It is most likely that there will be a shortage of pharmacists over the next five years, despite an increase in training places at Irish colleges, a new report has found.
The report said the shortages would occur because it was expected there would be an increase in new pharmacies following the introduction of the Pharmacy Act and the ending of an agreement whereby pharmacists from Australia and New Zealand can register in Ireland to work.
A rise in part-time working, partly due to the increasing feminisation of the sector, is another contributory factor that will see demand for pharmacists continue to outstrip supply, the report, conducted for the Independent Pharmacy Ownership Scheme (IPOS), found.
The school of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences in Trinity College Dublin (TCD)compiled the survey and found there were 355 full-time and part-time unfilled vacancies for community pharmacists.
John O'Donnell, IPOS network director, said the survey "shows pharmacy owners are facing a major challenge when it comes to finding suitable pharmacists".
"One of the first steps we would suggest is the re-instatement of the reciprocal agreement between Ireland and Australia and New Zealand, which has provided us with a significant source of new pharmacists over the last number of years."
The report said this had been a significant source of new pharmacists, with 255 between 2003 and 2006. However, the scheme ended last year on legal fears that it could be discriminatory to graduates from countries outside the agreement.
The new Pharmacy Act allows pharmacists qualifying in countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA) to join the Irish register, but how this will work in practice has yet to be resolved, Mr O'Donnell said.
Just under 58 per cent of the 2,400 pharmacists surveyed had qualified in Ireland with over a third coming from the UK or Northern Ireland. More than 4 per cent qualified in EEA countries and 2.5 per cent were from Australia and New Zealand, the report found.
To increase the supply of pharmacists, two new schools of pharmacy have been established; one at the Royal College of Surgeons and the other at University College Cork, each providing 50 training places a year.
The first pharmacists from these schools will register this year. Trinity has increased its training places for pharmacists from 50 to 70.
The report also said the profession had become increasingly feminised, with 58 per cent of respondents being female. It also noted that almost a quarter of pharmacists surveyed planned to reduce their hours, retire or emigrate in the next five years.
IPOS was formed in the late 1990s to assist community pharmacists buy their own pharmacy. Mr O'Donnell said the organisation now had 150 members and was a "strategic partner" of UniPhar, the pharmaceutical distribution group.
