EU Pharmacist

[Rafael]

I stand well and truly corrected. Thanks Zoggite.

Fleegle.

it's a move to protect the local market and prevent new multiples taking over in the UK. do i need to elaborate more?

[Fleegle]

No.

[OrganOlive]

Hey no problems! I didn't mean to take anything to heart, I was just rattled by the Society's... About that guy who owns the agency, it'd be great to be in touch with him, I live in the north east, near the north yorkshire border, but don't mind travelling a little bit!
Again, apologies if I've caused any trouble, I'm just too fiery! :P

[johnep]

Well if you have Spanish blood we expect a bit of Latin temperament. My wife's family originally came down from the North East and she had a Spanish look about her when young. Certainly has a strong character. We like to think that a handsome Spanish captain was shipwrecked from the armada and perhaps she has a few of his genes.
johnep

[DavidS]

i know a locum who now runs a locum agency, employing 35 spanish pharmacist in this area. admin might know him as well..... he is an excellent pharmacist as i have worked with him. he is now bringing them from home, so runs his own business, rather than the multiples going there to get them.

Probably the person I've just banned for unauthorised advertising, then! I do wish people would read the conditions of posting before they stick half a dozen blatant ads on the forum, which must take them ages. It only takes me 30 seconds to shift them all to the private mod's section of the forum where no-one can see them, and the member ends up banned.

Perhaps suggest that this person gets in touch with Admin if advertising is required.

[Zoggite]

all the money paid by you BEFORE joining the register was paid in your home land, not in the UK. that's a different story.
.

On the plus-side: The UK has gained in me a highly-skilled professional, without having to spend a single penny on educating me...

I'm not really objecting about the retention fee, I just don't understand why, even when I will have been on the UK Register for 40 years, I still won't be able to do everything a UK-qualified pharmacist can do, just because I studied at Brussels Uni in the 1980's instead of Liverpool Uni...
(incidentally, the Pharmacy degree in Belgium has been a 5-year degree since 1952, with 6 months' "work experience"- unpaid- included in the final year.)

[DavidS]

Liverpool Uni doesn't teach Pharmacy. That's down to Liverpool John Moores, which for most of the 80's was Liverpool Polytechnic School of Pharmacy, if my memory serves me rightly, with degrees issued by the CNAA.

Originally it was a stand-alone school of pharmacy, the second oldest in the country, after the Square.

Not sure what the relevance of this is, but, hey.

[Rafael]

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[Zoggite]

If the idea of this "non-UK qualified phcist"-rule is to avoid "foreign" multinationals taking over the UK pharmacy sector, then I believe it's failed.
As for the "knowledge of the English language"-thing: I'm trying to think why it wasn't an issue in Belgium. Belgium has 3 national languages, but you wouldn't think of applying for a job in the German-speaking part of Belgium if you didn't speak german, simply because you know you wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting it: this is, I believe, because the majority of pharmacies are still owned and run by independents, so they do their own recruiting and know exactly which applicant would be no good behind their counter... And Belgian pharmacies are much smaller affairs than over here, often "one-man bands", so you don't get to hide in a dispensary, shielded by a gaggle of counter assistants & dispensers; therefore one's inability to communicate efficiently with patients/customers is a pretty large handicap!
But pharmacists' social standing is much greater than here, and they are the truly accessible "scientist on the highstreet": when a person walks into a pharmacy, they know they are almost certain to be speaking to the pharmacist straightaway, without having to attempt to get past a barrage of counter assistants wanting to know why you want to speak to Head Honcho.

Oh, and the Belgians aren't as arrogant as to believe that their University qualifications are of such a high standard that no other EU state's come near them...

[Rafael]

i believe every single word zoggy, it's the same back home. guess pharmacists just come to practice in the UK to enjoy a little bit of more money, which sometimes is not achievable when considering the living expenses...etc