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PHARMACIST SHORTAGE


manager and one with a pharmacist with relevant experience. the third position remains unfilled. to make matters worse, in response to his last advertisement, liam had only two replies!


‘the situation is always worse in the west,’ liam told pif. ‘I’ve found over the years that many pharmacists prefer to work in and around belfast or Derry/londonderry. but there’s no doubt that this situation has been exacerbated by the appointment of the pbps.


‘the shortage of experienced community pharmacists has been created purely and simply by the move of experienced pharmacists to practice-based positions in gp surgeries. to my mind, there was no planning done in advance of this move. two years ago, there was definitely an over-supply of pharmacists in northern Ireland. as a result - perhaps understandably - we lost many of our newly-qualified pharmacists to the south and across the water where the salaries and working conditions were better. now we have a dearth of available pharmacists.


‘I wonder how much of this is down to the fact that the university grades are influencing the number of people doing pharmacy. at Queen’s it’s all a grades, but, to be honest, that’s beside the point. the fact is that we have too few pharmacists now available in nI both for permanent positions and for locum positions. I know for a fact that there were far fewer locum pharmacists available this summer than before and I know from experience that it’s very stressful trying to get people. It’s difficult enough to increase wages to get people to come back from gb and roI at the best of times, but this exodus of pharmacists to gp surgeries has made the situation intolerable.


‘What needs to happen now is that the Doh takes a step back and puts further pbp appointments on hold until this issue is resolved. If the workforce review is to take 18 months and the appointments continue in the meantime, we may reach a point of no return, which would be a disaster for pharmacy in general - and for patients in particular!’


pharmacY In focUS - 21


at the opposite side of the province, on the ards peninsula, contractor garrett maguire, who owns pharmacies in millisle and bangor, has been hit even harder than liam!


Since January last year, garrett has lost both of his pharmacy managers - one with ten years’ experience, the other with twelve. to make matters worse, the pharmacist whom garrett appointed to help him overcome these problems, only stayed for a year before also taking up a pbp post!


‘as liam said,’ garrett told pif, ‘the situation is extremely stressful. on top of the fact that I lost my managers, it’s virtually impossible to get locum cover and so for the last while I’ve had to work six days a week. I’m also aware of many colleagues having to do the same.


‘normally over the summer, as with other pharmacy contractors, I’m inundated with newly-qualified pharmacists calling in or emailing me their cVs. two years ago, in fact, I had a pile of cVs in my in-tray. this year there was nothing. also, I’ve been advertising since may for a pharmacy manager and, to date, have had no response.


‘In november last year, I carried out interviews for the millisle manager position and it was a complete wild goose chase. between people cancelling interviews or simply not turning up, it was very disillusioning.


'to be honest, you can't really blame pharmacists for opting for practice- based work when you take into consideration the instability that


community pharmacy has faced over the last few years - making it difficult for contractors to invest for the future - and acting as a catalyst for employee pharmacists to seek better rates of pay and working conditions elsewhere.


‘I reckon that, over the last year, I’ve spent a small fortune on advertising costs - not to mention the time I’ve had to invest in the process. It’s a very scary situation given that there is so much pressure on community pharmacy now to keep its doors open!


‘going back a couple of years, it was also possible to have pre-regs. now you’re lucky to get one. In addition to the fact that many of them go across the water for employment, I think many are also being retained in the pharmacies in which they have done their training. So that’s another issue we’re coming up against!


‘What I find most concerning about this whole situation is that it is


Uca commEnt


Cliff McElhinney, UCA President the new practice-based role for pharmacists is a really welcome development for our profession and the vision of community, practice and hospital pharmacists all playing their part in an integrated system, each contributing to the care of the patient and the public is a goal we should all be working towards. however, time should be taken to bed in these roles, establish a communications process and develop pathways and working relationships across primary care, with the aim of relieving the burden on gps and utilising the skills and experience of both community and practice pharmacists in each area.


a number of factors led to the current shortage and a number of solutions need to be found to solve the problem, so Uca looks forward to being able to contribute to the Doh workforce review and work with the Doh and hScb to find some medium and short-term solutions to ease this current crisis.


happening at this time since, although patient safety is always our number one priority, I fear that, if this situation continues, there is a risk that patient safety may be compromised.


‘the fact that various public campaigns are currently being run to dissuade patients from going to out- of-hours surgeries and a&E - which I wholeheartedly support - means that there’s even greater demand being placed on community pharmacy for advice, minor ailments etc.


‘and yet all of this is happening at a time when the profession is under extreme pressure in terms of workforce. I totally agree with liam. there was no forethought given to what was going to happen when community pharmacy was effectively decimated by the appointment of the pbps - and with another 250 still envisaged - the future for contractors is daunting - to put it mildly!’ •


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