The Pharmacy Schools Council has called for talks with the UK’s chief pharmaceutical officers over a lack of investment in the training of academic staff to meet the demand of increasing numbers of pharmacy students and pharmacy schools.

The Council said it welcomed the “growth in the pharmacy profession” but warned growth needed to be “managed not only in the workplace but within the education sector”. It said heads of schools of pharmacy have expressed concerns that recruiting qualified staff to run an MPharm programme has been difficult.

Citing the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’s ambition for a 30 per cent increase in pharmacists in training in England by 2028 and 50 per cent rise by 2031, the Council said an increase of 1,500 pharmacy students across the 30 schools of pharmacy in England alone would put “great pressure on an already strained and constrained higher education sector.”

“Currently, there are 29 fully accredited MPharm programmes in the UK, with one further school, Swansea, very close to the final step for full accreditation. Absorbing over 1,500 new students into these 30 schools is problematic due to resource constraints both in terms of the physical environment and student/staff ratios,” the Council said.

“In September 2024, one further school of pharmacy, the University of Leicester, will take a first cohort of MPharm students. The University of Bath, in partnership with Plymouth University will also welcome a cohort of first year students to Plymouth in September 2024. At least seven more universities in the UK are in the early stages of accreditation for new MPharm programmes.”

The Council said vacancies were attracting just “one or two suitably qualified candidates” and “new and established schools of pharmacy” were resorting to “headhunting existing members of the pharmacy academic workforce.”

“This is particularly acutely felt when the need is to recruit practising pharmacists with the correct clinical expertise to deliver the increased core clinical components of the MPharm,” the Council said.

It warned financial pressures in the higher education sector were being driven by stagnant student tuition fees which have not increased since 2012. That, the Council said, meant heads of schools of pharmacy were coming under pressure to “manage with a smaller staff base or recruit at lower grades within higher education pay spines.”

It said pharmacists with the expertise to teach would start on a salary of £50,952 which would increase to £57,349 after five years. The Council warned the salary disparities between higher education institutions and “the external workplace” was not being addressed.

“We are formally raising our concerns about the currently uncontrolled increase in schools of pharmacy in the UK without a commensurate investment from the NHS in any of the Home Nations in training at undergraduate level. We would welcome discussions with chief pharmaceutical officers on this matter,” it said.