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Statistics

2015 Health Manpower Survey

Summary of the Characteristics of Pharmacists Enumerated

I.    Pharmacists Covered

1.1   The pharmacists covered in the 2015 HMS were pharmacists registered with the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Hong Kong under the Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance (Chapter 138) as at the survey reference date - 31.8.2015.

1.2   The number of pharmacists covered was 2 475.

1.3   Of the 2 475 pharmacists covered, 1 086 responded to the survey, giving an overall response rate of 43.9%. Among the respondents, 877 (80.8%) were economically active 1,2 (active) in the local pharmacy profession as at 31.8.2015 and 209 (19.2%) were economically inactive 1,3 (inactive) in the local pharmacy profession (Chart A) .

1.4   Of the 877 active pharmacists enumerated, 50 (5.7%) were seeking jobs, nine (1.0%) believed that work was not available or were waiting to take up a new job in the local pharmacy profession, and one (0.1%) had not been available for work because of temporary sickness during the 30 days before the survey. The survey results presented in paragraph 1.6 below were based on the 817 responding pharmacists who were practising in the local pharmacy profession as at 31.8.2015. As certain questionnaires contained missing information, percentages presented below may not add up to 100%.

1.5   Of the 209 inactive pharmacists, 83 (39.7%) reported practising overseas, five (2.4%) reported practising in the Mainland and 121 (57.9%) reported not seeking jobs in the pharmacy profession during the 30 days before the survey (Chart A) . Among the 121 inactive pharmacists who reported not seeking jobs, the main reasons reported for not seeking jobs included: 54 (44.6%) were working in other professions, 33 (27.3%) were retired, 16 (13.2%) wanted to take a rest / had no motive to work / had no financial need, nine (7.4%) were engaged in household duties, etc.

1.6   Five active pharmacists enumerated did not indicate their gender. Of the remaining 812 active pharmacists enumerated who were practising in the local pharmacy profession, 375 (46.2%) were male and 437 (53.8%) were female, giving an overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) of 86. Apart from the 12 pharmacists who did not indicate their age, the median age of the remaining 805 active pharmacists enumerated as 40.0 years. The median age of the active female pharmacists enumerated was 38.0 years and that of their male counterparts was 44.0 years.

1 In the survey, the criteria used in defining economically active / inactive followed those recommended by the International Labour Organization, which are also being used by the Census and Statistics Department in Hong Kong.

2 “Economically active” pharmacists comprised all “employed” and “unemployed” pharmacists. “Employed” pharmacists referred to those pharmacists practising in the pharmacy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, while “unemployed” pharmacists referred to those pharmacists who (a) were not practising in the local pharmacy profession during the survey period; (b) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey; and (c) had sought work in the local pharmacy profession during the 30 days before the survey.

3 “Economically inactive” pharmacists comprised the pharmacists who were not practising in the pharmacy profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, excluding those who had been on leave during the survey period and who were “economically active” but “unemployed”.

Chart A : Activity Status of Pharmacists Covered

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Chart A: Activity Status of Pharmacists Covered

1.7   The responding active pharmacists enumerated were requested to indicate the characteristics of their main jobs 4 . Distribution by sector for the main jobs showed that 55.9% were working in the private sector, followed by those working in the Hospital Authority (31.9%), the Government (8.6%) and the academic and subvented sectors (3.5%).

1.8   The median age of active pharmacists enumerated was 45.0 years for those working in the private sector, followed by 40.0 years for those working in the academic and subvented sectors, 38.0 years in the government and 34.0 years in the Hospital Authority.

4 Main jobs referred to the jobs in which the pharmacist had spent most of their working time.

1.9   Of the 817 active pharmacists enumerated, 71.5% spent most of their working time on service in pharmacy 5 , followed by 12.2% on administration / management 6 and 7.3% on manufacturing / marketing / sales 7 .

1.10   The median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week of the 817 active pharmacists enumerated was 44.0 hours. Among them, 79 (9.7%) were required to undertake on-call duty (excluding normal duty), with a median of 10.0 hours of on-call duty per week.

