Is pharmacy really as bad as people say

OP

How was it as a tech does the role vary a lot compared to a pharmacist?
How did the pharmacists you were with find the job?
So many questions sorrryyyy

Reply 3

Oxedrin

5

I’ll give you a few personal observation as a community pharmacist. Only you can decide if it’s for you or not. 1. Majority of pharmacists end up in community pharmacy after uni as there are very few opportunities in hospital, industry, and academia. 2. Full time employed Community pharmacists earn between 20k-40k. 3. The average locum pharmacist pay is £20 but they are responsible for their GPHC fees and indemnity. 4. Work in community pharmacy involves repetitive checking of prescriptions with the odd customer queries about minor ailments. 5. Majority of community pharmacists work for corporate pharmacy chains which are mostly profit driven. 6. Pharmacist are valued as to how much revenue they generate for the business with little regard for their professional judgment. 7. Non-professional area managers dictate how you practice pharmacy with your professional judgement and ethics accumulated over many years chucked out in the bin. 8. As a result of that, pharmacies are chronically understaffed, very stressed, and not a good environment to work in. 9. If god forbid something goes wrong, the management never disappoints in shifting blame on the poor pharmacist, while ignoring pleas from pharmacist for safe staffing levels, or systems which serve their rightful purposes. 10. There are massive documents called SOPs or standard operating procedures written by lawyers which are used as a shield by pharmacy employers if something goes wrong in a very busy pharmacy, with a lone pharmacist, with a disgruntled dispenser, fearful of non-understanding customers who would threaten complaint to management or GPHC if they have to wait 5 minutes for their medication. As a result, the pharmacist is always guilty with little attention paid if the employer provided safe staffing levels or has given the pharmacist the freedom to exercise their professional judgement without huge pressure to hit financial targets. 11. To get a flavour of what it feels like to work in pharmacy, find a few work placements in different pharmacies so that you can make up your own mind.

Reply 4

OP

Omg wow 😔😔😔
You reckon the system will change for the better let’s say next 5-6 years?
What other degrees would you recommend?

Reply 5

Original post by Hana.R22

How was it as a tech does the role vary a lot compared to a pharmacist?
How did the pharmacists you were with find the job?
So many questions sorrryyyy

Original post by Hana.R22

How was it as a tech does the role vary a lot compared to a pharmacist?
How did the pharmacists you were with find the job?
So many questions sorrryyyy

It's very different unless they're an accuracy checking tech.
Basically techs do everything that's not checking and providing murs and nms/ some services for the most part, so speaking to patients, unpacking orders, dispensing, printing prescriptions, making blister packs amongst a lot of other things, i like the helping customers solve problems part, it's everything else i don't like anymore. Most that weren't my manager weren't full time locums so they found it okay but some wouldn't want to be full time hours when i spoke to them as it'd be too much pressure.

Reply 7

Original post by Oxedrin

I’ll give you a few personal observation as a community pharmacist. Only you can decide if it’s for you or not. 1. Majority of pharmacists end up in community pharmacy after uni as there are very few opportunities in hospital, industry, and academia. 2. Full time employed Community pharmacists earn between 20k-40k. 3. The average locum pharmacist pay is £20 but they are responsible for their GPHC fees and indemnity. 4. Work in community pharmacy involves repetitive checking of prescriptions with the odd customer queries about minor ailments. 5. Majority of community pharmacists work for corporate pharmacy chains which are mostly profit driven. 6. Pharmacist are valued as to how much revenue they generate for the business with little regard for their professional judgment. 7. Non-professional area managers dictate how you practice pharmacy with your professional judgement and ethics accumulated over many years chucked out in the bin. 8. As a result of that, pharmacies are chronically understaffed, very stressed, and not a good environment to work in. 9. If god forbid something goes wrong, the management never disappoints in shifting blame on the poor pharmacist, while ignoring pleas from pharmacist for safe staffing levels, or systems which serve their rightful purposes. 10. There are massive documents called SOPs or standard operating procedures written by lawyers which are used as a shield by pharmacy employers if something goes wrong in a very busy pharmacy, with a lone pharmacist, with a disgruntled dispenser, fearful of non-understanding customers who would threaten complaint to management or GPHC if they have to wait 5 minutes for their medication. As a result, the pharmacist is always guilty with little attention paid if the employer provided safe staffing levels or has given the pharmacist the freedom to exercise their professional judgement without huge pressure to hit financial targets. 11. To get a flavour of what it feels like to work in pharmacy, find a few work placements in different pharmacies so that you can make up your own mind.

