Pharmacy careers and other useful information
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Read post number 7 above - Apothecary is a locum pharmacist and says she earns £250/day for it. Locums provide cover for pharmacists - e.g. if you owned a pharmacy and wanted to take two weeks off to go on holiday - you would book a locum to cover your pharmacy for those two weeks.
It's relatively easy money basically - compared to being a Boots slave anyway.
It's relatively easy money basically - compared to being a Boots slave anyway.
From stuff that Apothecary has written, work doesn't seem to be hard to come by. She does work for an agency though, so they should be out getting work for her. If you were going it alone, then I guess it might be harder but if you know lots of people and have a good reputation then I am sure you would be in demand.
I know my dad used to have mighty problems getting locums - especially for extended periods of time like over weeks, but I think there's enough locums to cover now.
I know my dad used to have mighty problems getting locums - especially for extended periods of time like over weeks, but I think there's enough locums to cover now.
Hi Guys
The going rate for a normal day is £25/hour plus travel, ranging from 25p to 40p per mile.
Boots will also pay two hours travelling, so you can claim 11 hours work (standard nine hour day). They also pay the 40p/mile.
So if you get in a Boots store, and travel say 50 miles each way, you can earn £275 + £40 = £315. Also some of their stores don't even do prescriptions!.
Mostly with a bit of travel, other companies pay about £225 to £260 per day.
I can also stress that making yourself a Ltd company helps a lot. It costs at least £250 to set up, but with a good accountant can drop your tax bill to 3 or 4k a year - depends how much you earn of course. This is all legal by the way, it's not worth trying to cheat the Inland Revenue - they will catch you!
It is important to get a good reputation. A lot of locums laze around, reading the paper etc not really working. They don't get asked for a lot.
It isn't easy money though. Today I got up at 6.30m, drove for over an hour to get there, worked for 9 hours with only a 15 min break, and drove home again. I got in around 7.15pm and I had left at 7.30am so it's a long day.
As long as you work hard, are good at your job, you will always be in demand.
Hope this helps!
The going rate for a normal day is £25/hour plus travel, ranging from 25p to 40p per mile.
Boots will also pay two hours travelling, so you can claim 11 hours work (standard nine hour day). They also pay the 40p/mile.
So if you get in a Boots store, and travel say 50 miles each way, you can earn £275 + £40 = £315. Also some of their stores don't even do prescriptions!.
Mostly with a bit of travel, other companies pay about £225 to £260 per day.
I can also stress that making yourself a Ltd company helps a lot. It costs at least £250 to set up, but with a good accountant can drop your tax bill to 3 or 4k a year - depends how much you earn of course. This is all legal by the way, it's not worth trying to cheat the Inland Revenue - they will catch you!
It is important to get a good reputation. A lot of locums laze around, reading the paper etc not really working. They don't get asked for a lot.
It isn't easy money though. Today I got up at 6.30m, drove for over an hour to get there, worked for 9 hours with only a 15 min break, and drove home again. I got in around 7.15pm and I had left at 7.30am so it's a long day.
As long as you work hard, are good at your job, you will always be in demand.
Hope this helps!
Right, seeing as every month or so questions pop up asking about industrial pharmacy, and usually i don't have anywhere near as much idea about it as hospital or community, i thought i'd put these links up. The first one gives info on where you can get summer placements and stuff like that:
http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/members/society/ipg.html
This second one is an updated version of a survey we got given the results of whihc shows what sort of pay industrial pharmacists get and what sort of age/gender split it is:
http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/pdfs/ipgsurvey03.pdf
Hope some of you find them useful
http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/members/society/ipg.html
This second one is an updated version of a survey we got given the results of whihc shows what sort of pay industrial pharmacists get and what sort of age/gender split it is:
http://www.rpsgb.org.uk/pdfs/ipgsurvey03.pdf
Hope some of you find them useful
papad
or do they just sell?
Sell? Do you mean dispense?
The pre-reg pay in hospital is typically more than in community but then the starting wage is lower than in community. However there is more chance to move up the ladder in the hospital pharmacy.
The atmosphere will depend on the hospital. I've only had experience in two hospitals (3 as of tomorrow - eek!!) and at times the dispensary can get very busy but in general all the people I've worked with have been really lovely and helpful. More and more hospital pharmacy dispensaries are becoming technician lead so the pharmacist will just be clinically checking (possibly accuracy checking if it get extremely busy) within the dispensary, freeing up more time to spend on the wards, which is imo the most interesting part!
