Community pharmacists work longer hours and have less help with professional development than their colleagues in hospital and primary care roles, a survey by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has revealed.

Pharmacists in the community sector worked 35.3 hours a week on average, including full-time and part-time workers, found the GPhC survey, released yesterday (April 3). This compared with an average of 29.6 hours a week in primary care, which had a high proportion of part-time employees, and 33.7 hours a week in hospitals.

Community pharmacists were also nearly twice as likely as their colleagues to go without an appraisal, found the survey of more than 29,000 pharmacists and technicians, conducted between August and November last year.

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	Of more than 11,100 community pharmacy respondents, 49 per cent had not received a formal appraisal in the past year. This compared with only 20 per cent of hospital pharmacists, who made up more than 3,500 of the respondents, and 28 per cent of primary care pharmacists, of whom there were fewer than 1,000.

And only two-thirds of community pharmacists had discussed their professional and learning development needs in that timeframe, compared with more than nine-tenths of their colleagues.

Technicians in the community setting were also less likely to have appraisals or discuss their professional development. But, as more than a third were part-time employees, they worked fewer hours on average than their hospital and primary care counterparts, at 31.3 hours a week.

GPhC chief executive Duncan Rudkin said the survey results provided a "useful evidence base" to inform the regulator's future work. "Pharmacy is changing rapidly and taking on new roles and responsibilities," he said. "The way we regulate both professionals and pharmacy services will also have to change to support and promote improvements in practice."

The GPhC surveyed 15,553 pharmacists and 13,515 pharmacy technicians. Of the pharmacists in paid work, 40 per cent were employed by a large multiple. Respondents also included pharmacists working in education and the pharmaceutical industry.

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