times as a given in the plan.

Step 3: have premium hours reported separately

On-call duty produces hours in three special positions: at night, on Sundays and on public holidays. Check when setting up that the time boundaries for them are right, because after that the calculation runs by itself.

MetronHR reports these hours per person in the monthly overview. The premium rates can be stored; calculating the amount is part of payroll. Which entitlements hang on it is set out on the industry page for pharmacies.

Step 4: plan the rest period after on-call duty

After an on-call duty, eleven hours of rest apply. Anyone on duty until six in the morning may not be back in the dispensary before the afternoon.

Because the on-call duty is in the plan first, the conflict check reports this case while scheduling and not only in the following month's evaluation.

Step 5: close the month and hand it over

At the end of the month, MetronHR produces an Excel overview per person with target, actual, overtime, night, Sunday and public holiday hours as well as days of leave and sickness. That goes to payroll as a file.

So that nothing changes quietly afterwards, the closed period can be locked. Corrections then run as a change request, which is decided and recorded.