Is Pharmacy really a career to be avoided?

[Cybercubed]

Hi all,

I'm in my mid 30s, and I'm considering a career change to Pharmacy, I particularly have in interest in hospital Pharmacy as oppose to community. I've recently applied for a band 2 NHS Pharmacy Support Worker at my local hospital to see whether its something I would like. I'm single with no dependants and would have almost enough money to fund a second degree for it if necessary.

Does anyone have any experiences working as a Pharmacy assistant? Since I'm not a qualified pharmacist or technician I'm unsure of what my duties will actually be.

There appears to be a lot of negativity surrounding pharmacy online, is it really a career to be avoided?

It's a highly skilled & respected career in my experience.

Are you wanting to become a pharmacy technician or pharmacist?
At my hospital we have trainee pharmacy techs, start at the band 2, end up band 4 once qualified.

My friend is a pharmacist and absolutely loves it. You can specialise and do further training in the subjects that interest you throughout your career.

I’ve worked as a tech in hospitals. I found it to be interesting and responsible work. There’s no money in it, though, unless you’re a fully qualified pharmacist. If I had my time over I would do a pharmacy degree.

Meant to say…duties are mainly dispensing and stock control. Everything you do has to be signed off by a pharmacist, and that’s where the responsibility lies.

@MichelleScarn

I'm considering studying for a Pharmacy degree and becoming a fully qualified Pharmacist, but I would prefer hospital Pharmacy over retail, but the majority of Pharmacists work in retail and so hospital pharmacy seems harder to get. The NHS pay progression seems better as well long term especially if you can get into the higher bands (8a/8b/8c etc).

My job also says its temporary until 31st December, can temporary Nhs jobs ever become permanent or be extended? I dont know whether I should state in the interview about my long term ambitions to actually become a Pharmacist later on and go back to university to study for it.

It has always seemed to me that retail pharmacists are basically glorified shopkeepers. Or sales assistants, if they work for Boots.

A friend of mine is a hospital pharmacist and absolutely loves it. It was a four year degree I think and she is still studying while on the job but it is now band 8. It's a lot more involved than anyone outside the profession would think.

I used to work for a pharmacy chain. There is a lot of stress for pharmacists which people don't tend to see...the responsibility of potentially getting something wrong...it's not uncommon to develop OCD.

If you’re the actual pharmacist the it’s not a terrible job, it’s relatively interesting with good pay. Of course if something goes seriously wrong the buck stops with you.
If you’re working as a dispenser then the work is interesting but honestly all my work environments have been pretty crap and you don’t get paid enough for the responsibility involved

I've never heard anything negative tbh. It's a really highly regarded profession where I'm from.

A few friends are pharmacists, although not in hospitals to be fair, but they all love it. Found their degree tough but enjoyable and all have quite a high level of job satisfaction.

Can you really fund a four year degree? That's £40k there, not counting living expenses.

They are desperate for hospital pharmacists where I live, I suspect this may be nationwide. A band 2 post would be great experience, but obviously very different from what a registered pharmacist does. There is a mature students section on the education board that may be of interest to you.

Lots of pharmacists now work in the community eg helping with prescriptions for care homes, working in general practice etc.It is a well respected career with lots of opportunity for development.

In the hospitals I've worked in, the support workers deal with getting medicines to the ward and dispensary. You would definitely meet pharmacists and pharmacy techs on a daily basis to ask them about the role. There will be an Education & Training lead for pharmacists and one for techs, so whether or not you get the job, you could ask for a chat with them about career options.

The degree is 4 years, then 1 year as a trainee (band 5 in NHS). You would need postgraduate qualifications (on the job study) to progress to band 7. It would take likely 5-6 years from registration to get to 8a depending on your aptitude, vacancies in your area etc. Excellent maths skills are a must.

Re temporary roles - likelihood of extending contract depends on reason why it's fixed term - definitely something to ask at/before interview.

If you’re planning to become an actual pharmacist then yes go for it.
I’m a Technician and i worked for 9 years in community and now work in hospital.
Community is hell on earth, you basically get shouted at, sworn at and treated like shit for the same wages you would get on the checkouts in tesco.
Hospital is a bit more interesting and less customer service but again it’s the part of the hospital that is always forgotten about, always gets blamed for everything by the nursing staff etc.
Being a pharmacist in the hospital would be good and you can specialise in an area that you find interesting but i wouldn’t bother becoming a dispenser/technician, it’s lots of study and stress for no reward.

It seems very much like a production line job to me - just endless scripts to check and fill and double check. It doesn't seem particularly varied. However, I have no direct experience, so this is just an outsiders perception. Would be interested to know if this is true?

That's how I imagine it, mundane with high risk if you get it wrong.

I'm a pharmacist. I used to work in hospital and am now based in a gp surgery. As a profession it's got lots of good points with a huge variety of roles to choose from to suit your interest. If you go down the the hospital route it's 4 year degree then a pre registration year to qualify. You'd then be expected to do a diploma over 2-3 years and this part often involves shift work rotating aground the different pharmacy departments- which helps you work out what you might enjoy next... I went down the clinical patient facing path and it's been good. busy and stressful at times but rewarding and varied. It's definitely not just checking prescriptions. A band 2 job would give you a good opportunity for some insight into what the various roles actually involve and would help you in a university application. If there pharmacist path isn't feasible then technician might be worth considering. I've seen roles up to band 7 and you can work while training.

This is pretty much community pharmacy summed up in one sentence

I'm a band 8 hospital pharmacist and I really enjoy my job. Admittedly I have come out the other side of all the education so I don't take work home with me so often now. We have technicians who are up to a band 7. Bear in mind that if you did a pharmacy degree you couldn't start until September 2023 then you have the foundation year afterwards. So best part of 6 years before you become a band 6. You could become an apprentice tech and work up to a 6 while being paid in that time. Technician roles in hospital are actually quite interesting now, they do all sorts. We have meds rec, dispensary, education, IT, meds administration, aseptics and more that you can specialise in.

How flexible is a Pharmacy degree? Can you use to become a Pharmacologist/Toxicologist? Obviously that would be a long route, but I'm just wondering if somebody decided they didn't want to become a Pharmacist could they still use a Pharmacy degree to pursue other Science careers?

It’s one of the nicer professional NHS roles. Getting experience as a tech is a good plan. It’ll help you decide if it’s the right thing for you and it’ll also look good on your Uni applications.

If you've got nearly enough put by to fund a second degree and presumably feed, clothe and house yourself on a bugger all money tech post for four years - would you mind saying what you're doing now?