A major shake-up of pharmacy education is on the cards - if the findings of a report, commissioned by the HEA, are taken on board.

TCD looks set to lose its monopoly on pharmacy education, while both UCC and the RCSI have indicated that they wish to develop new degree programmes in pharmacy. According to the report, Assessing Supply in Relation to Prospective Demand for Pharmacists in Ireland by Peter Bacon and Associates, at least 50 extra pharmacy graduates are needed annually to meet the needs of hospitals, the community sector and industry.

At present, TCD admits only 70 students into pharmacy each year and, as a result, pharmacy is a highpoints course - 550 points, to be precise. "It is generally acknowledged," the report states, " that the level of achievement required for entry to the course is well above the level of academic ability required to be able to undertake pharmacy."

This increases the risk that many students will find the course and subsequent career unfulfilling. The talents of these people "are being under-utilised, although the rewards are at the level these people's talents would command on the open market. This is partly a transfer from the rest of the economy and imposes a cost on the economy." The report estimates that about 100 Irish students are currently studying pharmacy in British universities.

As well as an increase in the number of graduates, the report also identifies a requirement for increased emphasis on a broader range of skills than is currently provided - "for example, by the inclusion of course modules specifically designed to meet the needs of hospital or industry or by formal placements as part of the undergraduate degree".

There are compelling arguments for locating a pharmacy course in an institution outside Dublin. "The pharmaceutical industry is concentrated in the Cork region, there is evidence that community pharmacists outside Dublin are finding it more difficult to recruit and the situation in relation to hospital pharmacy is more acute outside Dublin."

Legislation requires all pharmacists operating in Ireland to register annually with the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland. Some 2,660 pharmacists were registered at the end of November 1998. However, the report finds that a considerable number of these are not employed in Ireland.

The community-pharmacy sector is the largest source of employment for pharmacists and is able to offer greater rewards than the hospital sector, according to the report. The profession in the hospital sector "appears to operate on the verge of crisis . . . staff shortages and severe difficulties in recruitment are a constant. Work previously undertaken by pharmacists is now routinely assigned to others." As a result, while strict legislation ensures that pharmacists are present at the dispensing of medicines and other products in the community, "no such certainties exist in hospitals."

Just under 4 per cent of pharmacists are employed in industry, which is also experiencing labour shortages, the report finds.

The report recommends that the HEA seek detailed course proposals from interested third-level institutions, to be vetted by an international panel of experts. "It is considered that there is little prospect of creating an over-supply situation, even if output were to be increased substantially above an extra 50 graduates per annum," the report concludes.