One in five technician roles remain unfilled in community pharmacy, new Health Education England data shows.

The annual community pharmacy workforce survey notes increased vacancies for all roles within the sector, compared to 2021.  In 2022 the rate of reported vacancies for pharmacy technicians is 20 per cent; pharmacists: 16 per cent; and dispensing assistants, nine per cent.

FTE figures quoted in the report also indicate a decline in employed pharmacists (15 per cent).

The report also shows a shrinking workforce in three key sectors over the past year: delivery drivers (-18 per cent) pharmacy technicians (-17 per cent) and pharmacists (-13 per cent). This may be due to redundancies as well as vacancies.

However, there has been an expansion in the number of working locum pharmacists (26 per cent). This suggests that locum pharmacists are working fewer hours on average, according to the data.

Overall, there has also been increase (37 per cent) in the number of independent prescribers (422) and a slight growth (6 per cent) in the number pharmacy technicians working as accuracy checkers (140).