The Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS trust has reported a 55 per cent turnover in pharmacist positions over the past year. This is the highest leaving rate among all staff groups at the trust, which covers Oxford's John Radcliffe hospital, Churchill hospital and Radcliffe Infirmary and the Horton hospital, Banbury.
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Hospital pharmacists are being tempted by supermarket salaries |
Mrs Jenny Dorey (chief pharmacist, John Radcliffe hospital) is quoted as saying that the impending "fallow year", caused by the extension of the undergraduate pharmacy course in England and Wales to four years, was a major factor contributing to the problem. She believed that it would leave hospitals without fully trained new recruits for the next 24 months.
She added that supermarket pharmacies were taking advantage of the situation by offering more attractive packages to recruit pharmacists. In addition, the number of pharmacists being employed by primary care groups was increasing.
In a leading article, the Oxford Mail calls on the Prime Minister (Mr Tony Blair) to "pay the money to keep our nurses, doctors and other vital staff", saying that the last thing the NHS needs is to lose staff in the pharmacy. "Who can blame them for looking round" at the higher salaries and company perks offered by supermarkets and other large employers, since "good intentions do not pay the mortgage", it adds.
Personnel staff at the trust declined to speak to The Journal on January 26.