Pharmacy Technician Pay

[laura/nottingham]

Hi All

Long time no post!!!

So as an NHS pharmacy technician (Band 4), registered of course should we be entitled to a pay rise as what we are now known as a 'registered professional body'???

If you look at it this way, nurses enter their profession as a registered nurse at the cost of £76 a year at BAND 5 PAY!!

Us on the other hand, pay £120 a year and enter our profession in the NHS at BAND 4!!!!!

What do you guys think of this??

Thanks

[judiloe]

ABSOLUTELY! but try getting any sort of rise at the moment.Keep being told times are hard while the boss comes back off one holiday then tries to decide where to go skiing!

[sparkybw]

A nurse enters at Band 5 because she is a graduate of a three year university course. Similarly so do physios, OTs etc.

A Pharmacy Tech does a two year course at a far lower level and goes into Band 4 which I think is completely realistic. And therefore the difference is pay is fully justified.

So far as the difference in professional registration fees is concerned:

To register with the HPC as an allied health professional costs £52 scrutiny fee and then they reduce the first two years payments to £38 rather than £76. So the first two years of registration costs a total of £128.

To register for the first time as a pharm tech costs an application fee of £120 plus the first year's registration fee of £120. So a pharm tech pays £360 for their first two years of registration.

The question that you should be asking is, why it is so much more expensive to register as a pharm tech (and presumably as a pharmacist), than it is to register as an AHP given that the application forms are virtually identical in all respects and the same evidence is required for both professions.