Here at FTA Finance, we’ve been supporting pharmacy professionals for over 20 years. In that time, we’ve helped them arrange funding for pharmacy purchases, undertake business refurbishments, restructuring loans/existing borrowing and much more. This also gives us a unique opportunity to talk to pharmacy professionals on an almost daily basis and listen to their thoughts and feelings about the sector in which they work.
The Sector
Starting with the pharmacy sector as a whole…. Pharmacy remains a great profession, there’s no doubt about it, although opinion is divided as to the level of optimism within the sector at the current time. Only 50% of pharmacy professionals agree that the level of optimism profession-wide is high, with the other 50% erring on the lower side.
David Brewer, MD of FTA Finance said “No profession is immune from the economic turmoil of the past few years although the pharmacy sector is better placed than most to weather these stormy waters. I firmly believe pharmacy remains a strong sector and for proactive owners there remain numerous growth opportunities.”
Ambition
Whilst we truly believe that being a pharmacist is an amazing career path, we also acknowledge that many want to take the leap into business ownership, with over 63% of the pharmacy professionals that we asked saying they still have an ambition to be or become a pharmacy owner, and less than 10% saying that they didn’t see business ownership at all in their future.
David Brewer, MD of FTA Finance said, “These results clearly show that business ownership is still a target that is being pursued today by the majority. The banks continue to offer competitive and flexible funding terms, particularly for first time buyers, so 2024 is looking like it should be a great year ahead for those looking to step on to the ownership ladder.”
Emerging Technology
With emerging technologies over the past few years, as well as new technology that is yet to be truly harnessed like AI, it seems like it’s never been easier to delivery quality services to clients. This is evident with over 53% of pharmacy professionals being excited about new technology for the sector in the future.
David Brewer, MD of FTA Finance said, “Technology is moving at a fast pace these days so it will be an exciting time ahead for pharmacists to see what changes will be introduced and for them to be at the forefront of it all.”
Getting the Right Balance
Over the past years work life balance has been a hot topic worldwide, with many wanting to reduce their working hours and have more time to develop themselves. This seems to be no different in pharmacy, with over 66% of those asked agreeing that a 3- or 4-day week is ideal.
David Brewer, MD of FTA Finance said, “Getting the ultimate work-life balance is something that all of us strive for and for those in the pharmacy profession it is no different.”
Career Pathway
It was disappointing to see in the results that only 33% of pharmacy professionals would still choose pharmacy as their career if they could start over again and that over 46% would choose a different career pathway altogether.
Add this to the fact that some 60% have ambitions to move into a different sector clearly shows that there is work to be done across the sector to ensure it is a career of choice in the future.
Click here to see the full results.
We are able to source a wide range of innovative and competitive Healthcare Finance packages specifically tailored to, and for, Healthcare Professionals such as:
Remember!
You are in a specialist market so use a specialist broker who understands your sector. With access to major banks and specialist niche healthcare lenders, we know the types of proposals that are synonymous with this sector.
