Workforce update - Joiners, leavers, and practising and non-practising pharmacists on the 2010 Register

The number of pharmacists on the Register of Pharmacists increased for the fifth year, following the drop in numbers associated with the introduction of the non-practising register in 2005. The feminisation of the workforce continues and the rate of growth has risen in 2010. Women continue to predominate in the younger age groups, with women now representing 65 per cent of pharmacists under the age of 40. The proportion of pharmacists on the non-practising Register fell slightly again in 2010. As in previous years, a significant proportion of pharmacists on the non-practising Register had an overseas address, suggesting that these pharmacists might have been staying on the Register to keep in touch with developments in pharmacy or to allow them to re-enter should they decide to return to Britain. As in 2009, new entries on the Register were more likely to be female, young, from an ethnic minority background and with a registered address in England. Leavers were more likely to be older and to have a registered address overseas. Female leavers were younger than their male counterparts and made up most of those leaving under the age of 40. It is likely that some of these women might have been leaving the Register to take maternity leave or longer career breaks for childcare reasons. Overseas qualified pharmacists made up 12 per cent of the Register, with pharmacists from European Economic Area countries constituting the largest proportion of this group. A significant proportion of pharmacists also entered the Rregister via the adjudication route, in which they were expected to complete a period of study, followed by the preregistration training and examination currendy undertaken by home MPharm students. For the fourth year, the Register provided data on independent and supplementary prescribers in pharmacy. The numbers were still fairly small and although the number of independent prescribers grew, the number of supplementary prescribers fell in 2010. As in 2009, independent and supplementary prescribers were more likely to be female, aged between 30 and 49 years and to be of white ethnic origin. Pharmacists from an Asian background were under-represented among both independent and supplementary prescribers, when compared with the Register as a whole. Independent and supplementary prescribers who responded to the 2008 census were most likely to work in the hospital or primary care sectors.