Chief officers admit workforce failures
Workforce planning is an area that has not been properly tackled, the chief pharmaceutical officers of England, Scotland and Wales have admitted.
The issue was highlighted by Professor Peter Noyce, professor of pharmacy
practice, University of Manchester, during a question time with the chief
pharmacists at the British Pharmaceutical Conference on 16 September
(see p373). Although schools of pharmacy have increased the number of
students on pharmacy courses, no such increase in preregistration places
has been seen, said Professor Noyce. “Within the next two years
we will not have adequate preregistration places,” he said.
Dr Jim Smith, chief pharmaceutical officer for England, said: “This
is a highly pertinent point and the situation could easily develop into
the rate-limiting step in the delivery of pharmacy services.” He
said that the Department of Health is talking to workforce planners to
try to find ways to resolve the problem.
Carwen Wynne Howells, chief pharmaceutical adviser for Wales, said: “One
of the problems is infrastructure. Preregistration places in the National
Health Service have now reached saturation point in terms of capacity.
Hospitals need the infrastructure to accommodate more places.” She
added that other training, such as clinical diplomas and national vocational
qualifications, are also placing a burden on the system.
Chief pharmaceutical officer in Scotland, Bill Scott, pointed out that
private employers, in other words individual contractors, are relied
on to provide pre-registration training. “We have to support them,” he
said. Mr Scott added: “We have failed to address this issue so
far but we will go back and double our efforts.” |
