Pharmacy schools in universities need to address staff recruitment issues so a career in academic pharmacy is “a more attractive option for pharmacists”, the Pharmacy Schools Council (PhSC) said in a statement last week (August 8).

The PhSC said it “welcomes the work currently being done by the Chief Pharmaceutical Officer for England’s office, but this does not address the current salary disparities between HEIs and the external workplace”.

It added it was concerned “uncontrolled increase in schools of pharmacy in the UK” is happening without proportional investment from the NHS into training at undergraduate level ahead of the University of Leicester and Plymouth University welcoming their first cohort of pharmacy students in September 2024.

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The PhSC referenced the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan for England published in April 2023 which showed a “planned growth of pharmacists in training in England” by 2031 would mean an increase of over 1500 pharmacy students to be absorbed by the “29 fully accredited MPharm programmes in the UK”.

It added Swansea University is close to full accreditation while seven other universities are in early-stage accreditation for new MPharm programmes.

 

“Difficulties in recruiting suitably qualified staff”

 

But the council said the increase in students “places great pressure on an already strained and constrained Higher Education (HE) sector” and will impact student/staff ratios which is an indicator used by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) “to measure the quality of MPharm programmes during the accreditation and reaccreditation process”.

In consultation with the Schools of Pharmacy (SoPs), the PhSC report that it is “not uncommon for advertised posts to attract only one or two suitably qualified candidates” and new SoPs try to recruit existing academic staff because of “current difficulties in recruiting suitably qualified staff”.

Read more: Bangor University set to offer ‘exciting’ new MPharm degree 

Those with “sufficient expertise” to run an MPharm programme are “most commonly found at the equivalent to NHS Agenda for Change Band 8a salary requirement of £50,952 on entry,” it said.

But SoPs are under pressure to “either manage with a smaller staff base or recruit at lower grades within HE pay spines” as the HE sector is financially stretched because student tuition fees have not increased since 2012.

The PhSC shared additional points of discussion to address staff recruitment issues in its statement:

• There is a need to explore alternative pathways for career progression in academia without following the traditional PhD route was considered

• Universities find it difficult to recruit casual staff due to university's hourly rate not matching pharmacy locum rates

• New schools of pharmacy opening in the next two to three years will lead to a greater demand for academic staff to fill teaching positions

• There are currently many vacancies in the NHS, so universities are competing with the NHS for pharmacists – this causes issues with teacher-practitioner posts

• While the NHS can promote pharmacists, universities can’t promote teacher-practitioner posts if they do not have the necessary qualifications, which can affect retention

• Using secondments to recruit senior pharmacists to academic posts may be an option worth exploring.

Read more: NHSE backs £1.5m scheme to ‘expand’ London MPharm placements 

It comes after Bangor University announced in July it plans to offer an “exciting and relevant” MPharm degree from 2025.

In April, NHSE backed a £1.5m scheme to “expand” MPharm placements at Kingston University, University College London and King's College London to offer “experiential placement sites across London” including in care homes and mental health trusts.

The PhSC announced last week (August 8) that the University of Nottingham’s Professor Barrie Kellam was elected as its new chair.