Pharmacy Future
Im interested in pharmacy for many reasons.
but i do want financial freedom in the future. Do pharmacists make decent money?
but i do want financial freedom in the future. Do pharmacists make decent money?
(edited 3 years ago)
Not any more! If you compare to 20/25 yrs ago and in comparison to other professions allied to medicine. The average community pharmacist which is about 60% of the profession, earns 36k a year according to the Chemist and Druggist online magazine salary survey. Earlier this year I fed my salary from 1997 into an inflation calculator and it came up at around 51/52k per yr. So we have definitely not done well.
If you want money, I would recommend Medicine, private dentistry, mainly cosmetic type work. Or leaving science, go into Banking, or Finance, Law, Accountany, Investment banking, computer coding, etc.
I recently read that the best, most lucrative degree to have at the moment is Economics.
If you want money, I would recommend Medicine, private dentistry, mainly cosmetic type work. Or leaving science, go into Banking, or Finance, Law, Accountany, Investment banking, computer coding, etc.
I recently read that the best, most lucrative degree to have at the moment is Economics.
Original post by 0895
Not any more! If you compare to 20/25 yrs ago and in comparison to other professions allied to medicine. The average community pharmacist which is about 60% of the profession, earns 36k a year according to the Chemist and Druggist online magazine salary survey. Earlier this year I fed my salary from 1997 into an inflation calculator and it came up at around 51/52k per yr. So we have definitely not done well.
If you want money, I would recommend Medicine, private dentistry, mainly cosmetic type work. Or leaving science, go into Banking, or Finance, Law, Accountany, Investment banking, computer coding, etc.
I recently read that the best, most lucrative degree to have at the moment is Economics.
If you want money, I would recommend Medicine, private dentistry, mainly cosmetic type work. Or leaving science, go into Banking, or Finance, Law, Accountany, Investment banking, computer coding, etc.
I recently read that the best, most lucrative degree to have at the moment is Economics.
I want to do something science related though. How about optometry? Ive heard they pay good for up to 25 yo compared to other degrees.
Is it possible that when you become a pharmacist you set up a pharmaceutical company?
Original post by 0895
Not any more! If you compare to 20/25 yrs ago and in comparison to other professions allied to medicine. The average community pharmacist which is about 60% of the profession, earns 36k a year according to the Chemist and Druggist online magazine salary survey. Earlier this year I fed my salary from 1997 into an inflation calculator and it came up at around 51/52k per yr. So we have definitely not done well.
If you want money, I would recommend Medicine, private dentistry, mainly cosmetic type work. Or leaving science, go into Banking, or Finance, Law, Accountany, Investment banking, computer coding, etc.
I recently read that the best, most lucrative degree to have at the moment is Economics.
If you want money, I would recommend Medicine, private dentistry, mainly cosmetic type work. Or leaving science, go into Banking, or Finance, Law, Accountany, Investment banking, computer coding, etc.
I recently read that the best, most lucrative degree to have at the moment is Economics.
But aren't there too many economic graduates and harder to get a job? All the listed are well payed jobs depending on the company/ firm and your passion. I hate numbers and can't imagine staring at a computer all day in an office. Pharmacy is very low paid compared to medicine but okay compared to biochemistry / biomedicine. If you are interested in science and want very high pay then apply to medicine but I wouldn't rule out pharmacy completely. I mean I'm not sure myself as I'm about to go to pharmacy school but trying to obtain opinions and advise beforehand . After medicine, dentistry isn't Pharmacy the next highest paid then nurses and other remaining staff of the multidisciplinary team ? As long as I'm earning above 35k and in the medical field I am okay.
I'm a pharmacist and currently on circa £80,000/year. £65,000 from my job as a community manager and £15,000 from locumming a day per week on days off. If you listen to negativity regarding pharmacy, you will end up a frustrated pharmacist earning only £40,000/year. My colleague who is single with no dependants works over 70 hours per week and earns close to £90,000/year.
Study pharmacy, qualify and relocate to the North. Earn an excellent income only matched by GPs!
Study pharmacy, qualify and relocate to the North. Earn an excellent income only matched by GPs!
