The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has become a member of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).
On Thursday (22 September), the FIP council voted to welcome the PDA as a full member of the global federation of organisations that brings together and advances
pharmacy.
Mark Koziol, PDA chairman, said: "Being admitted to FIP with such a decisive level of support from its Council means that the PDA can ensure that UK pharmacists
can enjoy a clear and powerful voice representing their collective professional interests at global level, which of late they could not.
"Bringing one of the largest pharmacy membership organisations in the world to FIP also gives the PDA significant influence in being able to inform the policies of
the World Health Organisation. This means that the PDA can do even more for members by helping to make pharmacy practice more professionally fulfilling for them."
"The PDA constantly seeks ways to provide even better support for members; membership of FIP will give the PDA much more influence and will result in better outcomes
for pharmacists," the association said.
To support humanitarian crises in other parts of the world, the PDA approached FIP, as a global pharmacy leadership organisation.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has reiterated its call for all pharmacists working at Boots to join the PDA Union to support the collective voice of the profession within the company.
It said this would enable PDA to send direct communications to pharmacists working at Boots and keep them up to date with key matters impacting their work life.
Currently, the association uses the company communication channels to cascade key information to the non-member pharmacists, however, it fears such measures can be
disrupted by management.
Besides, having more member pharmacists at Boots would strengthen their "negotiating power", PDA said.
Fife-based trainee pharmacist and Honorary Secretary of the PDA LGBT+ Network, Soh Xi Ken has won the Scottish Trades Union Congress' (STUC) Equality Award.
One of Scotland's leading LGBT+ campaigners and Honorary Secretary of the PDA's LGBT+ Network has been recognised for his advocacy work for LGBT+ pharmacists
in Scotland.
Soh Xi Ken of the PDA received the Equality Award at the STUC Annual Congress in April 2023 in Dundee. The award praised Xi Ken's tireless advocacy for LGBT+ workers
within pharmacies in Scotland, highlighting his personal experience of homophobia in Scotland and his home country, Malaysia.
In May 2021, Xi Ken became a founding member of the PDA LGBT+ Network's committee and was elected as their first Honorary Secretary. The PDA LGBT+ Network is the
first of its kind in the pharmacy world and has made a significant difference to the profile of LGBT+ people in the profession.
Xi Ken and others within the PDA LGBT+ Network spotted that there was a lack of LGBT+-specific guidance given to pharmacy students and that their unique and specific
health needs were not being addressed as part of the pharmacy education that they received.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) Union says it will be reaching out to LloydsPharmacy soon over a better deal on salary increase after the majority
of its members rejected a three per cent offer made by the company recently.
Paul Day, director, PDA Union told Pharmacy Business: "The PDA Union will communicate the response of employed pharmacists to the company and seek further discussion
to try and find an offer that will be acceptable to union members.
"Both management and union representatives have a vested interest in working to find such a solution and that is the outcome we hope to achieve."
After months of negotiation by the PDA Union, the company offered a three per cent increase in salaries from the 1.8 per cent in the earlier offer made by the
company.
"Through negotiation over last few months that was increased to 3.0 per cent, plus a long term incentive plan (LTIP). Though the LTIP potentially offers large
bonuses, it isn't guaranteed. Therefore what we put to members was the confirmed offer of three per cent increase in salaries," said Paul.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has made the its 'Education revision programme' accessible for new registrations who are preparing for the GPhC/PSNI
November 2022 assessment.
The programme offers a wide range of practice calculations questions, some mock exams, practical tips on revision, and an opportunity to chat to other PDA members
who are preparing to sit the assessment.
PDA's charity partners, Pharmacist Support also offer a range of options including- Counselling and peer support; Financial support; A listening friend service and
Addiction support.
Candidates can also access the Wardley Wellbeing Service here. This is a resource to help candidates to prioritise their mental, physical and emotional health
through individual and group training.
The PDA has also reminded all candidates that there have been some changes made by the GPhC to address problems that occurred in the June 2022 sitting.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has announced that it will support its member impacted by the decision to close 300 more Boots pharmacies.
After the announcement of closure of 300 Boots pharmacies over the next year, the association believes this is approximately one out of every eight current
Boots pharmacy locations.
The company has insisted that the objective of this exercise is not to make existing pharmacist employees redundant, and they hope to be able to redeploy
individuals into nearby alternative locations. However, PDA believes that it is unlikely that suitable alternative roles will be available for all and
redundancy is a possibility for some.
The PDA Union will provide pharmacists with information, support, and representation as part of the recognition agreement so that members are aware of and
can exercise their rights at work. PDA officials will be in continued dialogue with the company throughout this closure programme.
Pharmacists delivering to the Scottish prison service have been notified by their employer LloydsPharmacy that they may be transferred to another employer or
even be at risk of redundancy.
The Pharmacists Defence Association said: "It is supporting pharmacists employed by LloydsPharmacy who have been advised that the company has not retendered for the
contract to provide pharmacy services to the Scottish prison service.
