Demand?

[dannymonfi]

I AM NOT A PHARMACIST BUT HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR MY RESEARCH


What are the reasons behind such a high demand for retail pharmacists and not enough supply?

How will Setion 60 affect the high steet Pharmacys?

How does the Pre Reg year work? How do you get a placement & who are the main placement providers?

What is the general career path of a pharmacist?

[Steve G]

Supply and demand: demand is high in retail because to open a pharmacy you need a pharmacist there. No pharmacist means no prescriptions dispensed and no medicines sold. Employing a pharmacist means you can run a profitable business. Supply is not high enough because there aren't that many universities where you can study pharmacy. The number is increasing, but it will take a few years for this to feed through. Other reasons include increasing feminisation of the profession (more likely to take time off for kids, work part time), older pharmacists retiring (CPD, increased fees etc).

Section 60: I'll let someone more capable answer that (Linnear?)

Pre-reg: the pre-reg year is putting what you learnt at uni into practice and getting practical experience of pharmacy - how to actually speak to doctors and patients, etc. It's the transition from being a student to a professional. And you have to do an exam at the end. All the major multiples offer pre-reg places, as do smaller regional groups such as Paydens, Day Lewis, Dean & Smedley. Application is directly to the company, but deadlines and application processes vary. The most important thing when choosing where to do the pre-reg is the tutor. Normally you do your pre-reg straight after finishing uni, but Bradford have a sandwich scheme where it is done as part of the undergrad course.

Career path: often there isn't one. If you work for one of the larger companies then you might have the option of store manager/area manager/head office job, but these will often take you away from direct contact with patients.

Karen Hassell at Manchester University has done quite a lot of work looking at the pharmacist workforce, quite often published in the pharmaceutical journal.

[dannymonfi]

Thanks,

Now in terms of business sectors, how is this filled? I believe Retail is the leader but what percentage does hospital, prison and industrial have and are there other sectors i have missed?

Who are the Retail market leaders in Pharmacy? Who are the loosers?

What are the main changes in Pharmacy in the last 5yrs?

How do you see Pharmacy changing in the next 5?

What role do recruitment / locum agencies play in the Pharmacists life and how are they viewed in the section? Who are the main ones?

[Linnear]

Re section 60.

This is quite a good overview:

http://www.rpsgb.org/pdfs/s60brief.pdf

Section 60 basically tidies up legislation regarding the responsibilities of the RPSGB and pharmacists.

Under Section 60 the RPSGB has its responsibilites laid out more clearly and also sets out clearer ideas of what makes a suitable pharmacist.

Fitness to practice guidelines are included.

It makes a difference in day to day pharmacy because it means that the Soc has more ways of removing a pharmacist from practice.

In normal situations it hasn't made a great deal of difference. That I've seen anyway.

[the old merlin]

Originally Posted by dannymonfi

Thanks,

Now in terms of business sectors, how is this filled? I believe Retail is the leader but what percentage does hospital, prison and industrial have and are there other sectors i have missed?

Who are the Retail market leaders in Pharmacy? Who are the loosers?

What are the main changes in Pharmacy in the last 5yrs?

How do you see Pharmacy changing in the next 5?

What role do recruitment / locum agencies play in the Pharmacists life and how are they viewed in the section? Who are the main ones?

Danny, what's your research field? What are you trying to find out?
As others have said, Karen Hassell is the expert on pharmacist employment, and a google using her name and Manchester Uni or pharnacy will probably give you the answer to your first question (if I understand it correctly). The Society also publishes a Manpower Survey about every five years. Again a google on it's website will give you your answers. The last one was a couple of years ago, but i wouldn't have thought the figures had changed very much.

As for your second question, it depends on what you mean by "retail". Do you mean overall sales through pharmacy & pharmacy related outlets. Or do you mean shares of NHS dispensing?

For the next two questions, look at any discussion on "The Responsible Pharmacist", including the official website. Also look at the Clarke Inquiry into the future of the RPSGB.

Finally, my limited experience of them suggests that nowadays there's no real market leader in pharmacy recruitment agencies, and that they are useful but most firms, large and small tend to prefer to do their own recruitment.