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by Claremont4ever
I'm a pharmacist and currently on circa £80,000/year. £65,000 from my job as a community manager and £15,000 from locumming a day per week on days off. If you listen to negativity regarding pharmacy, you will end up a frustrated pharmacist earning only £40,000/year. My colleague who is single with no dependants works over 70 hours per week and earns close to £90,000/year.
Study pharmacy, qualify and relocate to the North. Earn an excellent income only matched by GPs!
Study pharmacy, qualify and relocate to the North. Earn an excellent income only matched by GPs!
Really thats very relieving i was interested in studying pharmacy alot because i want to study specifically the drugs side. May I ask hold old you usually are when earning the amount you are? and how much could i make after i graduate before reaching 30
Also ive heard Optometrists earn more than pharmacists starting is that true?
Original post by STudentT1234212
Really thats very relieving i was interested in studying pharmacy alot because i want to study specifically the drugs side. May I ask hold old you usually are when earning the amount you are? and how much could i make after i graduate before reaching 30
Hi Student1234212,
If you followed TSR Pharmacy you would notice that a claimed newly qualified OSPAP pharmacist from Sunderland repeatedly trolls with disinformation regarding salaries in the North East that bear absolutely no relation to reality. 70 hour weeks....some life and how long could you keep that up before your health or that of a patient suffers. Don’t be misled.
I am a pharmacist with a few decades of experience also from the North East. The overwhelming majority of pharmacists in community here are on salaries about half that mentioned in its post. Many newly qualified on much less. Locum rates are £18-£22/h. A decade ago £26/h was the norm so you can see the trend.
Look at some of the other threads. Community pharmacy is entering a period of profound and rapid change with funding cuts, closures and consolidations, entry of the likes of Amazon, Remote Supervision etc. Regretfully all of these are not in the interests of individual pharmacists.
It is not just salary that is the issue. Workload and stress levels in community are very (dangerously) high and rising. Community pharmacy is dominated by the multiple chains. The two largest (Boots & Lloyds) are foreign owned and here to satisfy the financial demands of their overseas shareholders. Cost cutting is their number one priority. It is now a retail environment and certainly not clinical.
Status of pharmacists in community has fallen considerably in my time. You would be surprised at the number that HAVE to leave community pharmacy because of the effects it’s has on their health. I could tell some disturbing stories but not in a public forum. It also cannot be overstated that community pharmacy has no career structure. You will finish more or less where you started unless you diversify into management. Experience or extra clinical qualifications count for surprisingly little.
Hope this helps put you straight on the reality. Don’t just take my word. Read Chemist & Druggist for free. Try to pop into a few community pharmacies and ask face to face.
If you really want to study pharmacy then aim for hospital. Pay is nothing startling but there is a career structure and it is very much a place where clinical skills can be developed. Competition for entry is getting high as community becomes less attractive. Industry as an option for pharmacy graduates is realistically zero despite what the unis proclaim.
Hope I have informed. Take care and good luck......
(edited 3 years ago)
The average pharmacist earns £42,000 per year (ASHE). The reason why C&D quotes a lower number is that focuses on community where pay is lower and many earning in the £30,000s.
Saying a mate earns 90k a year from 70 hours a week is intellectual tomfoolery of the highest order. This is equivalent to around £51k for full time. What does 70 hours a week mean? It means dossing in quiet pharmacies that the grim reaper is coming after, it means dangerous 16 hour shifts. This can be done only for limited amounts of time without a physical cost.
It's not disputed that it's popular for managers to have a 3 or 4 day week and then supplement their income. For many other pharmacists this isn't possible. For every one of them there is another manager out there that says nah screw it I want to have those extra free days instead, because they aren't enamoured with community pharmacy in the slightest.
Saying a mate earns 90k a year from 70 hours a week is intellectual tomfoolery of the highest order. This is equivalent to around £51k for full time. What does 70 hours a week mean? It means dossing in quiet pharmacies that the grim reaper is coming after, it means dangerous 16 hour shifts. This can be done only for limited amounts of time without a physical cost.
