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The Pharmaceutical Defence Association (PDA) has urged health ministers of the UK to take a strict and necessary action against the unnecessary closures of pharmacy. Concerned over the rising number of pharmacy closures, PDA has written an open letter to health secretary Steve Barclay; Robin Swann, health minister for Northern Ireland; Eluned Morgan, minister of health and social services for Wales; and Humza Yousaf, the Scottish health secretary. In its letter, PDA said: "The minister of health must now ensure the regulation of poor business behaviours and be prepared to take over rogue pharmacies, however large their corporate owner may be. If patients' access to NHS services is to be protected from the consequences of avoidable full or part-day pharmacy closures." The association believes it is only a matter of time before serious harm to patients' health will be caused by the decisions of mainly large chains of pharmacies to close some of their branches for all or part of a day, instead of engaging an available pharmacist to cover their agreed opening hours. "While a small number of unforeseen closures have always occurred from time to time in pharmacies for genuine reasons, the indiscriminate scale at which closures have now become commonplace seems to have evolved over the last 20 months."

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has welcomed the government's defeat in the House of Lords on the Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill. It believes that the proposed Bill, if enacted, would allow the government to dictate minimum levels of service during times of industrial action, enabling employers to name specific employees that they require in work. Those employees could then face losing their jobs if they failed to turn up to work on that day. Trade unions could also be fined if they did not force those named individuals to go to work. PDA director, Paul Day said, "This Bill should be of real concern to pharmacists and other health professionals. The idea of their employer being able to effectively conscript them to work or face the sack does not feel like a positive employment relations environment." The House of Lords has voted for key amendments to the Bill to prevent unions from being required to force workers to comply. This also prevents workers from being forced to work or face the sack and allows for greater consultation and Parliamentary scrutiny on the proposals which the Westminster government is trying to implement. The House of Commons will now be required to vote on the amendments over the next few weeks. Whilst the House of Lords amendments are likely to be defeated, it shows the degree of opposition there is to this Bill.

To help stop the pharmacists pay delay in Northern Ireland, the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) will present a motion on fairer pay to the ICTU Biennial Delegate Conference, taking place from 5 to 7 July. The PDA motion states, "…there are other employers within the health system, that echo Agenda for Change terms, despite the fact they are essentially private businesses contracted to the NHS, not actually public bodies. While echoing the pay structure has some advantages, these employers also seek to unnecessarily delay pay increases on the basis that the NHS changes are so delayed. The Universities in Ulster Schools of Pharmacy are ranked as some of the highest in the UK. They are gifting our population with high calibre graduates destined to provide excellent patient care. These pharmacists want to stay in a job that helps patients. They want to deliver the care that they have spent years of time and often thousands of pounds to render themselves confident and capable."

The Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA) has expressed its keenness to work with the NHS nationally and at the ICB level to discuss how the pharmacist workforce can most effectively be part of the multidisciplinary team, after the publication of Long-awaited NHS England workforce plan. Welcoming its publication Alison Jones, PDA Director of Policy said: "It gives greater clarity around the future direction and strategy for professional development, training, and opportunities for those currently working in the health service or considering their future career. There is a strong emphasis on further development of the clinical role of pharmacists to support better patient care. "However, this is a plan that will take years, indeed decades to come to fruition and its success will need to be underpinned by significant funding for its entire life course. Workplace pressures, reductions in support staff, and a lack of protected learning time are matters of immediate concern for many PDA members, issues which are regularly highlighted through activities, such as the safer pharmacies survey.

All pharmacy businesses are reporting that they are struggling to find the registered professionals needed to open their pharmacies, clarified the Company Chemists' Association (CCA) in response to an attack by the Pharmacists' Defence Association. Last week, PDA allegedly accused some large pharmacy chains of 'orchestrating' full or part-time closures of some of their shops due to the staff shortage. In its Open Letter published on Tuesday (July 19), PDA demanded urgent action "to protect patients by ensuring that essential community pharmacy services are provided safely and consistently". "All parts of the healthcare system are struggling to recruit staff and to assume that pharmacies would be immune to such pressures, seems fanciful," said CCA. "CCA members are working extraordinarily hard to prevent temporary closures, but recruitment and retention of pharmacists is becoming increasingly tough. The recent rise in Covid cases and the beginning of the summer holiday season in parts of the UK have only worsened the situation." The Association also showed data from the PSNC Pharmacy Pressures Survey (April 2022) which found that 91 per cent of pharmacies are experiencing staff shortages, clearly demonstrating that these shortages are affecting the entire sector.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association has helped its members to secure around £196,000 last year from employers who treated pharmacists badly or breached their rights in some way. The association strives to help members to resolve workplace disputes quickly, locally, and amicably, however some cases need escalation into the legal system, it said. It helps pharmacists to understand and exercise their rights in case unfair treatment occurs to them. Though no employee expects to be treated badly, this is the reality for some pharmacists, the PDA stated.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association has asked Boots UK to waive any restrictive clause that prevents pharmacists working with the multiple from working for other pharmacy employers, even after leaving the company. However, the firm is yet to respond to the formal request, PDA said in an update. This request follows demand from the association members shortly after the company announced it's plans to cut opening hours. On workforce shortages, the PDA stated if there was a genuine shortage, then preventing pharmacists from working for other pharmacy employers to make up for the lost hours would be counterproductive and it would further exacerbate any "shortage".

