Hospital pharmacists are operating "on the verge of crisis" because of staff shortages and excess demand for their services, a report has warned.
The report, undertaken for the Higher Education Authority (HEA), says that because so many hospital pharmacy posts remain unfilled, work previously under taken by pharmacists was now routinely assigned to others.
Produced by Peter Bacon and Associates, it states that at least 50 extra pharmacy graduates are needed each year to fulfil the needs of hospitals, the community sector and industry.
It says the 70 graduates produced by the Republic's only pharmacy degree course at Trinity College are not sufficient to meet the need. As a result it advises the HEA to consider expanding the numbers at Trinity or consider beginning a new course at another institution.
The report says University College Cork and the Royal College of Surgeons have already expressed an interest in offering a pharmacy degree. Dr Don Thornhill, HEA chairman, said the authority will now ask for interested institutions to submit proposals about pharmacy.
It says the lack of pharmacists has created an unusual situation where there is tight legislation to ensure pharmacists are present when medicine is dispensed in the community, but no such certainties existed in hospitals where the recipient's condition was often worse.
The Minister for Education, Mr Martin, introducing the report in Dublin, said whatever funding was necessary to deal with the shortages would be made available.
In relation to the Trinity course, the BSc (Pharm), the report says the specialisation required by the hospital pharmacist, which goes beyond purely technical knowledge, "would appear to be inadequately developed among graduates from Trinity".
"The implication is that the BSc (Pharm) would appear to be considerably more appropriate for those wishing to operate in the community/retail sector in an academic environment."
In terms of unfilled pharmacy positions, the report says, there are 29 unfilled posts currently in hospitals. "Research indicates a need for other posts that would be created if there was a prospect of filling them," it says.
It adds that by 2010, 150 more pharmacists will be needed in the hospitals sector than are currently employed.