The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7242 p439
29 March 2003

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  The new Charter
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Letters to the Editor

Hospital pharmacy

Technicians could be hospital pharmacists

From Mr M. Brown

The impact of university top-up fees is a controversial subject that could have a profound influence on National Health Service pharmacy. A recent news feature (PJ, 1 February, p145) raised the question of whether top-up fees will act as a deterrent toward people embarking on a career in pharmacy; views appear to be mixed.

The "fallow year" and the NHS plan had a diverse impact on the roles within pharmacy, forcing the profession to search for answers to combat any expected shortfall in staffing numbers. To this end, the roles of pharmacists and technicians have become blended and a better skill mix obtained.

A more imposing problem will be derived from the following question: "If you were a newly qualified pharmacist with debts of £25,000 or greater, where would you be drawn, hospital pharmacy or the comparative riches of community care?" For pure hard cash, there can be only one winner, and many newly qualified students may well choose the community path. This would raise a more malignant and insidious problem than the "fallow year".

The career structure for many pharmacy technicians currently ends at senior level, by which time they have gained invaluable experience and, in many cases, qualifications. However, much of this knowledge is wasted due to legislative restrictions. Currently technicians qualified at HNC (NVQ4) level have undergone a minimum of four years accredited training. Would it not be more appropriate to allow suitable and willing, qualified technicians the chance to pursue a modular system of study over three to six years on a day release basis? The end result would be a specialist pharmacy degree only valid in the hospital environment. The introduction of such a scheme would produce a pool of highly experienced specialist hospital pharmacists constantly available to the NHS. Staff unable to continue training at any period could have modules in the bank and, depending upon the level of accreditation, achieve diploma or certificate standard.

The pharmacy community has a golden opportunity to seize the initiative and move with the times. The scheme would provide a dedicated career pathway for technicians to attain specialist degrees, negate any shortfall in pharmacist numbers and provide the NHS with a constant dedicated workforce.

 Matt Brown
Senior Pharmacy Technician
Royal Shrewsbury Hospital

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