Loss of attractiveness of the profession, staff shortages, inflation… The future of the pharmacy network worries pharmacists. As a cross-union organisation, the profession called for a national day of action on Tuesday 21 November to raise public and government awareness of the sector’s difficulties.

This mobilization that brings together students – the region’s 24 pharmacy schools and their deans answered the call – and community pharmacists must be the opportunity for one “Convergence of Struggles” between aspiring professionals and their elders.

Students will take to the streets in around ten cities to demand the implementation of the third cycle reform. The latter, which the government promised seven years ago and which includes an increase in intern pay, is intended to make it possible to revive the attractiveness of an increasingly deserted sector. “In the last two years, 1,500 seats on university benches remained empty. These are all healthcare professionals who we will miss when they leave as our pharmacy deployments continue to increase.”regrets Pierre-Olivier Variot, President of the Union of Community Pharmacists’ Unions.

Economic difficulties

An additional red flashing light, at a time when the financial situation of the pharmacy network, another important issue of this mobilization, is faltering. Pharmacists are in fact worried about the deteriorating economic situation of the 20,500 pharmacies in the region, which are increasingly being choked by the increase in costs, especially salaries, due to inflation.

Since 75% of its revenue comes from the sale of drugs subject to social insurance and whose prices are regulated by the state, the profession has little room for maneuver to offset the increase in drug costs. Structure estimated by unions to increase by more than 15% in 2022. At the same time, the extraordinary revenue associated with conducting Covid screening tests has dried up as the pandemic subsides. “We are in a crisis and can no longer make ends meet. There is an urgent need to reform the pharmacy industry.”notes Philippe Besset, President of the Federation of Pharmaceutical Unions of France.

Like his colleagues, he has been waiting since the beginning of autumn for the framework letter from the Ministry of Health to arrive, which is intended to mark the beginning of conventional negotiations between health insurance and the profession. These discussions, which were announced before the end of the year, are intended to determine the general conditions and remuneration of the pharmacy network for the next five years. But the writing is long overdue. “The state doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to start doing this, even though they are vital to us. More and more pharmacies have negative cash flow and are weakened. More than 30% had to require additional payment terms from their suppliers.”worries Laurent Filoche, president of the Union of Community Pharmacists Groups.

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