r/Pharmacy_UK

I’m mapping out a career path from hospital pharmacy to corporate industry in London and would love insights from anyone who has made a similar move.

My plan is to complete an MPharm, undertake foundation training, enter an NHS Band 6 rotational residency, and progress into a Band 7 specialist role (such as cardiology). After 2–3 years post-qualification, I aim to pivot into Big Pharma in London—specifically targeting Pharmacovigilance, Medical Safety, or Medical Affairs.

How much value do industry recruiters place on NHS Band 7 specialist experience and prescribing authority, which ward-based skills (e.g., ADR reporting, clinical trial protocols, drug safety audits) are most marketable on a corporate CV, and which entry-level department offers the smoothest transition for a clinical pharmacist?

Hi all, I’m writing this in hopes that someone will kindly offer advice or relate in some way

Just passes the pre reg year, I was in a district hospital with good support. Lovely co-workers, I was well liked despite feeling incompetent 24/7. Got a really good band 6 job at a hospital where I see it’s more clinical than I expected.

But for some reason I still feel so much dread. I don’t feel particularly proud of being a pharmacist. I feel like the work can be boring, just chasing errors and adding laxatives to everything.

I know you get more clinical as you progress but you’ll always be one bit below a doctor, no matter how clinical you are

I’ve thought of going back to med school but the intensity puts me off.. I would be anxious 24/7 and don’t care enough to be honest haha. I’ve been thinking about veterinary medicine as I applied a few years ago but couldn’t get in.

I’m 24 now and would join at 25/26, then do a 4 year degree. Am I just having a ‘grass is greener’ moment or does anyone else feel the same about Pharmacy? I feel we don’t have a true place in the hospital :(

I made an error involving a methadone instalment while working as a pharmacist, and ever since then my anxiety at work has been awful.
I keep replaying the incident in my head and questioning every decision I make. Before each shift, I feel sick with worry, and during work I repeatedly check prescriptions because I’m terrified of making another mistake. Even after getting home, I go over everything I dispensed and convince myself that I may have missed something.
I understand the importance of reflecting, learning from an error and putting safeguards in place, especially with controlled drugs. However, I feel as though this has gone beyond healthy professional caution and has seriously affected my confidence. I recently returned to work after having a baby, so I was already trying to rebuild my confidence while working in unfamiliar pharmacies.
Has anyone else experienced severe anxiety after making a dispensing error? How did you regain trust in your clinical judgement and stop taking the fear home after every shift? I would appreciate honest advice from other pharmacists who have been through something similar.

So Ive just revalidated and will be registered for 11 years come the end of year. Yet sadly however, I am always finding myself long-term unemployed and sadly, am not allowed to include some projects ive worked on in different CVs because of various reasons.

Im debating what to include for GP and other non dispensary-based roles and not sure what I can and cannot say.

Ive worked in community as a locum for 5 years, however due to health reasons (and my disdain for the environment / managers telling me to avoid it after covid), I havent worked in community or any dispensary based environments for a while (as well as a lack of locum roles within 2 hours of where I live).

Hospital - only a year experience, last before COVID. I resigned from that role because I was offered a better job elsewhere, however due to office politics (ie 11 pharmacists handing their notice in 2 weeks), my manager tanked my reference, however I ended up shielding for the resignation period due to my living situation at the time (thus paid to sit at home and do nothing). I would love to do ePMA, digital health, meds info roles however a lot require EPIC and Cerna experience...despite some stuff I have done in healthtech.

General Practice - 1 year, albeit split between 2023 and 2024, and last year and this year. Former was my first face to face role since COVID and...my immune system didnt like it as I was constantly ill and unresponsive to antibiotics. 2nd role was great but contract ended due to it being a 6 month relief role, with the surgery saying they will offer me work once I get my IP (the 6 month relief work was in exchange for having a partner as a DPP). Both GP practices are happy for me to use as referees due to me passing probation and doing good work.

