From Mr R. Gartside, FRPharmS
SIR,—Mr Wiseman sets out the terrible conditions of work in community pharmacy, contrasts them with the trivial pay on offer, and asks "Why do we do it? " (PJ, December 2, p822). The short answer, of course, is that we do not.
With two pharmacists on the register for every pharmaceutical job it is still almost impossible to find pharmacy managers. Many community pharmacies are manned day to day by locums, and many of the locums are beyond any normal retirement age. Any reasonably efficient locum will have work thrust upon him or her for at least eight days a week; their only difficulty will be finding time to do anything else.
Of course the reason is pay. There is all kinds of obfuscation but deep down we all know that there is not a shortage of pharmacists: there is only a shortage of pharmacists prepared to work for the pay and conditions on offer.
Even hard-bitten high executives of companies admit that they would have no problems over personnel if they could afford to pay what they regard as impossibly high rates. Even hard pressed, loving mothers admit that they would do more work for the right kind of money, hours and conditions.
I have been on the register since 1959, when a good community pharmacy manager would have been paid £1,000 per annum. Multiply that by 20 for inflation and then double it to reflect the general rise in incomes, then add a third to reflect hours which are unsocial by today's standards and you arrive at the kind of figure which pharmacists now need to be paid to encourage them to work full time.
You will then be beginning to be in sight of the amount you need to pay a pharmacy manager to manage your business enthusiastically. After all, a Tesco store manager is paid £60,000 per annum and a company Jaguar and does not carry life or death responsibility. Are we really saying that we would rather have pharmacists run supermarkets than practise their profession?
Keep on paying present rates, and within five to 10 years all pharmacies will be manned by locums who will be being paid much more - if they can be found, that is.
Already the local pharmaceutical committee for which I am secretary has been asked by local National Health Service management to consider an all day Saturday closing rota to try to alleviate the present appalling shortage. For the moment we have turned this down, but unless things change it will come.
There is one point on which we all need to be firm. Salaries are effectively set by the Department of Health through its determination of NHS remuneration. Total responsibility for the present mess lies unequivocally at its door and only it can take action which can possibly be effective.
R. Gartside Llanberis, Gwynedd