If you believe everything you read and hear from politicians, the press and even NHS England there is a glut of pharmacists at present. Why is it then that for the first time in a number of years, I’m seeing pharmacies closed because they can’t find pharmacist cover? We started trading in 2003 as a pure locum agency and I have to say, it feels a bit familiar to those days. In those days the shortage was caused by the “fallow-year” when only Bradford Uni produced any pharmacist to go on the register when the course elongated from 4 to 5 years including pre-reg. This time around it’s the move to clinical move that’s behind the shortages.
I live in a small North Yorkshire market town and one of our local pharmacies was closed for two hours yesterday as the small chain it belongs to was having to spread pharmacist resource around it’s branches. I’ve heard anecdotal reports of similar things happening around the country. Why is this happening? There’s no doubt that the Clinical Pharmacist in GP Practices Programme is enticing many pharmacists away from the production line that most community pharmacies an into a more clinical role.
I also detect a more militant group of locum pharmacists who refuse to accept lower rates or seem to be willing to wait until the last minute to secure the best pay. Is this a bad thing? Hell no! For too long pharmacists have quivered in the back of dispensaries too scared to pop their heads out but now there are better options and higher expectations of what they can achieve.
So whether you are a pharmacist looking at working in a GP Practice or a locum pharmacist willing to stand up for what you deserve, feel confident as the time of the pharmacist is upon us!
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