Violent and abusive behaviour against pharmacists is impacting on recruitment and retention of staff in the sector, according to the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA). The trade union for pharmacists told BBC Breakfast TV on Wednesday (May 8) that its members have continuously raised workplace safety concerns due to an alarming rise in the incidents of abuse and violence against pharmacy staff. The PDA union has been calling for adequate risk assessments and preventative safety measures to be put in place in pharmacies whist adopting a zero-tolerance approach to violence and abuse. With several significant and worrying incidents involving PDA members, including a pharmacist being threatened with a knife recently, further research was conducted in April 2022 to establish the extent and impact of such behaviour on pharmacists. Forty-four per cent of the respondents in the survey reported that they or someone that they worked with had experienced physical or violent abuse in the last month.

In response to Thursday (5 January)'s announcement on the proposal of new 'anti-strike' legislation, the Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA) has said that it will work with other trade unions to defend the fundamental right for workers in the sector to strike. The association believes that "industrial action should always be a last resort, especially for health professionals such as pharmacists, however having the option to strike is a fundamental right for working people in a fair and free, civilised society." "The right to strike is a fundamental right through which employees can act collectively to secure and protect pay and conditions." It added: "The Trade Union Congress (TUC) are coordinating the challenge to these proposals." The TUC said in a statement: "The Prime Minister should concentrate on fixing our public services, not attacking public sector staff. The proposed legislation would make it harder for disputes to be resolved."

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) on Wednesday confirmed that several MPs have come forward to support their campaign for fair funding for pharmacy students, as well as announced their plan to take the campaign to Wales. The campaign that began last year is focussed on the issue of pharmacy students being left out of the scope of the NHS Learning Support Fund (LSF), which provides supplementary funding for healthcare students in England. MPharm students and PDA Student Reps have been sending letters to their MPs requesting them to escalate the issue to the health minister, and they have been able to gather considerable support. "There appears to be some cross-party support for the campaign, with welcome responses coming from Labour, Liberal Democrat and Conservative MPs," the PDA said.

The PDA has raised concerns over the 'deliberate breaches' of the NHS contract by some community pharmacy businesses, saying that it may cause harm to patients and damage the reputation of the profession. The organisation said concerned pharmacists have revealed to them that some businesses are now explicitly saying that if locums will not agree to work for less than a so-called 'maximum' hourly rate, the business will close the pharmacy for either part of, or the whole day. Some of these full or part-day closures are being communicated significantly in advance of the actual day, it added. The union further alleged that several pharmacy businesses seem to have simultaneously implemented identical so-called 'maximum rates' in what could be an anti-competitive behaviour.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has submitted a 17-page contribution to the commission on the future of pharmacy professional leadership and encourages pharmacists to engage in the overall discussion. The association wants to ensure that the voice of its members is heard in the discussions about the future of professional leadership, which has been initiated by the four government Chief Pharmaceutical Officers. The PDA has published its first formal contribution to the commission, in its response it raised concern on the current exercise is being rushed and a call for the review to be conducted in a more sensible timeframe, one which enables the engagement of the whole profession. It has urged on being supportive of the creation of a Royal College of Pharmacists to take custodianship of the training and education for pharmacists and to set the requisite standards, whilst still relying upon the profession's regulators to undertake the accreditation role.

Pharmacists working in Northern Ireland think the retention fees are too high, and most would prefer to pay in instalments, if that option is available, amid the increased living costs, a new survey has found. 97 per cent of the respondents to the survey, conducted by the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) of its Northern Irish members, felt the fees were too high. Four in five said they would opt to pay in instalments if this option were available to them in light of the challenges of significant one-off payments. On average, the fees accounted for 23 per cent of a pharmacist's take-home pay for one month, and 98 per cent did not see any value added to their professional standing for the sum, according to the survey. The PDA said the respondents also reported feeling disadvantaged among their colleagues in terms of how fees are collected, with many also wondering why the registration fee was not offset for those on maternity leave or working reduced or flexible hours.

The Chief Pharmacist for England and Co-Chairs of professional leadership commission has responded to the questions raised by the Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA)'s member on the professional leadership survey. In early September, the PDA wrote to the UK's Chief Pharmaceutical Officers to increase transparency and confidence in the process by asking for clarification of some of the commission's thinking, assumptions, and scope. On behalf of all four CPhOs, Chief Pharmacist for England David Webb provided feedback: "The Commission has two independent co-chairs and members have agreed to abide by the 7 principles for the conduct of public life as recommended by the Nolan Commission which form part of the Terms of Reference. Commission members have been appointed on behalf of all pharmacy professionals to contribute their expertise in and knowledge of professional leadership and are not appointed to represent their particular countries, organisations, sectors or roles."

