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The decision not to control the number of pharmacy students means the issue is being swept under the carpet, says Chloe O'Beirne, president of the BPSA

AT THE BPSA we are extremely disappointed with the decision made by Greg Clark, minister for universities and science, that it is €not necessary to implement a specific student number control for pharmacy€. Mr Clark said his decision was in line with wider Government policy to remove student number controls wherever possible.

Most students who enter the MPharm degree do so with the intention of becoming a registered pharmacist. A BPSA survey given to all first-year MPharm students in 2013 found that over 95 per cent of students said they wanted to register as pharmacists on completion of their degree course.

The issue we currently face is that the increasing number of pharmacy students is not going to match the number of pre-registration places available, leaving students who have studied for four years with the intention of registering as a pharmacist unable to do so.

Increasing numbers of unemployed pharmacy graduates will have a negative impact on the profession

Negative impact

It is essential that the stakeholders in this issue take action as a matter of urgency because increasing numbers of unemployed pharmacy graduates will have a negative impact on the profession. Not only will this make a pharmacy degree less attractive in the eyes of the best students, who will opt for courses with less risk or better future career prospects, but it will in turn risk down-skilling the future pharmacy workforce.

This will devalue the pharmacy profession as a whole and mean that pharmacists will be less able to meet the needs of the public. Surely if medicine and dentistry can control numbers, pharmacy can do the same?

Work together

The BPSA executive is calling on schools of pharmacy, pre-registration trainee employers and training providers to start working together to ensure that the number of students enrolled onto the pharmacy course matches the number of pre-registration placements available. It is time for all pharmacists to be proactive and support the future of the profession.

I know that I would be devastated if I had worked hard for four years to complete my MPharm degree, only to discover I was then unable to register as a pharmacist. I can't believe that this is the reality that ministers will be letting future pharmacy students face.