New Minister of State for Health rejects call for meeting regarding recruitment and retention of junior pharmacists

In a reply to a request by Karen Reay (Unite National Officer for Health) for a meeting with Earl Howe (Parliamentary Under Secretary for Quality and the Minister of Health with responsibility for pharmacy) to discuss the issue of recruitment and retention of junior pharmacists, Simon Burns MP (Minister of State for Health with a responsibility for NHS workforce) has said he is unable to meet at this time. Instead he has said he wants to wait for the results of the latest Pharmacy Establishment and Vacancy Survey (due for publication in the next few weeks) to see if the position for junior pharmacists across the country has changed significantly since the last survey. Once the results are published he will review the value of any future meeting.

In a related piece of work, the Foundation Trust Network (FTN) HR Directors network undertook a survey of its members to determine whether HR Directors were supportive of a national recruitment and retention premium for junior pharmacists. This information will be fed into the next round of discussions with the Pay Review Body. The survey showed overwhelming support (83% of respondents) for the issue to be resolved locally where problems exist.

GHP still believes that this is a national problem that requires a national solution. Commenting on the two issues, Dave Thornton (Chair of Terms and Conditions, GHP) said “It is disappointing that the new ministers at the Department of Health have not taken the opportunity to meet with Unite to discuss the issues of recruitment and retention of junior pharmacists. Obviously we will pursue our request for a meeting once the latest survey results are published. It will be very interesting to see if the vacancy picture has changed over the last year. I am particularly keen to see if the vacancy problems have started to move to higher bands following 3 years of large vacancies at bands 6 and 7 and also whether the current financial pressures have led to reductions in WTE posts possibly as a result of vacancies being given up as part of cost improvement programmes.” Regarding the FTN survey, he added “Whilst I am still committed to a national RRP to solve the national recruitment and retention problem for junior pharmacists, in light of the HR Directors survey, it is time for them to deliver local RRP where there are problems. Therefore, if pharmacy departments have difficulties recruiting and retaining junior pharmacists, a case for a local RRP should be put forward based on the recommendations of the Pay Review Body in their 24^th report. My main concern with using local RRP is the destabilising effect they will have on surrounding Trusts.”

GHP would be very interested to hear how many cases are put forward for local RRP and whether or not they are successful.