The Pharmacists' Defence Association has called on the Scottish government to end unnecessary pharmacy closures and introduce emergency regulations to force companies that operate Scotland's pharmacies to open on the days and hours they have agreed. It is concerned that decisions made by some health boards in Scotland have now allowed pharmacy owners to close their pharmacies on Saturdays. The PDA is worried that a pharmacy closure could have negative impact on patients and other parts of the NHS, including neighbouring pharmacies, addiction and mental health services, and minor injury and A&E units. The association claims that there are record numbers of registered pharmacists who are available to work and therefore a decision to close a pharmacy over staff shortages is misleading. "The business owners may claim there is a shortage of pharmacists, but when they actively cancel agreed hours of work it does not suggest there is a shortfall of workers," said the PDA, adding: "These business decisions often include closing their pharmacies at very short notice, even when pharmacists are available and willing to work."

Tesco, one of the leading pharmacy chains in the UK, has been allegedly accused of forcing some locum pharmacists to accept lower rates or it will cancel their booking. The issue has been brought to the notice of the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) by some of its locum pharmacists members. "Some locum pharmacists who had existing confirmed bookings at Tesco stores have reported to the PDA that the company has contacted them to say that if they do not agree to accept lower rates than have already agreed, the company will cancel their booking," said PDA. "The reported messages follow a communication from Tesco setting self-imposed so-called "wage rates" for locums. This is confusing as locums are self-employed and therefore should be able to negotiate rates with their clients just as any other independent supplier can do. Using terminology such as "wage rates" is more indicative of an employer-employee relationship and could undermine the status of the locum market in community pharmacy. Employees are also entitled to various extra benefits and have greater employment rights."

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) is probing major concerns arising from Boots' communications to pharmacists regarding the company's recently announced pension arrangements. In November, Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), the parent company of Boots, transferred the Boots employees' pension scheme to the financial service provider Legal and General (L&G) in a £4.8 billion deal. Boots notified staff that terms allowing an unreduced pension from age 60 have ceased immediately, following its agreement with L&G. The PDA highlighted member concerns regarding Boots management's announcement that an unreduced pension from the age of 60 is a discretionary benefit and not guaranteed under the Boots Pension Scheme (BPS), contrary to some members' assumptions.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association has reported an increase in the number of pharmacists calling its advice line to inform about the incidences of violence and intimidation from protesters opposing the Covid-19 vaccination programme. The association noted that such incidents have become more common with protesters "gaining entry to premises in groups and trying to disrupt Covid-19 vaccinations from taking place." In many cases, pharmacists, staff, and members of the public have been subjected to verbal threats, causing distress and anxiety among those working to deliver the vaccination programme in a safe environment. The PDA reminded that employers, having a contract with the NHS for the Covid-19 vaccinations, have a duty to keep their staff safe whilst at work. The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) standards for pharmacy premises also carry a duty to ensure the safety of staff and the public receiving services on those premises.

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has expressed disappointment at the omission, once again, of the promised Employment Rights Bill omitted from the Queen's Speech earlier this week. The Bill is pledged to strengthen day one employment rights and increase the productivity of businesses. It set out plans which would protect and enhance workers' rights and aim to make the UK the best place in the world to work at. This included plans to introduce the right to request flexible working for around 2.2 million people in Great Britain - regardless of time served in a bid to modernise the way employees work. The PDA said: "The Employment Rights Bill would have presented an opportunity to improve the ability for workers to obtain redress in the event of poor treatment or discrimination through the development of a single labour market enforcement body. "Poor employment practices, such as insecure work through long-term zero-hours contracts, unilaterally changing workers' terms and conditions by terminating their contracts and re-hiring them on new terms and conditions (also known as fire and rehire), and the sacking of workers without notice, as recently demonstrated by P & O Ferries, could have been outlawed under new legislation."

Working conditions in pharmacies have worsened in 2021, the annual Safer Pharmacies Survey conducted by the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) revealed, highlighting the challenging and unsafe environments that some pharmacists are working in. The survey asks pharmacists across all areas of practice about their experiences of key safety measures in the workplace. Since the launch of the Safer Pharmacies Charter in 2017, PDA's annual surveys have monitored their feedback against the Charter's commitments, which covers seven basic areas as standard practice for pharmacy work. The commitments are No Self-Checking, Safe Staffing, Access to a Pharmacist, Adequate Rest, Respect for Professional Judgment, Raising Concerns and Physical Safety. The survey revealed that eight out of 10 feel unsafe at work as violence and abuse still remain areas of concerns in pharmacy.