| Decision support
Compliance
CD regulations
Dispensing
Pharmacy assistants
Packaging
Alcohol metabolism
Capacity planning
Reciprocity
The Charter
Letters to the Editor
|
Reciprocity
All agreements should be cancelled
From Mr A. Matalia, MRPharmS
The letter from Vince Summers (PJ, 17 January, p53) cannot go unchallenged.
I firmly believe that all reciprocal registration agreements should be
cancelled for all pharmacists outside the European Union.
I believe that there is no skills shortage. There is only a shortage
of pharmacists willing to work for low salaries and locum rates, and
not a shortage of pharmacists. This can easily be proven. I challenge
Mr Summers to readvertise his vacancies at double the salary previously
offered. I would be surprised if he then could not fill his vacancies.
I also call on the Royal Pharmaceutical Society to write to Work Permits
(UK) and ask it to remove pharmacists as a skills shortage occupation.
Many of us suspect that claims that there is a shortage by employers
is a ploy to enable them to invite low-paid pharmacists to the UK and
undercut the resident labour force.
Some large multiples have managed to reduce locum rates in community
pharmacy which itself indicates that there is no real shortage of pharmacists.
If one existed, the normal rules of supply and demand would pertain and
locum rates would rise. Ask employees and locums if there is a shortage
of pharmacists.
With the inevitable introduction of university tuition fees, it is not
inconceivable that a student will graduate with a debt in excess of £30,000.
Now, if pharmacists are going to face increasing competition from overseas
pharmacists with low salary expectations how long will it take a student
to pay back his or her loan? Surely, people will think twice before studying
pharmacy.
If anyone doubts what I say, they should take a look at the state of
the UK IT industry, where many UK professionals have had salaries and
contract fees cut by 50 per cent due to an influx of programmers from
overseas. After years of petitioning by employees and independent contractors,
Work Permits (UK) finally removed all IT jobs from the skills shortage
list. However, many programmers continue to arrive on intra-company transfer
mechanisms, further undercutting the resident UK market.
Just wait and see what happens to pharmacy.
Amit Matalia
Coventry
|
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
* PDF files on PJ Online require Acrobat
Reader 4 or later.