WHILE some specialist medical practitioners such as psychiatrists and anaesthetists are earning $180k to $190k per annum, community pharmacists are on average reimbursed only $66,955 pa for their services, behind nurses ($71,900), dentists ($84,411) and GPs ($156,431) according to the latest ABS data quoted by Professional Pharmacists Australia in its latest industry remuneration report.
The report said survey respondents recorded a median annual wage growth of only 0.5%, representing a significant underperformance against the consumer price index.
Across all classifications, pharmacists in banner group pharmacies reported a mean base hourly rate of $36.32, while pharmacists in discount pharmacies reported a mean base hourly rate of $31.03, 14.6% lower than banner group pharmacies.
National Pharmacies pharmacists reported the highest mean base hourly rate of $41.50 across all classifications, while Chemist Warehouse pharmacists reported the lowest at $30.52 across all classifications.
In relation to professional services above and beyond the preparation and dispensing of medicines, only 8.4% reported they were additionally remunerated for these services.
Just over half of the pharmacists surveyed (53.6%) were required to work through their lunch breaks, the report said, and for those pharmacists required to supervise staff during their meal breaks, the majority did not receive compensation for doing so (59.9%).
A large majority of community pharmacists said they were not motivated to remain in the role and 84.6% said they would not recommend the profession as a career.
The greatest contributors to unhappiness across all respondents were pressure/stress of work, poor pay and inadequate staffing.
CLICK HERE to access the report.
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