Memorandum 52
Submission from the Council of University
Heads of Pharmacy
A response to the Innovation, Universities and
Skills Committee inquiry into the Government's decision to phase
out support given to institutions for students taking second qualifications
of an equivalent or lower level (ELQs) to their first qualifications
made by the Council of University Heads of Pharmacy.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1. The Council of University Heads of Pharmacy
proposes that pharmacy must be included in the list of exempt
subjects. It is a recognised UK Skills shortage subject.
2. Planned post-graduate professional development
courses, based on a progression of post-graduate Certificate,
Diploma and Masters qualifications should be exempted from the
ELQ proposals. They are clearly different from unrelated postgraduate
programmes being chosen "at random".
BACKGROUND
1. Pharmacy is being increasingly expected
by the public, by policy makers and by members of other professions
to extend its contribution to effective medicines use and the
achievement of better health outcomes envisaged in Our Health,
Our Care, Our Say and Our NHS, Our Future.
2. As community-based medical and nursing
care becomes more focused on supporting people with complex needs,
pharmacies will with growing frequency be able to serve as direct
health care access points for the majority of the population.
Indeed the success of the proposed primary care reform by Lord
Ara Darzi will substantially depend on pharmacists being able
to take on some of the work presently done by GPs as the latter
move into larger centres and take on some tasks traditionally
carried on by secondary healthcare institutions. To achieve this,
pharmacists must continuously enhance their skills.
3. The pharmacy profession must attract
individuals not only with high intelligence and the ability to
excel in the pharmaceutical sciences, but also the experience
and personalities required for the support of appropriate medicines-taking
and health-related behaviour changes.
4. Once qualified, pharmacists will need
access to sophisticated resources that will help them to go on
building the competencies required by fast changing societies
with rising health expectations.
EXEMPTION FOR
THE ENTRY
QUALIFICATION INTO
PHARMACY: THE
MASTER OF
PHARMACY DEGREE
5. The 4-year undergraduate Master of Pharmacy
degree qualification, followed by 1-year's pre-registration training
and the registration examination, is the only route to registering
with the regulator for pharmacy, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
of Great Britain.
6. Pharmacy is a vocational healthcare profession
and should be treated no differently from all other medical, dental
and allied health professions.
7. Pharmacists are on the UK Skills Shortage
Occupations List.
8. The shortage of pharmacists is recognised
elsewhere—in a 2006 survey 6.5% of junior pharmacist posts
in the NHS were vacant (www.nhspedc.nhs.uk/pdf/Report%202006.pdf).
9. Greater than 95% of students reading
for the MPharm qualification proceed to register and practise
as pharmacists (Willis et al Pharm J 2006:277,137-138).
10. Workforce modelling commissioned by
the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, in partnership with the Department
of Health and the Welsh Assembly Government indicates that over
the next 10 years pharmacist numbers will need to grow by 5% per
annum. Even with greater efforts to increase retention and participation
rates in employment a significant increase in the volume of the
training pipeline is indicated.
11. This increased demand for new pharmacy
undergraduates combined with the 18—30 year old demographic
profile between 2006-07 and 2026-27 means that demand for pharmacy
undergraduates will exceed supply in the traditional recruitment
pools. The inability of graduates to re-train as pharmacists will
place a serious constraint on healthworker development across
the NHS and run counter to the government's goal of getting patient
care closer to patients.
12. If workforce demand is to be met substantially
by new graduates (in addition to retention and increasing participation
rates) then pharmacy will need to look to non-traditional recruitment
pools to meet employer-led demand—any barriers to for example
graduates re-training as pharmacists will place a serious constraint
on development of the pharmacy workforce and more generally across
the NHS and run counter to the government's goal of getting patient
care closer to patients.
13. A number of students highlighted as
ELQ in the schools of pharmacy have "first" qualifications
in the pharmaceutical area, but as stated above the MPharm is
the only vocational qualification leading to registration as a
pharmacist. First degrees in chemistry, medicinal or pharmaceutical
chemistry, pharmacology or related biomedical science predominate.
THE IMPACT
ON STUDENTS
14. The current proposal makes it extremely
unlikely that a graduate entry route into pharmacy, which has
been so successful in medicine, will be a meaningful option.
15. It seems inevitable that those from
minorities who have managed to acquire a qualification but then
wish to re-skill for another vocation, such as pharmacy, will
be least able to so and be hardest hit by these proposals.
16. Higher education institutions in London
are particularly affected by the ELQ proposals. At the School
of Pharmacy, a college of the University of London, 20% of the
undergraduate student numbers affected by the ELQ proposals relate
to graduates from Iran, Uganda, Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
These students have either been granted British citizenship, refugee
status or indefinite/exceptional leave to remain. Seventy of these
students are women who for religious and cultural reasons would
not be permitted to study away from home.
17. The pharmacy sector has a very strong
track record in recruiting and training substantial numbers of
students from ethnic minority backgrounds. In 2006-07 some 40%
of new registrants with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great
Britain were from ethnic minority backgrounds.
EXEMPTION FOR
POST-GRADUATE
QUALIFICATIONS LINKED
WITH CONTINUING
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
18. The ELQ proposals run completely counter
to continuing professional development, life-long learning and
skills development, including that envisaged by Lord Leitch. Foundation
degrees are not an option since they cannot provide the content,
experience etc to satisfy professional requirements.
19. Within the NHS, the Agenda for Change
career framework is based on escalating post-graduate qualifications
(the Knowledge and Skills Framework).
20. Extensive use is made of a tiered approach
involving PG Certificate, Diploma and Masters qualifications in
pharmacy to support NHS workforce development and enable the delivery
of important aspects of health policy. This is a clear example
of academic progression and not equivalence.
21. Practitioners should not be denied the
opportunity to build up their qualifications and competencies.
Clearly this is relevant not only to pharmacy, but also to other
health professions and teaching.
22. It is strongly recommended that planned
post-graduate professional development programmes be exempted
from the proposals to withdraw funding for ELQs.
January 2008
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