2023-09-24 15:00:00
This Monday, September 25, on the occasion of International Pharmacists’ Day, these health professionals who have played a crucial role in keeping their doors open and watching over more than 11 million Belgians during the pandemic are being put on display. honor through the “Merci Pharmacie – Dank U Apotheek” action. An operation which aims to highlight the evolution of the role of pharmacists and their teams in the Belgian healthcare system as well as the important role played by their teams during the Covid-19 pandemic. The opportunity also to reveal the results of a survey carried out by Green Circle during the month of September 2023 among the Belgian population on the role of pharmacy professionals during and following the Covid-19 crisis.
The survey reached 127,141 people and recorded 630 complete responses from across the country, which provides a reliable snapshot of the perception that the Belgian population has of its pharmacist. This survey shows that 88% of the Belgian population have a positive opinion of pharmacists and that 93% believe that they play an essential role in our health system! Many Belgians have also consulted their pharmacist more during the pandemic.
“Pharmacists and their teams are incredible drivers of our health system, we often forget that their continuing education makes them health experts in their fields,” explains Pierre Lilien, one of the founders of Green Circle, at the source of the investigation.
Belgium is seriously lacking pharmacists and pharmacy assistants
The positive image that the Belgian population has hides an essential fundamental problem: the role of pharmacist has, in fact, since July 2023, been part of the list of 392 professions in shortage in our country (158 in Wallonia – 234 for the Flanders). Belgium is seriously lacking pharmacists and pharmacy assistants. A shortage which can be explained by the increasing pressure the sector is experiencing. A study carried out at the end of 2020 by the VUB, under the direction of Professor Eline Tommelein, highlighted that 6 out of 10 Belgian pharmacists saw their workload increase compared to the pre-covid period and that their private/professional life balance suffered as a result. enormously. This leads to a disaffection with the profession which leads to the shortage situation we know today! Fortunately, to cope with the pressure, incredible mutual support has been put in place between independent pharmacies in Belgium. They can therefore share their skills and help each other via online communities in order to be less isolated.
“Incredible workload, more and more administrative work, new missions, etc.”
Pharmacists have been on the front line to provide health advice and reassure the population. With mercipharmacie.be et dankuapotheek.be, the objective is to salute the daily action of Belgian pharmacists and their teams, and to thank them for that! Even if they have real recognition from the Belgian population, the practice of their profession is made difficult on a daily basis. “This has greatly increased since the pandemic, but the pressure on the profession and the shortage of pharmacists create very complex situations for pharmacists and their teams to manage. They have an incredible workload, more and more administrative work, new missions… Having been in contact with them for eight years, we see that they always have to do more with less: it is a real problem which has not no real short-term solution,” explains Pierre Lilien.
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