The HSE has approached a number of recruitment agencies with a view to recruiting pharmacists for an 8 week period from the end of July.  This is a contingency plan in the event of community pharmacies discontinuing the provision of dispensing services to patients under the various community drug schemes from August 1st, 2009.

Pharmacists reaction has been unanimously angry.  Discussions on the subject on the website http://www.poitigeir.com/ (formerly http://www.pharmacycrisis.com) have been heated.  A post by Pat O’Dowd of the HSE asking pharmacists to reply to communications asking them to state their intentions on August 1st has been met with the sort of response that would do justice to any lynch mob.

Response to the agencies adverts have in general been negative.  Pharmacist feel that to work with the HSE on this scheme would seriously injure their chances of long term employment with any pharmacy.  They feel that the short duration of the locum is just not worth it since they would be viewed as ’scabs’ by the vast majority of pharmacists and pharmacy owners.

The recent economic downturn hit early and hard for Pharmacists.  The HSE decision to reduce drug payments had a massive effect on Pharmacist Jobs.  It is only now, months later, that we are beginning to see the first signs of a recovery in the Pharmacy jobs market.

The news is not all good for Pharmacists though.  Salaries on offer are now roughly 10% less than they were before.

From a recruitment perspective we saw some recruitment agencies that had specialised in Pharmacist jobs in serious trouble for a while.

The Pharmacist jobs that are trickling onto the market at the moment tend to be senior positions.  Supervising Pharmacists have to be replaced when they leave their jobs.  We have also seen hospital Pharmacist positions poke their head over the HSE barricades to bring in new Pharmacists.

The private Hospital Pharmacist market, unhampered by HSE restrictions has seen Pharmacist Jobs created, but not in the numbers that would signal a full return to a healthy jobs market.

The market has not yet recovered for Pharmacy Technicians, but Pharmacy technicians were hardest hit with job losses and it would be expected that their recovery would be slowest.

Locum Pharmacist jobs suffered a bit of a blip, but it is now a good time to be working as a locum.  Pharmacy bosses are still holding back on hiring full time Pharmacists until the dust has settled further.  This gives rise to more Locum Pharmacist jobs becoming available as owners are slow to replace full time staff at present.

Given the scaremongering that took place immediately after the HSE announcements, the outlook at the moment is not at all bad! Medical Jobs in general are having a hard time, but much better than other industries.  I’d far rather be a Pharmacist right now than a construction worker!