Exclusive data analysis by The Pharmaceutical Journal has revealed that more than one-quarter (28%) of trusts and health boards do not offer formalised protected learning time in job plans for hospital pharmacists.
Data provided by 201 NHS hospital trusts and health boards — in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from The Pharmaceutical Journal sent to all NHS trusts and health boards in Great Britain — also reveal that just under one-quarter (23%) of trusts and boards use job plans for pharmacists. Of these, just 8% use job plans for all pharmacists they employ.
Paul Day, director of membership and communities at the Pharmacists’ Defence Association, described the data as “disappointing”.
“All employers, not just those in the NHS, should be providing protected paid learning time to any pharmacists they employ,” he said.
The data also show that 13% of trusts and boards that used job plans explicitly mentioned that job planning was only in place for consultant pharmacists only, while one trust states only for “a select few advanced clinical pharmacists”.
A spokesperson for the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists commented: “There are around 25% of NHS trusts and boards trailblazing by deploying job plans. However, of these respondents, less than 10% of these have job plans for all pharmacists.
“From the responses, job planning is generally only employed for more senior or consultant pharmacists. Where job plans are in place, the majority have protected time incorporated in them.
“Job planning allows for more than allocation of protected time. It allows for greater workforce insights and granular data on capacity in pharmacy services. Whole-time equivalent headcounts can be useful, but leaders in hospital pharmacies need to think about pharmacist resource that can be dedicated for each aspect of service delivery,” they added.
Poureya Aghakhani, deputy chief pharmacist (transformation and medicines optimisation) at Northwick Park Hospital, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust, said the data were “unsurprising”.
“I just don’t think job plans in pharmacy are particularly common still and it makes sense in that we haven’t really structured ourselves around that,” he said.
“It’s very difficult, especially at a rotational and clinical job, to section off your day so neatly. It just doesn’t work for us.”
In February 2025, the GHP launched a campaign calling for NHS pharmacists to have a mandated minimum of 10% of their contracted hours protected for supporting professional activities (otherwise known as protected learning time) embedded in their job plans.
