Hospital pharmacist vacancies fall
Job vacancies for hospital pharmacists in England have fallen by 30 per cent in the past year, according to new Department
of Health statistics.
The survey of posts that had been vacant for three months or longer in
March 2004 shows that the vacancy rate in England has fallen from 6 per
cent to 4.2 per cent. This equates to a reduction in the number of vacancies
from 286 to 223 whole time equivalent posts. As in previous years, the
annual survey reveals wide geographic variations in unfilled posts. The
highest vacancy rate is 13.5 per cent (down from 16.6 per cent) in the
Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Strategic Health Authority. Two areas — Dorset
and Somerset StHA and West Midlands South StHA — reported that
all pharmacist posts were filled.
Tony West, president of the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists, said: “It’s
a mixed picture.” He said that the figures had always been expected
to improve once the fallow year created by the change from a three-year
degree to a four-your degree was over and the number of pharmacy graduates
started to rise again. The overall picture was also brighter than the
survey suggested because the total number of hospital pharmacists was
rising. However, he added that the reduced working week agreed under “Agenda
for change” meant that the number of pharmacists employed by hospitals
would need to rise by the equivalent of a whole year’s cohort of
preregistration trainees.
“It’s still a service that is under a lot of pressure,” Mr
West concluded. “There is the continued loss of relatively senior
personnel to primary care trusts. While we’re able to recruit at
the bottom, finding experienced staff for almost any specialised services
remains difficult.” |
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