It's not disputed that it's popular for managers to have a 3 or 4 day week and then supplement their income. For many other pharmacists this isn't possible. For every one of them there is another manager out there that says nah screw it I want to have those extra free days instead, because they aren't enamoured with community pharmacy in the slightest.
Original post by STudentT1234212
I want to do something science related though. How about optometry? Ive heard they pay good for up to 25 yo compared to other degrees.
Is it possible that when you become a pharmacist you set up a pharmaceutical company?
Is it possible that when you become a pharmacist you set up a pharmaceutical company?
yeah, but you would need to do a postgraduate masters in pharmaceutical enterprise, this is the best and to my knowledge the only way for such prospects, it is a popular MSc for pharmacy graduates who are interested in working in already established companies and/or those that want to run their own etc
Original post by marinade
The average pharmacist earns £42,000 per year (ASHE). The reason why C&D quotes a lower number is that focuses on community where pay is lower and many earning in the £30,000s.
Saying a mate earns 90k a year from 70 hours a week is intellectual tomfoolery of the highest order. This is equivalent to around £51k for full time. What does 70 hours a week mean? It means dossing in quiet pharmacies that the grim reaper is coming after, it means dangerous 16 hour shifts. This can be done only for limited amounts of time without a physical cost.
It's not disputed that it's popular for managers to have a 3 or 4 day week and then supplement their income. For many other pharmacists this isn't possible. For every one of them there is another manager out there that says nah screw it I want to have those extra free days instead, because they aren't enamoured with community pharmacy in the slightest.
Saying a mate earns 90k a year from 70 hours a week is intellectual tomfoolery of the highest order. This is equivalent to around £51k for full time. What does 70 hours a week mean? It means dossing in quiet pharmacies that the grim reaper is coming after, it means dangerous 16 hour shifts. This can be done only for limited amounts of time without a physical cost.
It's not disputed that it's popular for managers to have a 3 or 4 day week and then supplement their income. For many other pharmacists this isn't possible. For every one of them there is another manager out there that says nah screw it I want to have those extra free days instead, because they aren't enamoured with community pharmacy in the slightest.
Any pharmacist routinely pulling 16 hour shifts and 70 hour weeks (no doubt excluding not inconsiderable travelling time) is nothing less than a danger to the public. Totally irresponsible and unethical and to then publicly boast about it suggests they are not fit to be on the GPhC register of pharmacists.
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by Sarah H.
Any pharmacist routinely pulling 16 hour shifts and 70 hour weeks (no doubt excluding not inconsiderable travelling time) is nothing less than a danger to the public. Totally irresponsible and unethical and to then publicly boast about it suggests they are not fit to be on the GPhC register of pharmacists.
The pharmacist with the big numbers is a manager. I don't know how they run their pharmacy, but one of the problems with the 16 hour shifts on rotas is once it gets locked in it becomes an expectation and it's managers that often enable this. You then end up getting locums who can do long shifts and then ones that don't want 4-5 hours so bingo, you keep on assigning 16 hour shifts because it's less hassle for you as a manager! It starts a runaway train.
Original post by STudentT1234212
Really thats very relieving i was interested in studying pharmacy alot because i want to study specifically the drugs side. May I ask hold old you usually are when earning the amount you are? and how much could i make after i graduate before reaching 30
You will definitely make more than that in Pharmacy. Pharmacy is a very versatile profession and opens up avenues to practice in diverse areas. I'm originally from Sydney, Australia and came into this country to do the OSPAP pharmacy conversion course having already qualified as a pharmacist in Australia. I ignored all the negativity on this forum prior to and during my conversion course. If I had listened to them, I probably will have dropped out and be somewhere today earning £25,000/year and hating life. I'm proud to be a pharmacist today earning well and doing my best to improve the health and wellbeing of my patients.
Original post by Claremont4ever
I'm a pharmacist and currently on circa £80,000/year. £65,000 from my job as a community manager and £15,000 from locumming a day per week on days off. If you listen to negativity regarding pharmacy, you will end up a frustrated pharmacist earning only £40,000/year. My colleague who is single with no dependants works over 70 hours per week and earns close to £90,000/year.
Study pharmacy, qualify and relocate to the North. Earn an excellent income only matched by GPs!
