A petition urging the government to solve the oversupply of pharmacists by "scrapping" some pharmacy schools has garnered more than 1,200 signatures in four days.

The online petition's author Jay Patel claimed that more than 3,000 pharmacists graduate each year with “high expectations but are disappointed with the lack of jobs available”.

The UK is already "oversupplied" with 27 pharmacy schools, Mr Patel stressed. "We need action and change now," he said in the petition, which has received more than 1,250 signatures on parliament's website between August 7-11.

The British Pharmaceutical Students' Association (BPSA) said it "did not necessarily support scrapping any current schools". Instead, it would like to see pharmacist numbers managed by “limiting the number of schools or limiting the intake per school”, BPSA president Lottie Bain told C+D.

“It is a tricky area of debate as many would argue that with increasing pharmacist roles, we need to have a large enough future workforce to meet increased needs,” Ms Bain said. “However, an oversupply has a detrimental impact on the wider profession.”

"Very ill-advised"

Claire Anderson, professor of social pharmacy at Nottingham University, said the petition is "very ill-advised". The government decided not to cap student numbers in October, and it is "too late in the day" to oppose "current thinking", she told C+D.

"I think there will be loads more opportunities for pharmacists managing medicines [with] GPs and care homes," she added.

Day Lewis chief innovation officer Jay Patel, who has no connection with the petition's author, agreed that scrapping schools is a "bad idea". It is "short-sighted" to reduce the number of pharmacists as more will be needed to deal with the government's "urgent care agenda",he told C+D. 

“I agree that there should be a review of the pharmacy schools, but it should be around reviewing training standards,” Mr Patel added.

The government will respond to the petition if it receives 10,000 signatures.
 

What impact would scrapping some pharmacy schools have on the sector?

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