Pharmacist nhs bands system

I am hoping to study pharmacy and am curious about how many years of experience does each band within the NHS contain for a pharmacist?
Like how many years is needed to move from a band 6 to band 7 etc and up to band 9?

Reply 1

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Original post by Rosie554

Hi @Rosie554!

I’m a 4th year pharmacy student at the university of Nottingham, and I must say choosing pharmacy as a degree is a very good idea!

In terms of banding within the NHS I believe that it does vary between health boards. From my placements and teaching it seems that a most pharmacists move from a band 6 to a band 7 within a year or two depending on how well you do as a band 6 pharmacist, from then it gets trickier to move up bands as there are less positions for band 8/9 pharmacists as these bands are for management positions, writhing band 8 there are bands 8a, 8b, 8c and 8d. These bands required years of experience alongside how well you perform so again are tricky to move up those bands. Band 9 is very rare as that is the position of a chief pharmacist which don’t have as many open positions as band 6 and 7 do.

Hope this helps,

Dom :smile: