GP practices across England are struggling to recruit pharmacists because of local ‘competition’ and issues related to pay, an exclusive report has suggested.

The new white paper launched today by our publisher Cogora has laid bare the scale of the workforce crisis across general practice and explores where pharmacists sit within this.

It comes after recent figures show that while pharmacists remain the most popular role within the additional roles reimbursement scheme (ARRS), recruitment has slowed dramatically.

Penned by the editor in chief of our sister title Pulse – and launched with the Rebuild General Practice campaign – the Cogora General Practice Workforce White Paper surveyed more than 600 distinct practices in England, and 2,000 healthcare professionals in general practice and community pharmacy.

It recognises the increase in practice pharmacists since the ARRS – which supports practices with salary reimbursement for some roles – was launched in 2019, and concerns that this has had a ‘destabilising effect’ on community pharmacy.

The report will be officially launching with an event in Parliament today, bringing together MPs with key stakeholders from across general practice and pharmacy to find out more about the pressing workforce situation.

Survey findings within the white paper suggest there is a pharmacist vacancy rate of 32% across practices in England, as well as a 16% shortfall of GPs and 23% shortfall of nurses.

Practice managers and GP partners warned the recruitment of pharmacists had become difficult because of issues connected to pay, a lack of applicants and because of local ‘competition’ seeing pharmacists move between practices and primary care networks (PCNs).

One practice manager in Humber and North Yorkshire said: ‘We’ve been working to invest in our pharmacy team to relieve GPs from prescription admin and medication reviews. But clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are like hen’s teeth.’

Another in Blackpool said they could not afford to match salaries for pharmacists advertised elsewhere.

‘We had an advert out for a pharmacist for six months without a single applicant. Ideally four pharmacists would work for us,’ they said.

Cogora’s report warned ‘this competition leaves practices and PCNs vulnerable to them leaving’.

And it quoted a GP partner in the Home Counties who said: ‘We have taken on several ARRS paramedics and clinical pharmacists, spent two to three hours per week of my time training them in the ways of primary care, only to have them leave for jobs in other PCNs.’

Another GP partner suggested ‘pharmacists get paid better elsewhere and don’t want to accept the pay being offered by PCNs’.

The report pins much of the situation on core underfunding, as practices struggling financially are unable to offer competitive salaries or pay rises, and also cannot update their premises to hold more staff.

And despite concerns around recruitment, it points to the fact that the majority (72%) of practice pharmacists see themselves still being in general practice in five years’ time, as per the findings of our survey carried out last year.

A practice pharmacist in Kent quoted in the report said they moved from community pharmacy to general practice after feeling like they were ‘unable to progress any further’.

‘I chose the practice role to allow for this personal development along with better salary and work/life balance,’ they said.

One practice pharmacist in Staffordshire said they left due to ‘pressures in community, underfunded pharmacy contract resulting in fewer staff, with more stress and more services alongside a prescription factory system that didn’t make best use of clinical skills’.

In the coming weeks, a new series by The Pharmacist will explore how the ARRS has altered the pharmacy landscape – both in practices and community settings – while also shining a light on the workforce issues facing both sectors.