Telemedicine - worked for 111 as a band 6 for under a year (got seconded to another role, which ended up becoming permanent) and for a large GLP1 provider. the glp1 role was for 10 months, ended up in an interim clinical leadership role till a newbie was onboarded, and did some interesting projects till I was fired 2 because of how I reported a patient safety incident involving a contraindication which was missed by the prescribers and resulted in harm to a patient (I sadly did nothing to the patient except make a note on their record and filed incident report / messaged safeguarding leads).

Commissioning: did great work in commissioning as I took on a project manager / lead role, however despite passing probation and still having a lead / board member as referees, I was forced to quit due to workplace bullying which resulted in me getting physically and verbally assaulted by my line manager (who ironically had history of doing this against those from non caucasian backgrounds yet somehow hasnt been sacked or arrested).

Government: the 111 job had an opportunity to be seconded to a government health department for a few months but I stayed there for 3 years in a clinical leadership role and did some cool stuff during and after COVID (which I cannot discluse due to government level NDAs which expire december 2029). I will say however Chris Witty is a cool bloke irl and was fortunate to be in meetings with him (in an observer capacity admitted) and may have accidentally spilt coffee on john van tam and/or dame jenny harries. Left this role sadly due to my department losing its budget and everyone was made redundant below 8b equivalent (G6 civil service)

Healthtech: Since 2024, Ive been doing the odd job in healthtech in product, operations and regulatory capacity, however most of these jobs were on an equity basis or the startups folded. Some companies im still involved in are doing some cool stuff, however they can be seen as red flags to some employers due to how intruiging they are (cant say much except one of them was 0.3% away from securing a life-changing grant; the other does some amazing stuff with charities and NGOs, however due to being live in Gaza, South Sudan, Somaliland and other conflict zones...it can lead to rejections). Also dealt with digital health integration, data analytics and other things.

Sadly, Ive been unemployed for almost 4 months (72 applications, 2 human interviews, 7 automated inteviews, no luck so far) , last year I was unemployed for 7 months (210+ applications, 4 interviews, 3 rescinded due to budget reasons), 2023 for 6 months (virtually no work available except commissioning, which itself had a 2 month due dilligence process their side) and a vast majority of 2015-2019 due to my locum agencies and locum venues refusing to give me references for job applications and postgrad qualifications (I ended up using the superintendent of my pre-reg venue from 2014-2020 as my main referee). Its not like I am not trying, its just that geographically within 1.5 hours, theres virtually never work (save for the local hospital which has notoriously bad turnover rate for people who didnt do their pre-reg there, or dodgy GP practices), or they want someone with an IP qualification.

Any suggestions what to do to change my fortunes?

Hello,

I am registering at the start of September and was just wondering what I need to do to prepare for working as a locum as I did all my training in Hospital and I barely did placements in uni.

I would like to start locuming, although I’m not really sure how to go about it. I’ve seen a list of a few things to complete, such as Pharmacy First, Dementia Friends and EHC, but where can I actually find the training for these? Can they be completed online, or do they need to be done in person? Do I need to provide certificates as proof of completion?

Also, does anyone have any recommendations for sites to use for things like indemnity insurance? Thanks

I’m seriously considering doing a pharmacy degree but i keep hearing that the profession is oversaturated, pay isn’t great compared with the time/cost of the degree, and job satisfaction is poor. For those already working as pharmacists or studying pharmacy, would you say the degree is still worth it in 2026? How are the salary, career progression, workload and job opportunities realistically? I’m also considering optometry, so if anyone has experience with both or has compared the two careers, I’d really appreciate some honest advice. I’m trying to make a decision based on the actual career prospects rather than just what universites advertise.

I'm currently a dental nurse for a busy specialist practice in the UK. I am slowly coming to the realization that I don't want to do this as a career, in the way that I look at myself 5-10 years into the future and I dread the thought of still being a dental nurse. I am 17 at the moment, with my entire life ahead of me, why do I feel like I am getting bored, or that this job isn't something I want to be stuck in for 30-40 years?

