Too Many pharmacists? What’s being done

This issue was the focus of several PDA member conferences in 2012 and led to the development of a seven point plan:

1. Develop a pharmacy workforce model
2. Control the numbers entering schools of pharmacy
3. Create new roles to increase the demand for pharmacists
4. Ensure that new roles are not driven at the expense of the supply function
5. Focus new roles on the unique skills of pharmacists
6. Develop a supervision policy that makes the pharmacist more accessible to the public in the pharmacy and not less so
7. Halt the commoditisation of pharmacy services and enable pharmacists to develop clinical relationships with patients.

The PDA has been involved in a significant amount of lobbying behind the scenes so as to progress this plan and recently there have been two highly beneficial developments.

STUDENT NUMBERS ARE NOW SET TO BE RESTRICTED

Ministers in England have now agreed to restrict pharmacy student numbers in the future. Whilst the real concern for the profession is that there are now simply going to be too many pharmacists, the rationale behind the Ministers decision is perhaps somewhat unrelated. Having had the over-supply situation brought to their attention, their concern is that the number of pharmacy graduates must not exceed the number of NHS funded pre-registration places available. Such a position could result in a political embarrassment as it could be argued that limited financial resources were being squandered in the secondary education system by training pharmacy undergraduates who could then never become pharmacists due to their inability to complete their training.

For the profession, the reasoning behind the decision is almost immaterial as the consequences (in terms of dealing with the impact upon pharmacists of an oversupply situation) will be beneficial in the medium term. Another benefit of this approach is that pharmacy training is being viewed much more so as an NHS issue  similar to the position enjoyed by doctors and nurses and this augers well for the profession.

Similar plans are already being considered for Wales and PDA officials have also explored this issue with Scottish and Northern Irish Government representatives.

DEVELOPING A WORKFORCE MODEL AND PLAN

With Government backing, the Centre for Workforce Intelligence (CfWI) has now instigated detailed work on modelling the pharmacy workforce needs for the future. In recent weeks PDA officers have briefed CfWI officials on this important piece of work. On 10th January PDA will be participating alongside representatives of other pharmacy organisations in the CfWIs future scenario generation workshop. This will be an important step in delivering the first point on the PDAs seven point plan.

We will update PDA members on any further developments as they occur.