The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 274 No 7338 p233
26 February 2005

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· Workforce
· The Society (2)
· Statutory Committee (3)
· Council election
· Overseas pharmacists
· The profession (2)

Letters to the Editor

Workforce

Has policy been properly thought out?

From Mr A. J. Leigh, MRPharmS

It is interesting to read about the up and coming shortage of New Zealand and Australian pharmacists in the UK due to changes in recognition of non-EU qualifications (PJ, 19 February, p202). The NZ pharmacy degree has been a four-year course (with one preregistration year) for over 20 years.

The changes have been made to treat all countries outside the EU in a similar way, where a pharmacist has to complete a one-year course (paying the tuition fees) and then a preregistration year. This is fine if the pharmacist is coming for a long time since it is some investment, but the problem is that the UK only allows a two-year working holiday for NZ and Australian pharmacists aged under 30 years. Unfortunately, this leaves them no time to work as pharmacists after they have spent two years qualifying to register in the UK. This in itself may lead to a lack of pharmacists coming from NZ and Australia and may indeed impact on the hospital sector. It seems a pity that a lot of pharmacists who have been traditionally recognised in the UK now will not have this privilege. I wonder if this policy has been well thought out higher up in the Department of Health.

Andrew Leigh
Auckland, New Zealand

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