Shortage of community pharmacists raises questions about future services
Karen Hassell: Pharmacists are reducing hours of work |
A shortage of pharmacists in the community sector has led to doubts about the provision of future services, after it was revealed that there is a shortage of 1,715 whole-time-equivalent pharmacists, despite a growing register. This figure was calculated by Dr Karen Hassell, senior
research fellow, University of Manchester, who was commissioned by
the Department of Health.
The apparent shortage is more likely to be due to low participation rates,
rather than any reduction in the number of pharmacists on the register,
Dr Hassell said as she presented the findings at a community pharmacy
conference organised by The Pharmaceutical Journal on 23 November. “The
problem is that people are reducing their hours of work for unknown reasons.
... There are still huge gaps in what we know about pharmacists. The
[Royal Pharmacuetical Society’s workforce] census provided some
of the basic descriptive data, but what we need next is more information
about motivation, expectations and aspirations,” she said.
One concern raised at the conference was how pharmacists could take on
extended roles in the future if there is a supply problem in the workforce
today.
John D’Arcy, chief executive of the National Pharmaceutical Association,
told The Journal after the conference that moves towards the pharmacy
vision and the new contract will create a more interesting and professionally
rewarding environment for pharmacists, so this could encourage higher
participation rates. Mr D’Arcy added new roles could also be tackled
through the better use of pharmacy staff at all levels.
Dr Hassell explained that the figures used in the calculation were based
on the average hours of work reported by pharmacists during the Society’s
2002 census and the Office of Fair Trading report, which suggests average
opening hours for multiples, supermarkets and small pharmacies. The calculation
was adjusted to account for the higher dispensing volume in some pharmacies
(and the increased pharmacist input demanded) and to allow for annual
leave, sickness and training. Dr Hassell added that the measures of demand
used in the calculation are rudimentary and that there is a need to look
at other measures of demand for pharmacists, such as population characteristics
of the patients in a particular area, medicine consumption and deprivation
indices.
King’s College London and the Society are to publish a survey of
pharmacists’ career motivations in December. |
