From Dr C. E. Heading, MRPharmS
SIR,—Over recent months, the PJ has published several valuable articles and papers on pharmacy workforce issues. A shared feature of the studies reported has been that, not surprisingly, they concerned themselves with individuals currently on the pharmaceutical register.
In contrast, the National Association of Women Pharmacists (NAWP) recently concluded a study of pharmacists who have left the register. Eighty-four female pharmacists who had left the register by notifying their intention to the Society during the period 1997-98 were contacted as part of a qualitative study to establish why they had left. Our findings, based on replies from 53 respondents, endorse the observation of Dr Sue Symonds (PJ, January 22, p144) that practical considerations play the major role in determining the work choices of many women. Practical issues were by far the single most quoted reason for our respondents choosing to leave the register. Although care of young children was often an issue, broader family commitments were sometimes involved. Perhaps not surprisingly, teaching was the new career most frequently pursued by our respondents.
Another finding materialised when we compared register details of women who left the register by means of notifying the Society with those who left by default (ie, by failing to pay their membership fees). Over a sample period, this latter group was smaller (135 versus 250), but exhibited different characteristics in terms of age, date of registration, and last known country of domicile. An informed guess would be that the "defaulter" group contained significant numbers of individuals who came to the UK as overseas students and returned home after registering, but we have no hard data to support this. Nor do we know of any data source on how many students come from overseas to study pharmacy in the UK.
Anyone interested in receiving the full report should contact me at the address below.
Christine E. Heading
11 Kingsend, Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 7DD