First I would like to say I am a fully qualified and registered pharmacist. I have had to take myself off the PSNI reg as i simply could not afford their retention fees. In the whole year i was registered I received only about 5-7 days work.
I would like to say that I totally agree with Hoganballs. I only wish that someone could have advised me all those years ago when i was starting out on my MPharm degree.
The very fact that there is an over supply of pharmacists is causing employers to have the chance to be picky and the potential employees to be or feel powerless. Certain well known employers are taking advantage of the situation. Driving down locum rates, getting their younger more inexperienced pharmacists to do long hours and anti-social hours. It seems that those employers are lacking their own code of ethics.
Not only are pharmacists having to fight and scramble for a few hours here and there, but there is the increasing pressure for them to 'try to impress' their employer, WITH THE HOPE they will be offered more work from that employer. This is almost to an extent wherby the 'trying to impress' has gone totally at the wrong end of the scale, whereby pharmacists are loosing their sense of self as a professional, loosing self worth. A good example would be, certain locums are known to be phoning around pharmacies saying they can offer their rates for cheaper than all the current locums. (What is this, a window cleaning service?)
Another example would be, pharmacists are working over time, long hours, no breaks and no lunch and will not raise that issue with their employer as they want to be seen as a 'good worker'.
Employers know all this! and unfortunately some play upon it. Attitude from those employers are 'if you don't like these conditions, I can easily find someone who does'.
This is a disgusting situation which is also encouraging pharmacists to outdo their own colleagues and previous class mates.
And I also must mention the PSNI. They are fully aware of this too and seem to be turning a blind eye to it. After all, the more registrants they get, the more money they earn!
There is no help out there for pharmacists who have got lost or simply disappeared because of this predictable and well known situation.
And to add to that, Pharmacists often will not speak up about these issues for FEAR That they will get their name black listed amongst some employers.
All and all, unless the employee pharmacists and locum pharmacists club together and form their own union then the whole profession is screwed! There is the Ulster chemists association, however it seems to be more of a union for the pharmacy owners.
I would say, don't waste time in pharmacy in N.I. Fine do it, if you feel it's the career for you and you can see yourself working outside N.I.
but other factors must include the real nature of the community pharmacy job. Unfortunetly it is a very under-valued profession. It seems that all that hard work and training goes to waste when your put under pressure for extra sales, dealing with certain other Health care professionals who think they are a complete league of their own and way above your league, and having to stand at the perfume counter and direct people to the toilet rolls.