Community pharmacy jobs

Community pharmacy jobs are often referred to as retail pharmacists, a reference to the fact that such pharmacies also operate as retail outlets for over the counter medicines as well as other healthcare related products from toothpastes to toiletries. In some cases the community pharmacist may also perform basic health checks on such as blood pressure and screening for diabetes to support the work of local GPs in caring for the health of the community.

In comparison to other careers in pharmacy, community pharmacy jobs arguably possibly less technically challenging in the pharmaceutical sense, in that the patient group are generally chronic, and not acute, with prescribing decisions and indeed general prescribing patterns made with no or little reference to the pharmacist.

On the other hand, community pharmacy jobs offer a unique entrepreneurial opportunity for those who venture to buy a pharmacy and run it as their own business. This brings with it all the trials and tribulations of running any business including the initial need to borrow the capital to buy the pharmacy, offset against predictions of turnover, profit and business growth.

Community pharmacy jobs also cover a large volume of ‘pharmacy management’ roles in which pharmacies owned by others, more often than not, either larger pharmacy groups or supermarkets, employ a community pharmacist to manage their business. In many ways these offer less stress than owning a business where the buck really does stop with you, in addition of having the insurance policy of a big company supporting the business you manage providing additional job security and perhaps training and other support. In such large pharmacy groups there may also be promotion pathways to roles managing numbers of pharmacies within the group, with individual community pharmacists reporting in to you.

One final community pharmacy job of note is the role of the locum pharmacist. As part of the healthcare system, community pharmacies are expected to stay open for long hours without exception for such as the sickness of the pharmacist or indeed if they go on holiday. In addition, many community pharmacies will be open for more hours in the day than can be covered completely by one person. Generally speaking there in a shortage of community pharmacists in the Uk and as a consequence there is a large market for locum pharmacists. Typically speaking, these roles are comparably well paid but involve anti social hours without the associated benefits of a permanent employed role.

Hospital pharmacy jobs - Locum pharmacy jobs - Commercial pharmacy jobs