10k difference?

[Pharmguru]

Why do people claim moving to community after hospital pre-reg is due to 10k difference. Band 6 starts at 25k whilst community newly qualified will be on 33k. If you add on call and weekend work to hospital, its pretty much the same no

Also, does any one know how long it takes to specialise into a particular area in hospital. Will this be in band 7, how long does it take to get to band 8?

[Nik]

You are right in saying that doing on-call and additional locums can add extra income, but in reality there is still a gap in pay between our community colleagues. Typically will take 2-3 years to go through band 6 training including a diploma, after which you can look for something specialist. Some band 7 jobs may be able to incorporate on the job training for certain specialties e.g mental health. Most pharmacists get stuck at band 7 as there are fewer band 8a posts in relation. How long it takes to make this move therefore varies from person to person.

[johnep]

However, you could do locums at weekends and in evenings. I did one evening a week for several years when in industry.
johnep

[Pharmguru]

However, you could do locums at weekends and in evenings. I did one evening a week for several years when in industry.
johnep

what about on call nik, how often do you do that as band 6

[Nik]

Well it varies depending on what rotas different hospitals have. In large hospitals you may do it 1 in 10 or 1 in 12 weeks, but smaller hospitals may have 1 in 8 or even less. Me personally, I start my first on-call next week.

[Pharmguru]

is that the entire week then. How can you specialise into areas such as aseptics

[Nik]

Yes you are on-call for the entire week. You can specialise into manufacturing areas as a band 6 as you don't necessarily need to have a clinical diploma. Broader positions such as oncology inevitably require some previous experience.