Abolishing Wages for Pre-Registration Students - Advice Needed!

Wed, 02/02/2011 - 11:27 — KRISTY MCGLYNN

I have heard a few rumours this week around Pre-Registration year changes that may be coming into practice and wondered if anyone else could shed any light on the issue.

It has been suggested that a possible change could involve the pre-reg students no longer receiving payment for the year of their training.

I am hoping that this is just an idea, as adding another year without earning a wage, to the four years spent studying could have serious consequences. I remember in my first year an announcement was made by one of the Lecturer's to potential changes in the pre-reg year but since that day there had been no mention of any changes.

Can anyone offer any further advice?

Wed, 02/02/2011 - 20:54 – Emma Green

Abolishing Wages for Pre-Registration Students!

This is the first I've heard about abolishing the pre-reg year wage, but as a pre-reg pharmacist myself, I thought I'd take the opportunity to comment on this issue - I cannot see how this could be feasible!

The pre-reg training year is absolutely jam-packed - it would be impossible, and irresponsible, in my opinion, to successfully complete the year and in addition have a money-earning position for paying the bills! The situation for NHS-funded pre-reg positions in Scotland currently is based on a working week of 37.5 hours - unpaid, how would students living away from home survive?

Thu, 03/02/2011 - 12:48 – Ria Wood

what they give with one hand...

I read and commented on the article a few weeks ago which was about the NHS finally considering giving bursaries to pharmacy students providing they give a few years service to the NHS after qualification. Tucked away in that article was the idea that paid pre-regs would perhaps cease, which felt like an equally major point the article should have made. It's very much a case of "what they give with one hand, they will take with another".

I'm assuming that as the bursary would only be for NHS based students (i.e. not those in community - which is another debate on top as surely patients are patients, community and hospital alike?), then the threat of non-salaried pre-regs would also be restricted to the NHS. Certainly it is to be hoped that the multiples, etc. would still pay their pre-regs as they are at least glorified dispensers. However I can imagine if they can sniff a chance to reduce their wages bill, perhaps they will start to pay less as they could get away with that because less is still more than an NHS student might get.

I suppose for NHS students, it's a question of whether this bursary will be large enough to cover all the living and working expenses that the pre-reg salary would have covered...hmm...

Fri, 04/02/2011 - 16:19 – Rebecca Sutherland

Abolishing Wages...

Personally I think this is an absurd idea. I am a final year student myself and to think that I was to begin my entire pre-reg year unpaid would make me seriously reconsider going straight into it after graduating. Thinking of the high number of pharmacy students I know who have part time jobs at the moment to try to keep themselves afloat during their studies, how would they manage that whilst working full time unpaid? Especially those who will be living away from home.

Surely a lot of students would be forced into delaying their pre-reg year in order to save up money in order to complete it. It would almost be like indirectly having to pay to complete your pre-reg.

I seriously hope that this is not the plan for the future.

Fri, 04/02/2011 - 19:18 – Louise Hemmings

BPSA Response

My name is Louise and I am the President of the BPSA. I can confirm that there are no immediate plans to change preregistration wages. I can say though that there is a Modernising Pharmacy Careers Programme board who are looking into changing the undergraduate degree and the preregistration training in the future to enable students to be prepared for the new roles for pharmacists are taking on. If you visit www.mee.nhs.uk this can give you more information about the work the board is undertaking.

The BPSA have a place on this board and we are making sure that students and preregistration trainees will not be at a disadvantage because of any changes made. We see this as an excellent opportunity to mould undergraduate training to produce the pharmacists of tomorrow. If you would like to put your opinions about pharmacist education forward to the BPSA we have our Annual Conference coming up at Easter. This is a chance for members to create BPSA policy which the Executive use when attending these types of meetings. Visit www.conference.bpsa.co.uk for more information

Fri, 04/02/2011 - 22:20 – Dorothy Drury

I qualified when the

I qualified when the pharmacy degree was three years and the pre-registration pay was just about reasonable. I feel very lucky that I did not have to pay a student loan and that tuition fees were free. (1971-1974)

I therefore totally understand the problems that are looming and I feel very sorry for young pharmacists joining the profession.

But may I also draw your attention to another problem. There used to be a limit on schools of pharmacy and I think the number of students was somewhat limited to the expected need in the workforce. This therefore worries me with no end of new schools of pharmacy offering the pharmacy degree. A second and even bigger problem is the active recruitment of overseas pharmacists which may mean that there are fewer jobs for home trained students.

I have always believed that a profession should train the correct number and that too few or too many create problems.

Mon, 07/02/2011 - 19:42 – Kristy McGlynn

Proposed Changes...

Thank you to everybody who has commented and offered advice. Especially to the BPSA as I have just been reading the proposals from MEE and although the integrated practice based learning does look like a good idea for the future I am hoping it will not affect myself, purely from a financial position.

Reading through the MEE report in the last 10 years or so Schools of Pharmacy have almost doubled in the UK 12 - 21 currently, as Dorothy Drury raised a point having too many (or too few) professionals could create problems.

Pharmacy students have increased from 4200 to 9800. This raises a question in my mind: Is Supply outstripping Demand?

Fri, 11/02/2011 - 11:23 – Leila Taheri

Dear all Please see the

Dear all

Please see the PJ Online story:

Five-year integrated pharmacy education and training programme proposed

Kind regards

Leila Taheri

PJ Online support