The Inconvenient Truth

Hi! Abel here. I just came back from the BPSA 72nd Annual Conference in DMU, Leicester. I will talk more about the conference in future posts, so stay tuned! I'm sure any other course mates who attended the conference with me would agree how the conference have changed their mindset, which I am about to tell you.

Over the conference week, many things were discussed and debated. But one thing is for sure. The competition for pre-reg in the UK is getting MORE AND MORE INTENSE! It has been shown to us in the conference that pre-reg places will stop increasing very soon while the number of new pharmacy students increases every year. (I wished I could show you the graph here). We were told that this is mainly due to the financial difficulties in the NHS to support additional pre-reg training posts. At one point of time in the (near) future, there could be thousands of graduates who are unable to find a pre-reg placement in the UK! Do note that under the current GPhC guidelines, there is a certain period for you to complete your pre-reg from the start of your pharmacy degree, so it's not like there's forever for you to enter the profession!

The following documents also provide insight into the situation at hand.

(Reference : http://www.cfwi.org.uk/publications/a-strategic-review-of-the-future-pharmacist-workforce/@@publication-detail accessed on 20/4/14)

(Reference : http://www.bpsa.co.uk/Press_Releases/BPSA_Student_Numbers_Discussion_Paper_-_17th_July_2012.pdf accessed on 20/4/14)

We might ask, why don't they increase placements in hospitals? Well, other than financial problems, it is hard to tutor an additional graduate and maintain the quality of the training under the stress of the current situation. Some may have backup plans to take up non-pharmacy related jobs, but I'm sure many of us wish to work as a community or hospital pharmacist right?

Well, what to do? First of all, TAKE PART IN BPSA ACTIVITIES! GO FOR CONFERENCES! GET PHARMACY-RELATED EXPERIENCES! I'm not trying to do marketing here, but BPSA is really the first stepping stone for you guys to dive right into the professional world. Get involved in NETWORKING as you need to be more well-informed about your future employers and career. We, the BPSA reps will try our very best to inform you about BPSA and its events. But we also need you to take a step forward and make yourself stand out from others.

 An inconvenient truth? Well, more like a drive for change!