I like nursing because I enjoy medicine in general, I enjoy the pressure, the stress, the fun, patients, people, being kept busy, the routine, I have diagnosed ADHD and I feel like this job ties greatly into it, but I just don't think I can do dental nursing forever...

I've been looking into Pharmacy Technician Apprenticeships, and I have seen posts continuously saying "It's boring", "you'll hate it", "I'm a tech and I'm depressed!" and it feels a bit blah blah blah woe is me, but in the same breath it feels true.

Should this be something I go for? I have always thought about working in a hospital, it's always appealed to me. What should I expect if I do go for it, what are some of the positives to the job, are there any serious drawbacks that you'd consider a deal-breaker if you were in my shoes?

I am a locum pharmacist with around 10 years experience. I have spent 4 years as a Superintendent Pharmacist in community and around 4 years working in GP, including senior clinical lead experience and PCN. I am currently working as a locum.

Something I have noticed over the years is how strict some managers and pharmacy owners can be with their staff, but at the same time there can be very little praise or recognition when staff are doing a good job.

When I was in management, I always tried to be supportive of my team, even when things were stressful or difficult. Obviously there were times when things had to be addressed, but I always felt that staff worked better when they felt respected and appreciated rather than constantly being put under pressure.

I have seen situations where staff are doing a lot, dealing with workload, patients, targets and everything else that comes with pharmacy, but the focus from management is still on what they have done wrong or what they need to improve.

I sometimes wonder why there is so much emphasis on having power and control over staff rather than actually supporting them and giving them some recognition.

For those who have worked in management or owned pharmacies, why do you think this happens? Is it just the nature of the industry, or is there a reason why some managers feel the need to be so strict rather than encouraging their staff?

hi guys! i’m currently on mat leave and starting to think about what i’d like to do when i return to work. i’m currently a hospital pharmacist and do genuinely enjoy it, but i’m wondering what other pharmacist mums are doing and what your working patterns are like.

for those of you in hospital pharmacy
- what role are you in? what flexibility do you have?
- what are your usual hours, did you reduce your hours after returning to work? any unsocial hours (lates/oncalls/weekends)?

and for those working in other sectors (gp/primary care, community, industry, etc), what do you do and what are your working hours/flexibility like?

i’m currently debating whether to just persevere with hospital pharmacy as i do enjoy it but not the unsocial hours or casually start looking at other roles that might offer a bit more flexibility now that i have a baby.

would love to hear what everyone’s doing and how you’ve found balancing pharmacy with being a mum!

Hello pharmacists,

I’m a newly qualified pharmacist who wants to start working in the community sector, now i finished my pre reg year in community but worked as a dispenser and didn’t get any learning opportunities to know how to practice properly as a pharmacist and do now i am unaware of how to work as a pharmacist and feel very lost and overwhelmed with the responsibilities as i feel very unprepared. How did u all learn how to be a good competent pharmacist, clinically check prescriptions, all the legalities for working as a pharmacist.

Please I’d appreciate any guidance and help, much appreciated 🫶

Hi everyone,

I’m currently preparing for OSPAP and planning to pursue my pharmacy career in Scotland. I’d really appreciate some insight from pharmacists or pre-registration/foundation trainees currently working in Scotland.

What would be the realistic salary and monthly take-home pay for:

• Pre-registration/Foundation Pharmacist

• Newly qualified Pharmacist

• Pharmacist with 2–5 years of experience

• Relief Pharmacist

I’m particularly interested in Scotland/Dundee, and would also like to know whether weekend locum rates of £40–£45/hour are realistic in this area.

I’m trying to understand the actual situation after tax rather than relying on advertised salary figures. Any recent experience would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! 💊🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Hi so i will be registered to practise as a pharmacist in September roughly as I applied after receiving results, I managed to pass my 3rd attempt (june 2026) but since it has been 1year+ since i completed my pre reg training i have forgotten alot of stuff and have lost touch too so im worried to start working and not knowing anything, my revision notes also i havent touched since finishing the exam. Is there any tips from anyone who has been in the same position?

