The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7159 p151-153
4 August 2001

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Hospital pharmacy

Pharmacy vacancies in the North East

From Mr R. N. Longshaw, MRPharmS

The workforce problems affecting hospital pharmacy are, by now, well known. In the North East we have been collecting data on local hospital pharmacy vacancy rates since 1996.^1–4 Table 1 shows the percentage of vacant posts by grade for the year ending 31 March 2001. It can be seen that there is still a problem.

The vacancy rates for junior grade posts have remained fairly constant and those for mid grade posts have been steady across the past three quarters. Table 2 shows the data, at 30 September, across the five-year period from 1996 to 2000. At this time hospitals usually see an improvement in pharmacist recruitment subsequent to summer registrations, and in technician recruitment as student technicians qualify. The results show that even in a period when traditionally recruitment has been easier, vacancy rates are still uncomfortably high.

The Department of Health has reported on hospital vacancy rates⁵ and indicated that 5.3 per cent of pharmacists and 2 per cent of “other qualified pharmacy staff” posts have been vacant nationally for at least three months as at 31 March 2001.⁶

These data are different from those reported here, since the North East data show vacancies on a given date; however Table 1 does show little change across the three months in question.

The data contained within the Department of Health website6 shows three-month vacancies for Northern & Yorkshire as 4.3 per cent for pharmacists and 1.6 per cent for “other qualified pharmacy staff”. The figures for the Northern sector alone (Table 1) indicate a mismatch of such proportions (despite the differences in data definitions) to suggest further work is necessary to elucidate the real picture.

The first cohort of the four-year MPharm degree have now graduated and will have registered by September 2002. It will be interesting to see if this will result in an influx into the junior grades. The figures presented here would suggest that there is not likely to be a dramatic reversal in vacancy rates; however, what the figures do not show is the way in which vacant posts have been regraded to ensure that patient needs are met.

References

1. Longshaw RN. Vacancies in the North East (letter). Pharm J 1997;258:798.

2. Longshaw RN. Vacancies (letter). Pharm J 1998;260: 902.

3. Longshaw RN. Vacancies in the North East (letter). Pharm J 1999;262:876.

4. Longshaw RN. Vacancies in the North East (letter). Pharm J 2000;264:950.

5. Hospital pharmacist vacancies falling. Pharm J 2001; 267:75.

6. Department of Health Vacancies Survey 2001 (Table 5). Available at www.doh.gov.uk/public/vacancysurvey.htm. Accessed 23 July 2001.

R. N. Longshaw
Chief Pharmacist,
Freeman Hospital,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne

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