Key Summary
- The majority said they think pharmacists are burned out.
- A survey revealed that there has been a 10 percent decrease in the number of pharmacists.
- About 31 percent said insufficient funding is to be blamed.
A recent LinkedIn poll conducted by Pharmacy Business has revealed that the vast majority of pharmacy professionals associate the declining workforce with workload and burnout.
This sentiment aligns with NHS England's Community Pharmacy Workforce Survey 2025, published in March, which showed a notable decline in the number of pharmacists and locum pharmacists. Conversely, the data showed a rise in independent prescribers and trainee pharmacy technicians.
According to the data, there has been a 10.2 percent decrease in the number of pharmacists, with the overall headcount for 2025 declining to 25,822 from 28,763 in 2024.
The poll responses broke down as follows:
- 58 percent believe that workload and burnout are the primary issues.
- 31 percent said insufficient funding is the problem.
- 8 percent blamed operational cost-cutting.
- 3 percent selected a reliance on trainees as the main issue.
Poll stats from LinkedIn LinkedIn
The decline comes a time when there is an increase in racism or abuse towards pharmacists.
A Community Pharmacy England (CPE) survey shows that there is an alarming rise in racist, hostile, verbal and physical abuse towards pharmacy teams, and they never get the same level of support as other wings of the NHS, when they come under attack.
The survey gathered responses from 289 pharmacy owners and staff from over 3,000 pharmacies.
This is also evident in other medical fields.
A survey, conducted by trade union Unison, found that the growing anti-immigrant rhetoric made by politicians was making many immigrant healthcare staff unsafe.
