“It had become difficult in recent years but, since the Covid, it has been catastrophic. » At the counter of the pharmacy in Donzère, in the Drôme, Brigitte Boyer, 68, sighs for a moment, before continuing, annoyed: “In thirty years of pharmacy, I had never seen that. In the past, we managed to recruit in a month! There, I’ve been looking for a pharmacist assistant for a year and a half without success. » Resigned, the pharmacist finally resolved, this summer, to close her business on Saturday afternoons. A decision taken reluctantly, but ” necessary “for “relieve the teams a little”exhausted by the workload.
400 kilometers away, a similar scenario in the Dijon region. “It’s the same messnotes this other pharmacist. For the first time, I saw colleagues lower the curtain during the summer holidays, for lack of having found replacements to keep the pharmacy open during the holidays of their employees. » Between medical prescriptions, customer advice and new health missions such as carrying out Covid tests and vaccination, the activity of pharmacies has jumped in recent years. But, after having enthusiastically welcomed the expansion of their responsibilities, the pharmacies, faced with an increasingly glaring shortage of staff, are depressed.
“Recruitment difficulties have increased. There is currently a shortage of 15,000 assistants and pharmacists in the pharmacy network. No pharmacy today escapes this phenomenon », confirms Christophe Le Gall, president of the National Union of Pharmacists of France. Even the overseas territories are struggling. “Despite very attractive remuneration, a 35-hour contract, and the cost of the plane ticket and accommodation on site, we can’t find anyone”, explains a pharmacist outside the metropolis. On the Web, the ads posted on recruitment sites and social networks testify to this frantic quest: “We are still looking for a pharmacist”, ” We need you “, “desperate pharmacy”…
Change of mentality
Where have the pharmacists gone? “As in many other professions, there has been a loss of staff, due to the Covid crisis. Pharmacists, tired by the workload, questioned themselves and deserted the profession »advances Pierre-Olivier Variot, president of the Union of community pharmacists, who also underlines the change in mentality of the younger generations. “Many emphasize quality of life rather than wages, and refuse to work weekends or over long hours”, he continues. Many pharmacists also question the “Covid mercenaries”these pharmacists who preferred to abandon the employee of the pharmacy to chain the achievements of Covid tests in interim, much more lucrative.
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