§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps are being taken to increase the number of people becoming qualified and taking up pharmacist roles. [101667]
§ Mr. HuttonThere were 258 or 15 per cent. more undergraduate students starting pharmacy training in 2001 than there were in 1997. Furthermore, new schools of pharmacy will provide additional graduates from 2007 onwards.
Between September 1997 and 2001, there has been an increase of 2,140 or 26 per cent. in the number of qualified pharmacists employed in the national health service. As at 30 September 2001 there were 10,630 qualified pharmacists employed in the NHS.
The Government are looking to achieve an increase in staff numbers across all scientific, therapeutic and technical staff groups, including hospital pharmacists. Delivering the NHS Plan published in April 2002 set out the Government's latest forecast for growth. By 2008, we expect the NHS to have net increase over the September 2001 staff census of at least 30,000 therapists and scientists. This includes pharmacists. This will include increasing the number of preregistration pharmacy training places in NHS hospitals. Over 550 were planned for 2002–03—at least 60 per cent. more than were available 10 years ago.
The Department of Health published a Pharmacy Workforce and Training Working Group Report in 1997. It outlined the actions necessary for the NHS to increase training places, to review skill mix and working practices, to reduce demand, and to improve the recruitment and retention of pharmacy staff. Many local initiatives have been taken as a result. Following this up, the Department has taken a number of actions to help improve the recruitment and retention of hospital pharmacy staff. These include the publication of the Improving Working Lives for Pharmacy document in July 2001, extension of NHS Careers to pharmacy staff, the development of a hospital pharmacistsl recruitment advertisement and targeted higher than average pay rises.
Community pharmacy employers have also taken action. Some pharmacy multiples have taken pro-active steps to increase staffing, eg recruiting pharmacists from abroad and by moving staff around.
§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many qualified pharmacy staff there are in(a) Coventry, (b) the West Midlands and (c) the UK. [101666]
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§ Mr. LammyThe information is in the table. Figures for the United Kingdom are not available, so data for England have been used.
NHS Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS): Qualified scientific therapeutic and technical staff within the pharmacy area of work in the Coventry Health Authority area, West Midlands regional office area and England as at 30 September 2001 Whole-time equivalents Headcount England 9,372 10,633 Of Which: West Midlands 850 993 of which: Coventry HA 61 66 Notes:
Figures are rounded to the nearest whole number
Source:
Department of Health non-medical workforce census