as someone who is a pharmacist who (annoyingly) locums in community, I agree. I would also like to add that many locums (and even standard pharmacists) essentially sign away their rights when working for big companies (in my case, a lot of places I work at, Im not entitled to Lunch breaks, tea breaks and I get into trouble if I take a toilet break). Add to that a lot of pharmacies make you work odd hours and it can be pretty hectic / bad for your health and social life (worst Ive done is working in 2 venues in 1 day: 1st from 8am-12pm, the 2nd venue from 1pm-10pm. A lot of places I locum at start their days at 6:30-7am and close at 11pm).

Original post by Hana.R22

Omg wow 😔😔😔
You reckon the system will change for the better let’s say next 5-6 years?
What other degrees would you recommend?

The system is flawed and prettymuch I wouldnt recommend getting into it unless your willing to relocate far from home / family & friends due to the sheer competition in big cities / within a 20 mile radius of London (Im located within 20 miles of London). There is change happening and there seems to be an emphasis on getting more pharmacists into general practices to essentially cover 30%+ the workload of GPs (although there will be a lot of competition) and in Wales, it will be policy to have 1 clinical and 1 non-clinical pharmacist in a community pharmacy. In 5-6 years, there is potential for great change but seeing is believing tbh.

In terms of alternatives, depends on you as a person. Personally, I would say medicine is the obvious one if your into learning about human body / treating people. Dentistry and Optometry would be the go to health professions for £££ (cant believe optometrist locums earn more than Ophthalmologists). Healthcare not your thing, Id say computer science could be something to look into.

Reply 8

OP

Do you regret doing pharmacy and if you could go back in time would you have chosen another career?

Reply 9

Original post by Hana.R22

Do you regret doing pharmacy and if you could go back in time would you have chosen another career?

cant speak for @Oxedrin but I yes and maybe to both of your questions (if I could go back in time, ensure my old paramour would have buggered off abroad 2 years before she did AND give myself a stern chat about being too arrogant / actually spending time studying and not being a lazy sod who didnt do any revision till the morning of exams :|)

Reply 10

Claremont4ever

I'm absolutely enjoying my life as a community pharmacist. I work 7am till 11pm three times a week, I get four days off per week to rest in my 4 bed detached mansion or locum if I want to. I'm among the top 30% high salary earners in the country. Community pharmacy has been good to me and I wouldn't dream of doing anything else. I love the daily face to face interaction with patients who respect what I do.

#ILovePharmacy #PatientsFirst

Reply 11

OP

Omg wow first positive response
Not so doom and gloom after all!!! Some hope

OP

7am-11pm though😬😬😬😬

Original post by Hana.R22

7am-11pm though😬😬😬😬

I chose those hours because I like my four days off!

Reply 14

OP

Ohh okay
And how long have you been in pharmacy for??

Reply 15

OP

So you don’t agree with ‘the whole system is flawed, pharmacists don’t get treated well, don’t do pharmacy, it’s terrible you’d regret it!

Reply 16

Original post by Hana.R22

So you don’t agree with ‘the whole system is flawed, pharmacists don’t get treated well, don’t do pharmacy, it’s terrible you’d regret it!

claremont is in a fortunate position as they have been qualified for less than a year, was a foreign qualified pharmacist and they are located up north, where they pay on ~ £10 (or more)/hour more than they do in London (so 48*10 = £480/week or if someone works 48 weeks a year, then it is about £23000 more than a locum pharmacist working in london doing the exact same job. Also helps property prices up north are signifcantly less than down south).

As ive mentioned in my previous post, geographical location is key for getting work in pharmacy. Sadly not everyone can relocate.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 17

OP

How’s the Midlands???

Reply 18

Original post by Hana.R22

How’s the Midlands???

I have heard stories that in places like Birmingham and Leicester, pay for community is bad (like £12/hour in some places but have no idea if it is true) but because of the high density of family run pharmacies there, expect a lot of competition and lower wages than other areas (yorkshire and lancs are supposed to be good as there is a shortage in them areas, along with devon, cornwall, merseyside). Its also worth remembering that things can change, so there is no guarantee if things stay the same (I will say however that NHS has national pay policy and all areas not called london tend to pay the same for hospital and general practice)

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 19

OP