As a result of LloydsPharmacy exiting the contract, those pharmacists may transfer to whichever employer takes over the service, or if their function does not
transfer to a new employer they will be at risk of redundancy."
The PDA Union will be representing these individuals to ensure they understand and can exercise their rights at work to either continue their current role under a
new employer, transfer to a suitable alternative role, or leave with the appropriate redundancy compensation.
PDA members impacted by this change can contact the PDA Service Centre for advice.
The Pharmacists Defence Association (PDA) has expressed its interest to support pharmacists impacted with the latest announcement of the closure of Tesco
pharmacies.
"Tesco have followed ASDA and LloydsPharmacy (at Sainsbury's) to announce cost cutting changes to their stores, impacting hundreds of jobs," the association said.
The PDA's interests in the announcement relate to the planned closure of eight in-store Tesco pharmacies and the impact of those closures upon pharmacists, however
the union is of course concerned for all those impacted.
The PDA Union will support individual PDA members impacted by the decision so that they are aware of, and can exercise, their rights at work in relation to this
situation.
Paul Day, PDA Union Director said, "In addition to the immediate impact on pharmacists employed at the stores marked for closure, this is the third instance in just
twelve days of reductions in the overall access to a pharmacy for NHS patients. We expect those who represent communities to be concerned about the loss of a key
part of their local NHS service."
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) said it has supported the application of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) to rejoin the International
Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), the global body representing the interests of pharmacy.
Under FIP rules, if a new application from an additional organisation from the same country applies to join, the existing members in that country are consulted
about that decision and are asked for their approval before FIP council members determine if the application is accepted.
The PDA joined FIP earlier this year, and RPS, which has decided not to renew FIP membership at the end of last year, has now submitted a fresh application to join.
RPS decision to leave, taken after a vote, has invited much criticism. The organisation, a founding member, had attributed high membership fees and associated costs
for leaving FIP
While the PDA has confirmed that it would not oppose the membership application of the RPS, it has asked FIP to find a suitable method to ascertain a transparent
declaration of membership numbers from the RPS in the event of FIP Council deciding to admit RPS.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has expressed concerns over Boots UK's decision to reduce supplemental opening hours at some pharmacies.
The association stated: "Some pharmacists and other staff at Boots are being notified this week of changes to opening hours at their place of work, with local briefings taking place. The PDA are supporting their members to deal with any potential impact on their employment."
It said that reducing pharmacy opening hours would affect patients' access to a trusted healthcare professional, especially if it is being done by the largest community pharmacy multiple.
It even called upon the NHS to adequately fund community pharmacies to ensure they remain open when patients and local communities need their services.
Meanwhile, Boots management has informed PDA that most of its employees are not pharmacists, and "less pharmacists are expected to be directly impacted by these changes than other colleagues," PDA said.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) says the pharmacy regulator should maintain a two-year post qualification eligibility criteria, in addition to
the qualitative measures being introduced which would be in the best interest of patient safety, before a pharmacist is allowed to commence an IP course.
The association was responding to an announcement by the GPhC's move to scrap the two year requirement for Independent Prescribing (IP) course.
"The PDA accepts that the qualitative approach could mean greater individual consideration of potential IP course candidates and the two-year measure could have
sometimes been a blunt tool. However, the PDA is already seeing cases of patient harm and allegations around fitness to practice arising from IP," the association
said.
The association also said that it supports individual pharmacists with near misses, as well as actual incidents, giving the organisation possibly the most
comprehensive understanding of risk.
Frontline pharmacists also recognise these issues and in a survey of over 1,000 pharmacists undertaken by the PDA in late 2021, of those who had 2+ years'
experience of practice and who were already independent prescribers, 90 per cent said the qualifying period should be two years or more.
After a series of internal pay negotiations and conciliation meetings, Boots has made a revised pay offer to its pharmacists.
With the new development, the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has urged its members at Boots to "urgently respond to the Boots pay negotiations update survey on the current pay offer."
It encouraged the members to complete the short survey sent to them via email.
Last week, the PDA Reps Network in Boots hosted a series of virtual meetings for members that work at the company.
As the element of the negotiations with Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) are ongoing, PDA could not provide more details about these meetings.
Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) members working for Boots have raised concerns over possible reduction in their pay following the multiple's proposed changes to some pharmacies' opening hours.
Member pharmacists have expressed concerns as "despite verbal assurances that the company aim to minimise pharmacist job losses, they are being told that proposed changes will reduce their income if they remain with the company," PDA has stated.
PDA added that several pharmacists have been told that the proposed reduction to their hours will be more than 10 per cent, which could result in reduction in pay every month.
Salary cuts could render future employment unsuitable and might force pharmacists to leave the company with redundancy, the association said.
A judicial review claim launched by the British Medical Association (BMA) against the General Medical Council (GMC) has parallelly intensified Pharmacists'
Defence Association's (PDA) scrutiny over the use of the term 'pharmacy professionals'.
PDA has criticised the evolving definition of 'pharmacy professionals,' and the potential risks to patient safety amidst regulatory ambiguity as part of "a far
wider agenda."
