Community or hospital??after pre-reg

[lizpharm]

HI, all im due to finish my prereg year, i realy want go into hospital but the pay is not appealing at all...whearas community offers a lot,but u are limited in progressing as compared to hospital...i also want to do the diploma in hospital but someone told me its really hard and takes 2years...i just need some advice really to help make my decision..
Thanks

[vanquish s]

do what you are going to enjoy. The pay may start of low but you can work your way up, plus it will seem like a lot in comparison to being a student or pre-reg. You can always top it up with weekend locums and on call pay.

[crit care]

go with what you enjoy....i think most hospital palces for band 6 would ahve been and gone by now....although some may have vacancies lined up later in the year. the pay isn't as bad as you think, and the diploma isn't that hard to do. yes its over 2years, but worth doing if you do consider hospital. wel if you go for hospital, you won't get a say in whether you do the diploma or not..its normally part of your job contract!

[_Rob_]

I think i've already answered some points on a different thread. Actually, although the pay is less to start of with, career graded pharmacists (band7/8a) are comparible/better than our community colleagues, management grades (8b+) is considerably well paid (i.e. £50k plus). Most people should be looking for a 7 at 2-3 years post qualification (some have done it in less than 12 months) and a band 8 in 5-7 years (again, some do it sooner). NHS pensions are still a definite bonus.

Clinical diplomas require application and a bit delication, although they can be done over 2 years, most are now modular and this allows for some time out. I advise my tutee's to take the odd module out and consider doing it over 2.5 to 3 years.

I guess it depends what you want to do with your life. If your in for the long term, the rewards of hospital pharmacy are huge, financially you'll be okay, job satifaction is huge as you'll find a speciality you like and therefore will be able to develop a role and the pension is still excellent in comparison to most other schemes. If its not for you then you can always go back to community. It's much harder to go from community to hospital.

[sharifhs]

sorry for my ignorance but could you please tell me what is 6/7/8 band pharmacist and how they are qualified?

[spicydicey]

6/7/8 are the NHS pay bands. I think once you finish pre-reg you're made a band 6. And once you complete your clinical diploma you can become I band 7. That's what I understand about it anyway. Correct me if i'm wrong.

I want to go into hospital pharmacy and will be applying this summer. Thing is, i've only ever had community placements. I've been trying to get a summer placement this year but haven't had much luck. I've been going along to a few open days, but other than that is there anything else I could do? Do you think talking about the clinical placements we do on the MPharm course would help at all?

[Nik]

What year are you in now 3rd year ? If you're going to open days make sure you look and sound enthusiastic about the hosp (even if you're not). Keep trying to get a placement but don't get too disheartened if you don't get one. At least you can mention any open days you've been to and any relevant degree experience.

[johnep]

Hospital to retail....easy
Retail to hospital...........very difficult.
johnep

[atristan]

Hospital Pre-reg is band 5 under NHS agenda for change. Once you are qualified, you are Band 6 in hospital pharmacy and so on. I have several friends who have done their pre-reg in community and now specialist Band 7 Pharmacists in the NHS. If you want to move from community to hospital, you will need to make your case but it is not impossible.