1.11   Of the 817 active pharmacists enumerated, 80.3% held Bachelor's Degree, 16.9% held Master's Degree and 2.2% held Doctoral Degree as their basic qualifications.

1.12   Of the 817 active pharmacists enumerated, 530 (64.9%) had received / were receiving additional training.

1.13   Of the 530 active pharmacists enumerated with additional training, 21 (4.0%) had not yet completed the additional training, 362 (68.3%) held Master’s Degree, 52 (9.8%) held Certificate, 29 (5.5%) held Graduate Diploma and 23 (4.3%) held Diploma as the highest qualification.

1.14   Of the 530 active pharmacists enumerated who had received / were receiving additional training, 426 (80.4%) had received / were receiving additional training in one field of additional training. Among them, 62.9% were trained in clinical pharmacy, 10.6% in Chinese medicine, 7.3% in pharmacy, 4.9% in health administration, 2.8% in pharmaceutical science, 2.3% in medical sciences and 1.6% in pharmaceutical technology.

1.15   Among the 530 active pharmacists enumerated who had received / were receiving additional training, some of them selected more than one field of additional training. The total number of count of active pharmacists enumerated who had received / were receiving additional training was 661, in which 50.2% had received / were receiving additional training in clinical pharmacy, 12.7% in Chinese medicine, 9.2% in pharmacy, 6.8% in health administration, 4.8% in pharmaceutical science, 3.9% in medical sciences, 3.0% in pharmaceutical technology and 0.6% in chemical analysis.

1.16   Regarding continuing education training, 723 (88.5%) of the active pharmacists enumerated reported that they had participated in continuing education training in 2015, 90 (11.0%) had not participated in any continuing education training, and four (0.5%) did not report whether they had participated in continuing education training or not. Among the 723 active pharmacists enumerated who had participated in continuing education training, the distribution of continuing education training hours attained in the past 12 months was: 1 to 10 hours (23.4%), 11 to 20 hours (23.9%), 21 to 30 hours (19.4%), 31 to 40 hours (9.5%) and more than 40 hours (23.8%).

5 Service in pharmacy referred to the work which had direct contact with patients in dispensing and patient counselling.

6 Administration / Management referred to the work which was out of scope of pharmacy such as supervising staff, accounting, budget control, procurement of drugs, etc.

7 Manufacturing / Marketing / Sales referred to the work involving in the pharmaceutical company (wholesaler) or pharmaceutical manufacturer such as manufacturing, marketing and sales.

II.    Trend Analysis

2.1    Comparison of findings of the 2015 HMS with those surveys conducted before 2004 should be made with caution as the survey methods and reference date had been changed.

2.2    A total of 2 475 pharmacists were covered in 2015 HMS, representing an increase of 63.7% over the 2004 HMS (1 512). Compared with the 1982 HMS, the number of pharmacists covered in the HMS recorded an average annual growth rate of 5.6% (Chart B) .

2.3    There was a decreasing proportion of male pharmacists. The overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) had shown a decrease from 199 in 1984 to 86 in 2015 (Table A) .

2.4    The median age of the active pharmacists enumerated increased gradually from 36.0 years in 2000 to 40.0 years in 2015 (Table A) .

2.5    From 1982 to 2015, the largest proportion of active pharmacists enumerated was working in the private sector, ranging from 55.9% to 73.1%. Prior to the establishment of the Hospital Authority in 1991, more than one-fifth of active pharmacists enumerated worked in the Government (20.7% to 25.9%); and the proportion decreased to less than 9% from 1992 onwards. The proportion in the Hospital Authority increased from 18.9% in 1992 to 31.9% in 2015 (Table A) .


Chart B : Number of Pharmacists Covered by Year (1982, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2015)

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Chart B: Number of Pharmacists Covered by Year (1982, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2015)

Table A : Selected Characteristics of Active Pharmacists Enumerated (1982, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2015)

Text Version

Table A : Selected Characteristics of Active Pharmacists Enumerated (1982, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2015)

3 Feb 2017