Concerns stem from what the PDA perceives as a blurring of distinctions between pharmacists and pharmacy technicians as "attempted homogenisation" by bodies like
the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), NHS, and Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS).
Raising similar issue as the BMA against the GMC over its use of 'medical professionals for doctors and Medical Associate Professions (MAPs), Mark Koizol,
Chairman of the PDA has said:
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) is supporting pharmacists in England whose employment has been impacted by the creation of new NHS structures.
As a result of the 2022 Health and Care Act, Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) were established in England, and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) were closed on 1
July 2022. Each of the ICSs includes two key parts: an Integrated Care Board (ICB) and an Integrated Care Partnership (ICP).
The association said: "The previous structures in England, established by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, originally had over 200 clinical commissioning groups.
This number had reduced over recent years via mergers."
"However, this latest shift to just 42 commissioning entities means a significant change to significantly larger geographies and populations covered by each ICS.
Although each ICS and its activity can be subdivided into 'places', and within places into 'neighbourhoods', it is at the ICS level that the employer is formed."
"Whereas CCGs previously employed many local health professionals, including pharmacists, the new arrangements mean that ICBs are now that employer. The PDA is
supporting members who have contacted its Service Centre about the impact of these changes."
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has launched a brutal attack on some large pharmacy chains for full or part-day closures of some of their shops
throughout the UK.
It published an Open Letter on Tuesday (July 19) demanding urgent action "to protect patients by ensuring that essential community pharmacy services are provided
safely and consistently".
PDA chair Mark Koizol, who wrote the letter, went on to allege that many of those closure were "being orchestrated".
He wrote that the "pharmacist shortage" narrative cited as a reason for these closures was "very different" from "the reality experienced by our members", including
both employed and locum pharmacists.
"We have evidence to show that these closures are being announced up to four weeks in advance," Koizol claimed.
He gave examples of how a large company attempted to reduce the pre-agreed rate of locums and where this was not accepted, the shift was cancelled, resulting in the
pharmacy being closed for part or full day.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association's anti-racist pharmacy toolkit was launched at the 2022 Clinical Pharmacy Congress.
The event also included a demonstration of how members could use the toolkit to work together to address inequality and discrimination in their workplace.
Elsy Gomez Campos, president of the PDA BAME Pharmacists' Network, gave an overview of issues raised by network members as well as broader professional issues
including over-representation of BAME pharmacists in fitness to practice complaints, under-representation of BAME pharmacists in leadership roles, limited access
to post-graduate education, and bullying and discrimination in the workplace.
She concluded her opening statement by reminding members of what an exemplary pharmacy profession should look like which is about "being treated fairly and being
offered the same opportunities to those that do not look like us."
Manuella Asso, organising assistant and PDA BAME Pharmacists' Network coordinator, explained that the toolkit for was representatives, members, and other pharmacists
to assess their workplaces and to help them take collective action to create an anti-racist workplace culture and environment.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) is advising locum pharmacists to take screenshots of online agreements due to an increasing number of reports
where community pharmacy businesses are unilaterally amending agreed-upon terms after a contract has been confirmed.
The PDA highlighted one recent case where a locum was informed at short notice by the community pharmacy business that they would no longer pay the agreed hourly
rate.
The business then re-advertised the shift, falsely claiming that the booked locum was unwell.
Unable to secure a locum at the new rate before the shift, the pharmacy closed, leaving patients and the local community without access to services.
In such circumstances, the PDA advises affected locums to notify the relevant health boards or Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) of such breaches of NHS terms of
service.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has raised concerns over "a prominent pharmacist's call to create a sector 'blacklist' for locums regarding disputes over rates."
A few contractors took it to the Twitter to share screenshots of the messages by locums demanding more pay, which led to the call for 'blacklisting' those locums.
"The motivation regarding the current talk of creating a blacklist seems intrinsically tied to hourly rates. Although there are occasional and isolated anecdotal reports on social media of alleged incidents of locums seeking higher rates than already agreed, these are far outstripped by reports of pharmacy businesses unwilling to negotiate and who do not want to pay the necessary rate to engage a locum and instead have set capped or fixed rates," said the PDA.
It added that all parties should honour agreements they enter into, including a pharmacy's commitment to the NHS that it will open at set times to provide
pharmaceutical services to patients and the public.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has raised the issue faced by the pharmacy students on returning to in-person assessments while urging the
universities to take an empathetic approach in transition of online to in-person exams.
It was highlighted by the association that many student members were apprehensive about the return to in-person assessments. This is due to their continuing worry of Covid-19 transmissions and anxiety caused by changing exam formats and procedures.
However, with the ease of Covid restrictions, now pharmacy schools are able to decide how exams are conducted but the PDA believes that they should communicate the
process to students in advance.
"A return to normal university life is considered to be beneficial to student health and well-being. In-person exams are an important part of preparing for students' future trainee assessment examinations, GPhC accreditation for pharmacy schools, and ensuring the integrity of exam results. As future healthcare professionals, face-to-face interaction is also an integral part of the role," said the PDA.