|
APESMA,
the union representing pharmacists along with other health professionals,
published figures in their July newsletter showing a 28% increase
in the market rate for pharmacists over the last 5 years.
This is well in excess of that achieved in the public sector (where
increases are generally smaller, in the range of 3-5% pa).
This
month APESMA landed its first real blow against the Pharmacy Guild,
winning an increase in the award wage for pharmacy graduates,
which will also bring all states into line.
The increase is minimal in NSW but quite considerable in some
states and will be phased in over the next two years.
This has brought the Community Pharmacy Award back into the spotlight
at a time when the higher market rates for pharmacists have meant
its importance has diminished.
It
is interesting to compare the retail sector Award with that in
most public hospital settings.
In retail setting where pharmacists generally have more supervisory
capacity, and in many pharmacies work without other pharmacists,
it is generally easier to work into an in-charge or management
capacity, which carries greater earning power.
However, in a hospital setting there are more layers of management
and more of a pyramid structure.
A smaller percentage overall of pharmacists can fill the top administrative
or managerial roles and thus the major career path for most hospital
based pharmacists is through improvement of clinical skills and
managing a smaller unit or area.
For this reason clinical skills allow pharmacists to move through
the pharmacist grades without needing to take on a management
role.
In
the community pharmacy setting in 2002, however, the roles filled
by pharmacists are becoming as complex and varied as those in
the hospital environment.
Pharmacists are now performing in clinical roles, as consultants
and medication review specialists, but how much should they be
paid?
The market currently sets a generous wage rate for these pharmacists,
but if the market were to change in ten years time, and pharmacists
were in surplus (as some are predicting with the recent expansion
of student intakes), how much could these pharmacists be paid?
These activities may prove to be the most desirable career path
for many pharmacists and they may not be able to ask for a premium
over the award rate as they are now.
Should plans be made now to set renumeration in place for pharmacists
who work under the Community Pharmacy Award but who choose not
to progress their career through a managerial pathway?
These pharmacists could progress through the clinical grades in
the hospital system and this may prove a more lucrative career
option if the market can no longer bear the premium wages now
on offer.
The
complexity of pharmacy has increased tremendously in the last
ten years.
Have you considered how many new drugs have appeared?
How much more paperwork is required to do the same job?
Management skills must be sharper than ever to compete with grocery
and beauty outlets in an increasingly deregulated marketplace.
Yet the top Award wage rate for an experienced pharmacy manager
in 2002 is $25.79 per hour.
Consider the complex job performed by a manager combining retail
skills, with the professional skills and standards expected of
all pharmacists and it seems inadequate.
Retail managers in other fields can earn $20-25 per hour without
the professional role of a pharmacist.
The market seems to be setting a higher rate at the moment, and
you can only hope that steps are taken to secure wages at these
levels in the long term should the predicted surplus eventuate.
Remember it is these award rates used in negotiations with the
Federal Government for PBS renumeration. While the award rate
remains considerably below the market rate pharmacy margins are
squeezed by inadequate renumeration.
A more accurate Award rate, reflecting the real cost of employing
pharmacists at any time could ensure higher levels of remuneration
and more realistic margins.
|
.jpg)
JON
ALDOUS