A “conveyor belt of pharmacy students” is leading to a reduction in professional standards, says the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists (GHP).

The GHP says the increase in the number of both pharmacy students – up from 4,000 in the year 2000 to over 12,000 – and pharmacy schools (27 and rising) means a crisis regarding professional standards is looming, as cash-hungry universities accept students who will struggle to pass the registration assessment.

Using Freedom of Information requests the guild obtained details on the standards of average and median entry A-levels, uptake via the university clearing system and pass rates for the pre-reg exam.

“This is the first time we have data in the public domain that shows a clear association over each of the last five years between entry criteria, the number taken through clearing and the final entry exam success,” says David Miller, a former GHP president who co-ordinated the Freedom of Information enquiry

“Most of the universities were forthcoming with the data, but perhaps the most revealing aspect is that two universities declined to provide information stating it would be detrimental to their commercial interests to disclose their marketing position.”

The guild has repeated its call for a national debate about the financial imperatives driving universities’ entry policy and the need to maintain the highest professional standards for the next generation of NHS pharmacists.

“At a time when the public recognises the vital health role of pharmacists in delivering safe patient care and their increased move into GP practices and A&E departments, it is essential that we maintain and ideally increase standards for practitioners,” says GHP president Vilma Gilis.

Average pass rates at the registration assessment stage have dipped dramatically from 90 per cent (2009-2011) to 79 per cent in the last three years.

“The increase [in student numbers] has been driven by the commercial interests of some universities often with a focus on quantity achieved through a reduction in the student quality,” says Gilis.

“We are concerned that more than 3,000 of the 12,000 current pharmacy students will fail the registration exam at the first of three attempts, after completing their degree, leaving them facing thousands of pounds of student debt after five years of study.”

For those who do pass the exam, there are fears that there will not be enough jobs for newly-qualified pharmacists, the GHP says.

^{Report by Liz Platts}