I missed my firm and got into a middle-tier uni and im kinda sad about it but my dad says uni prestige doesn’t matter in healthcare. How true is that and will it affect what fields I can pursue in pharmacy?

Interestingly people think hospital pharmacy is the pinnacle of pharmacy practice. Having worked in it for a year now I think I have come to the conclusion I’m not a fan?

It is quite monotonous and honestly an 8 hour shift of mopping up other people’s mistakes is how I feel.
Of course there are places where our input really is valuable but most of my days are genuinely just chasing doctors to prescribe meds that really should have just been done in the first place. There is not much else to my days - I feel there’s not much opportunity to dabble in extra curriculars as we are so short staffed?

I honestly find it very boring , I don’t know if anyone else feels the same?

Hello pharmacists, this is my first time using or posting on reddit so I apologise in advance if this is the wrong sub-reddit or for any other oddities in this post

I am currently set to study Msci Chemistry at the University of Bristol in September 2026. I have recently been considering taking a gap year and reapplying to study Mpharm at the University of Bath as this course really interests me and I feel would give me better career prospects, a more stable job, and a better salary than perhaps I could achieve through studying purely Chemistry.

For anyone who is or has studied Mpharm I would like to know if you think it was worth it or if you have any regrets. For pharmacists I would really love to hear what you think of the job, what the day-to-day is like, whether you think it is a good choice to study, and how long it takes from graduation to get into a good job in pharmacy. What I am looking for really is a job where I wouldn’t have to move around much and so could live in one place, a decent salary of £40K or more a year, and workload wise I don’t mind a stressful job so long as there is a fairly good work/life balance.

I’d love to hear about how difficult the application process was too. I feel I should have a decent chance, as I achieved 3 A*s in Maths, Chemistry, and Biology at A level (as well as an A* in the EPQ) and I have a year to gain relevant work experience if I decide to apply. However, I was rejected from Oxford, and the interview process really shook my confidence. Since Bath requires an interview for MPharm, I’d like to hear from anyone who has been through it about how challenging the interview was.

Thank you for reading all this, and I hope to hear from you 😊

(p.s. sorry for any poor English/grammatical errors in this post)

I’m now 3rd year Pharm student and struggling to land long term role.

Title
I was wondering if I could apply for a post graduate degree if I decide to change my mind in year 3 through UCAS, I know id want to finish with a 2.1 in year 3 so I can get a BSC in pharmaceutical studies.

Does anyone have advice about this? I understand u can’t come a pharmacist without being through all four years and pre reg year. And if you know anyone who has done this that went on to do other degrees?

I’m about to start my 4th year of MPharm next month and I’m currently going through the preferencing process on Oriel for my foundation year.
I spent 3 weeks on hospital placement during 3rd year, so I have a fairly good idea of what hospital pharmacy is like. However, I haven’t had any experience in GP practice yet. We have our GP placement during 4th year, but as I haven’t done this yet, I feel like I’m going into the preferencing process a bit blind when it comes to understanding what the role would actually be like.
I was wondering if anyone could share their experiences of doing their foundation training in hospital vs GP practice, particularly:
What are the main similarities and differences between the two?
What does a typical day look like for a pre-reg/foundation trainee in each setting?
What responsibilities do you usually have in hospital compared with GP?
How much patient-facing work do you get in GP?
How does the level of clinical work and prescribing involvement compare?
Are there any particular advantages or disadvantages you found with either setting?
If you’ve experienced both, which did you prefer and why?
I’d really appreciate hearing about people’s experiences.
Thanks!

I'm doing my pre-reg in a community pharmacy in Scotland. It's been three weeks and I'm always unhappy. I find myself crying every day. I'm being rushed to do work. I haven't spoken to a single patient yet. We had our induction last week and everyone was already doing patient consultations. I'm exhausted and I honestly don't want to be here anymore.