“Flying Pharmacist” provides freelancers to help out in pharmacies. The shortage of staff is severe, says the company boss – and warns of a new development.
Düsseldorf – It is often the detours that lead to the decisive idea. That was exactly how it was with Devid El-Wahsch. Instead of continuing to stand behind the counter in a pharmacy, the pharmacist founded Flying Pharmacist 14 years ago: His company places freelancers who step in at pharmacies with a shortage of staff. The need is great, and the shortage of skilled workers in the industry is becoming increasingly noticeable, says El-Wahsch. And he observes that more and more pharmacists are giving up their branches.
More and more pharmacies are closing: Concern about the supply of medicines
This corresponds to figures from the Federal Association of German Pharmacists (ABDA), which IPPEN.MEDIA Since 2018, around one in ten branches in Germany has closed, and in some areas even one in three pharmacies has closed. Some experts fear for the nationwide supply of medicines. “When I founded Flying Pharmacist, I had a market of around 22,500 pharmacies in Germany in front of me. Today there are 5,000 fewer pharmacies,” says El-Wahsch.
Pharmacies struggle with staff shortages
After studying pharmacy in Düsseldorf and completing his doctorate in Aachen, he worked full-time in a pharmacy. Then life got in the way. “My first marriage didn’t last and after the divorce I wanted to change something. Instead of just knowing one pharmacy inside out, I decided to get to know many pharmacies and help out,” says El-Wahsch. The shortage of staff was already great in many places at the time – and: “The fact that I, as one person, can make several people happy also gave me something back.”
Sometimes he was traveling in the Rhineland, sometimes in the Ruhr region or even in East Frisia. Then he made mistakes: “There were so many orders, I got my calendar mixed up and agreed to work in two pharmacies at the same time.” There were two options: disappoint a colleague – or find a replacement. “That was the birth of Flying Pharmacist,” says El-Wahsch.
The name came to him spontaneously, shortly before he registered the company with the authorities. Now, around 5,000 pharmacies are among his customers, to whom he places around 2,500 freelancers. Many are fresh out of university, “with us they can quickly gain experience and test their pharmaceutical skills,” says El-Wahsch. Most of the time, a match is made: “Our success rate is more than 85 percent.”
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is working on pharmacy reform – criticism from the FDP
He now sees many of his former customers on the other side – as freelancers. “Politically, something should have been done about it, for example by thinking about fee increases,” says El-Wahsch. Pharmacists’ fees are regulated by law in Germany, and pharmacists receive a fixed surcharge for each pack of prescription medication dispensed. The fee structure has changed little in more than ten years. “The investment costs, on the other hand, are constantly rising,” says El-Wahsch.
Meanwhile, Karl Lauterbach’s (SPD) Ministry of Health is working on a comprehensive pharmacy reform. This will include adjustments to pharmacy fees, but also so-called “pharmacies light”, in which no trained pharmacists are employed, but rather pharmaceutical technical assistants (PTAs). This is intended to compensate for the shortage of skilled workers and prevent gaps in care. This is causing disagreement within the traffic light coalition. The Greens and SPD are largely in agreement, but the FDP is unhappy with the plans: the drafts cannot solve the problems because they would seek to stabilize care at the expense of quality, said Andrew Ullmann, health policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, recently. IPPEN.MEDIA.
Pharmacist Devid El-Wahsch is also skeptical: “In hardly any other industry can you come into such direct contact with an expert who can help you. That would tend to be eliminated.”
Apotheke Light: “I think this issue is dangerous”
And he sees another problem: “I think this issue is dangerous,” he says, referring to the ban on third-party ownership in Germany. This stipulates that pharmacies may only be owned by trained pharmacists and not, for example, by a stock corporation from outside the industry. “I can imagine that this could be watered down by these light plans,” says El-Wahsch.
#Lauterbach #pharmacy #light #Industry #expert #dangerous