Study pharmacy, qualify and relocate to the North. Earn an excellent income only matched by GPs!
Lol this troll again 😂
Original post by Claremont4ever
You will definitely make more than that in Pharmacy. Pharmacy is a very versatile profession and opens up avenues to practice in diverse areas. I'm originally from Sydney, Australia and came into this country to do the OSPAP pharmacy conversion course having already qualified as a pharmacist in Australia. I ignored all the negativity on this forum prior to and during my conversion course. If I had listened to them, I probably will have dropped out and be somewhere today earning £25,000/year and hating life. I'm proud to be a pharmacist today earning well and doing my best to improve the health and wellbeing of my patients.
Why on earth would you swop Sydney for Sunderland???!
Do you really think you will be pulling 70 hr weeks when you have been qualified 20 yrs in the UK? I very much doubt it. Most UK pharmacists can hardly manage to get through a 40/45 hr week because of the workload and stress.
" doing my best to improve the health and wellbeing of my patients "......... while ruining your own!!!
Original post by Claremont4ever
I'm a pharmacist and currently on circa £80,000/year. £65,000 from my job as a community manager and £15,000 from locumming a day per week on days off. If you listen to negativity regarding pharmacy, you will end up a frustrated pharmacist earning only £40,000/year. My colleague who is single with no dependants works over 70 hours per week and earns close to £90,000/year.
Study pharmacy, qualify and relocate to the North. Earn an excellent income only matched by GPs!
Study pharmacy, qualify and relocate to the North. Earn an excellent income only matched by GPs!
Why dont you admit that you're a pharmacist in their 40s, with vastly more experience than most pharmacy graduates / people completing their pre-reg, who has a plethora of experience in the army and other sectors before they even did their in the UK pre-reg and obviously, due to the vast amount of experience you have, were in a far stronger position to negotiate salary than the average pre-reg graduate who is 22-24 years old (considering you were at least 37 years when you did you completed your pre-reg, that means you have 15 years more experience working across environments).
Heck, why dont you tell people what you were doing prior to your stint in the army and what you were doing in the army as well. What I find very interesting is that you were in the army from 29-35 years old, then did a postgraduate degree (of which I have no idea if ospap or something else), 1 year ospap, 1 year pre-reg, then have been registered for almost 2 years. You talk about being able to afford a big house as a pharmacist, of course you would as you wil lhave saved for at least 15 years longer than most people 1-2 years out from uni so would obviously have more savings (also helps you live in an area where property prices are cheap).
also who in their right mind wants to work 70 hours a week if they have any commitments? are you some weirdo with no social or family life with no friends
what do you even do to unwind?
(edited 3 years ago)
Original post by STudentT1234212
Im interested in pharmacy for many reasons.
but i do want financial freedom in the future. Do pharmacists make decent money?
but i do want financial freedom in the future. Do pharmacists make decent money?
80% no, 20% yes
Original post by STudentT1234212
Also ive heard Optometrists earn more than pharmacists starting is that true?
They only earn more locumming tbh and even then they only earn more than community locums or hospital pharmacy locums below band 7 in London / 8a rest of country. That being said, pharmacy shifts are far longer and require much more work than optometry.
Employed and pre-reg optometrist salaries are lower than pharmacists / similar depending on the part of the country but like I said, less hours per shift and far less work
Quick Reply
Related discussions
- Pharmacy without work experience
- What’s the best pharmacy school in the uk as from now
- Russel group universities that accept pharmacy with ABB with A in EPQ
- Is my major in bio med worth it for a pharm degree
- Pharmacy Clearing
- Can i do Mpharm when i do Stem foundation at university of edge hill
- Pharmacy
- Physiotherapy or pharmacy
- I cant find five Pharmacy options but really want to study the course, suggestions?
- Retake A levels or do pharmacy
- failing pharmacy
- My experience studying MPharmacy
- Pharmacy or Optometry - URGENT UCAS
- MPharm Interview 2024 Help
- pharmacy experience whilst at university
- newcastle mpharm
- The honest truth about Pharmacy.
- is pharmacy worth it?
- I don't know what to do
- Can I switch from Pharmacology to Pharmacy at another university?
