In any multiple, the run-up to the financial year-end always sees activity levels hot up within the offices, as final results are calculated and annual reviews are held. And pharmacies seem to be running on empty as every member of staff seems to take the last of their leave – just in time for the Easter rush. It’s also the time when bonuses are worked out, and the inevitable restructure and reshuffle rumours begin.

In the midst of all this, we are now approaching another important date in the calendar – it’s now fewer than 100 days to the EU referendum. I was asked recently how the ability of pharmacists to work across the EU had affected the UK over the years. Had it been a good or a bad thing?  After a lot of thought, my conclusion somewhat surprised me. I think it was genuinely the saviour of the sector, but also contributed to some of the real issues the profession faces today.

Thinking back 10-15 years, lots of community pharmacies, in particular multiples, would simply have fallen down due to the shortage of pharmacists that occurred while the sector was in expansion. Remember the £40 per hour Saturday morning locum rate? I certainly do. Without the surge of enthusiastic pharmacists arriving from Spain, Italy and eventually Poland, Romania and other countries this attracted, I just don’t know how the sector would have been able to open, trade, expand, and provide and develop services. So it was a good thing, right? 

Perhaps not. There were also times over the past decade when free movement didn’t help the sector’s image. Patients dislike community pharmacies where they have no continuity of pharmacist. New pharmacists on short rotations in hard-to-fill roles seldom resolved the problems faced in many pharmacies. Service uptake was also slower in the early days than it should have been, as pharmacists with overseas qualifications often struggled with services that required extra local accreditations, or those that needed more in-depth conversations, such as MURs or smoking cessation. I also remember negative publicity around emergency hormonal contraception (EHC) requests, and cultural issues around vaccinations.

These didn’t highlight the sector for the right reasons. The question remains – what will happen in June? It will be truly fascinating to see how an ‘out’ vote will affect the future of the sector, given that it’s likely to – in some way at least – restrict that still-flowing tap of talent and resource that is still essential in some areas. As with the earlier question on whether EU membership is good or bad for the profession, I see both sides of the debate and remain undecided.


The Area Manager has worked for all of the large multiples