Its president Philippe Besset explains this lack of arms by the new missions that the authorities have entrusted to pharmacists, namely vaccinations and screenings.
Pharmacies looking for arms. “15,000 pharmacists are missing“, worries the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France (FSPF). Asked about Franceinfo this Sunday morning, its president Philippe Besset estimated that the sector lacked “10% workforce“. “We are currently able to recruit 15,000 people“, he repeated.
This tension is not explained by a crisis of vocations, according to Philippe Besset, but by the additional missions which have been entrusted to pharmacists. “Health authorities have entrusted pharmacists with greater public health missions: vaccinations and screenings“, he explains. That is “hundreds of thousands of additional acts per week and therefore additional work“.
Read alsoPharmacists, now much more than drug dealers
“The scope of activity increases, and therefore necessarily more hands are needed to perform these new tasks. To do these new acts, we are looking for vocations“, he also said on Sunday on Europe 1.
“The problem will last one or two years”
In The world Recently, Pierre-Olivier Variot, President of the Union of Community Pharmacists (USPO), also tried to explain this lack of personnel by the workload and 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 said in particular.
Read alsoHow the Covid crisis made the fortune of French pharmacies
What is sorely lacking today are salaried pharmacists, explains Philippe Besset. Pharmacy assistants who “come to support the teams of incumbent pharmacists“, he specifies. Filling this staffing gap will take time, he warns. “The problem will last one or two years, because it takes time for training“, he points out, while expressing his optimism: “Pharmacy assistant training centers are full“, he says.
As for the glaring lack of pharmacy students – almost a third of the places in the second year of pharmacy studies were not filled at the start of the school year – it is not a sign of a lack of attractiveness of the profession, according to Philippe Besset. This is “linked to a very poor application of the PASS/LAS reform“, the reform of health studies, he says. “The ministry has focused on the reform of the training of doctors, and has forgotten the associated professions, pharmacists and midwives“, he analyzes. For him, it is therefore essentially a question of improving communication with young people.