I finished a week of experience at my local pharmacy. It was ok.... Not alot of hands on work though. I was told that occasionaly medicines do have to be made up, which made me interested as i love experiments. I was told that this happens rarely though. I was the told that in a hospital there is a whole section dedicated to making up and dealing with medicines. What is this department called and would they recruit pharmacists/cologists
Yeah some (many?) hospitals run 'specials labs' which make up rare products or things which need to be freshly prepared (like chloral hydrate) - either for use in the hospital/neighbouring trusts or for sale to retail pharmacies to fill prescriptions. The making up/dispensing work will most likely be done by trained/registered technicians but there will probably be pharmacists on the scene doing final checking, etc.
i was wandering Apothecary do u think that it would be worth working as a pharmacist abroad because a distant relative of mine is also a pharmacist who studied in a UK university and moved over to Canada and now lives and works in Florida, it seems to me tht hes doing pretty well for himself but i havent been able to get in contact with him to ask him questions etc. i know that pharmacists in the US are in particulary high demand since most of the population cant afford to go to a doctor and pay the bills ince their being no NHS. but u have to get a phd before working their as tht seems to be the minimum requirement for a practicing pharamcist it seems..
im away to start studyin pharmacy this month and was also wondering which is the best area to get into, im more interested in the hospital and academic side of it and im also interested in getting a phd in the subject but was just wondering what ure opinions on the best areas to get into and would doing a phd be a good idea?
thanks
Morto
im away to start studyin pharmacy this month and was also wondering which is the best area to get into, im more interested in the hospital and academic side of it and im also interested in getting a phd in the subject but was just wondering what ure opinions on the best areas to get into and would doing a phd be a good idea?
thanks
Morto
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i was wandering Apothecary do u think that it would be worth working as a pharmacist abroad because a distant relative of mine is also a pharmacist who studied in a UK university and moved over to Canada and now lives and works in Florida, it seems to me tht hes doing pretty well for himself but i havent been able to get in contact with him to ask him questions etc. i know that pharmacists in the US are in particulary high demand since most of the population cant afford to go to a doctor and pay the bills ince their being no NHS. but u have to get a phd before working their as tht seems to be the minimum requirement for a practicing pharamcist it seems..
im away to start studyin pharmacy this month and was also wondering which is the best area to get into, im more interested in the hospital and academic side of it and im also interested in getting a phd in the subject but was just wondering what ure opinions on the best areas to get into and would doing a phd be a good idea?
thanks
canada and USA atre very good for being a pharmacist. They are in demand and they are more respected there.
i was wandering Apothecary do u think that it would be worth working as a pharmacist abroad because a distant relative of mine is also a pharmacist who studied in a UK university and moved over to Canada and now lives and works in Florida, it seems to me tht hes doing pretty well for himself but i havent been able to get in contact with him to ask him questions etc. i know that pharmacists in the US are in particulary high demand since most of the population cant afford to go to a doctor and pay the bills ince their being no NHS. but u have to get a phd before working their as tht seems to be the minimum requirement for a practicing pharamcist it seems..
im away to start studyin pharmacy this month and was also wondering which is the best area to get into, im more interested in the hospital and academic side of it and im also interested in getting a phd in the subject but was just wondering what ure opinions on the best areas to get into and would doing a phd be a good idea?
thanks
canada and USA atre very good for being a pharmacist. They are in demand and they are more respected there.
Hello Everyone
A lot of people say that you cannot reach a really high positions when your a Pharmacist and have the luxuries of cars and big houses until you are about 35.
Personally I really do not believe that, it all comes down how much experience you have and where you have had it. For example say you are a qualified Pharmacist and you have experience in a range of different places like in
1) Hospitals
2) As a community Pharmacist
3) In industry
4) Care Management Proggramme
Then the employer will think wow and you can apply and get selected for the high careers and jobs
Charisma
A lot of people say that you cannot reach a really high positions when your a Pharmacist and have the luxuries of cars and big houses until you are about 35.
Personally I really do not believe that, it all comes down how much experience you have and where you have had it. For example say you are a qualified Pharmacist and you have experience in a range of different places like in
1) Hospitals
2) As a community Pharmacist
3) In industry
4) Care Management Proggramme
Then the employer will think wow and you can apply and get selected for the high careers and jobs
Charisma
I'm thinking about doing a pharmacy degree and I've been told it's a good idea to read some relevant books, magazines, jornals etc. Is there anything anyone can recommend?
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