Alarm pharmacies: few employees and fewer and fewer public pharmacies
Confservizi Lombardia study highlights the difficulties but also the challenge of training
by Sara Monaci
As for doctors and nurses, now it is also pharmacists' alarm. The trend noted by Confeservizi in municipal pharmacies is the ever-increasing decline in personnel. For the time being, there are 1,300 pharmacists missing throughout Italy, of which approximately 3 to 400 are concentrated in Lombardy, the most populous region, but the number is destined to increase, considering that while in 2017 there were 5,000 faculty members, after six years there are 1,000 fewer.
High turnover is a further obstacle, influenced by limited growth prospects and the rigidity of career progression in community pharmacies. Considering that the pharmacist has assumed a central role in the field of community medicine, often compensating for the shortages of outpatient clinics and family doctors, it is clear that this may soon turn into another health scare.
To this must be added another element. If we take Lombardy, in the last five years the number of pharmacies managed through concessions by private entities has increased from 24 to 59, with contracts generally lasting more than 30 years. A study promoted by Confservizi Lombardia and carried out in collaboration with Kpmg, entitled "Le farmacie comunali in Lombardia - current dynamics and future prospects", reveals the true size of Lombardy's municipal pharmacies: 468 locations that manage a turnover of more than 500 million euro per year, often the only realities to invest in peripheral and less populated areas, guaranteeing a widespread health service.
Municipal pharmacies represent 15.5 per cent of the entire regional pharmacy network, distributed in 239 municipalities and managed by as many as 201 different entities. Private pharmacies have been growing for years by taking over various outlets, but they are obviously more interested in large cities and in aggregations with existing entities.
"Municipal pharmacies exist and are a fundamental garrison for the many communities in Lombardy in which they are present," said Yuri Santagostino, President of Confservizi Lombardia. "They face difficulties, starting with the excessive bureaucracy of the Procurement Code, which is a difficult burden to overcome, and staff shortages, but also opportunities provided by synergies between companies, between pharmacies in different territories to achieve economies of scale and to improve the skills of their staff.
