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Letters to the Editor
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Recruitment
Information on degree length is inaccurate
From Ms L. M. Britton, MRPharmS, and Ms B. J. Levkovich, MRPharmS
We were concerned by Robert McArtney’s statement in your news
feature (PJ, 19 February, p202) that pharmacists from Australia and New
Zealand only complete a three-year degree and so require an additional
preregistration year in the UK to “top-up” before being allowed
to practise.
As pharmacists trained in Australia and New Zealand, we would like to
point out that this information is untrue, and that pharmacists from
both Australia and New Zealand have completed a four-year undergraduate
degree as well as a 12-month preregistration period culminating in examinations
before admission to the register. The four-year degree system is long-standing
in New Zealand and was introduced in Australia in preference to the three-year
degree system at a similar time as the change from a three-year to a
four-year degree in the UK.
It disappoints us that a past-president of the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists,
an organisation which represents our interests, has been quoted as stating
facts regarding our qualifications that are wrong. Our understanding
is that the reasons behind the change of the reciprocal agreement by
the Royal Pharmaceutical Society with our home nations’ registering
bodies are unrelated to the length or quality of our qualifications.
Furthermore, these changes inevitably will make the opportunity of experiencing
the practice of a different health system more difficult for future generations
of Australian, New Zealand and British pharmacists — surely a continuing
professional development opportunity missed.
Lisa Britton
Medicines Information Manager
Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust
Bianca Levkovich
Specialist Clinical Pharmacist — Critical Care
Royal Brompton and Harefield NHS Trust
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal