Pharmacists are being paid below the living wage for chasing out-of-stock drugs, with the government offering only £6.85 an hour for the additional burden, C+D has calculated.

Pharmacies in England receive an average of £1,068 each from the 2011-12 funding settlement for the time and money spent sourcing out-of-stock medicines.

Based on data from 322 respondents to C+D's Stocks Survey 2011, which found pharmacists were spending on average three hours a week or 156 hours a year sourcing out-of-stock medicines, this amounts to £6.85 an hour.

"To have qualified pharmacists... working for little above the minimum wage and not within sight of the living wage figure shows we need to act now" Claire Ward, IPF

More on stock shortages APPG slams government response to shortages Pharmacy minister claims medicines supply is       'working well' Video: Kevin Barron on stock shortages

This is £1.70 below the London living wage of £8.55 (as calculated by the Greater London Authority), 60p below the UK living wage of £7.45 (Centre for research and social policy, Loughborough University) and only 66p above the national minimum wage of £6.19, C+D calculated. The figures demonstrated "beyond doubt that the system is not fit for purpose", said Independent Pharmacy Federation chief executive Claire Ward.

"To have qualified pharmacists, or indeed dispensing assistants, working for little above the minimum wage and not within sight of the living wage figure, shows we need to act now," she told C+D.

"It's very disappointing that the Department of Health (DH) has closed its eyes and ears to what is very clearly still a problem for pharmacy."

The government was "pushing the issue under the carpet", said Numark managing director John D'Arcy.

"A pharmacist should be doing what they are good at, not chasing stock. The government is saying we need to make better use of the skills of pharmacists. Yet pharmacists are going from pillar to post looking for stock," he argued.

"We can land a man on the moon in 1969, but 43 years later we can't get a bottle of eye drops," he added.

The comments came after APPG chair Kevin Barron told C+D two weeks ago (November 13) that the government needed to spend a "few million" to analyse the problems causing stock shortages and how to resolve them.    

"At the moment we have a situation where the DH is quite happy to hand money over to PSNC to distribute to all pharmacists."

"We shouldn't be spending £12 million on that," he added.    

C+D's calculations are based on the £12 million included in the 2011-12 funding settlement negotiated between PSNC and the DH, to recognise the burden of chasing out-of-stock medicines.

The DH said the pharmacy contract recognised that sourcing medicines was an "integral part of the work of community pharmacies" and, although the "vast majority" of medicines are not in shortage, there will always be some that are "more complex to source".     

"Extra funding – the regulatory burden amount – reflects the additional time pharmacy teams spend sourcing some medicines. This not the total amount pharmacists get but an additional payment," a DH spokesperson said.