The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has urged the community pharmacies to complete a short survey on the availability of commonly prescribed medicines.
PDA is hearing from members working in community pharmacy about challenges they are facing in fulfilling prescriptions for some of the most common medicines,
including antibiotics. It wants to hear from pharmacists on the front line about their recent experiences.
The association said: "Whilst at this time of year the incidence of infections and illnesses can be heightened, demand is seemingly higher than usual, and we would
like to hear more about how this is impacting on you and the patients in your care,"
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 (PDA) has reacted to the chief pharmaceutical officer (CPhO) for Wales's offer for community pharmacy contractors,
offering a funding uplift for community pharmacy on the condition of an increase in pay for some staff by at least the amount currently being imposed upon NHS
employees.
The PDA has expressed a mixed reaction to the intervention being attempted by the Welsh government.
"It is unusual for a government to be so closely involved in the pay of their suppliers' employees and those at some community pharmacy employers have a contractual
right to a pay review at times of year that may not synchronize with the government's financial cycle, so this initiative may have different impacts at different
employers," said the association.
"In addition, the PDA negotiates pay at the largest two community pharmacy employers and works alongside other trade unions that organise other pharmacy workers.
This government intervention must not disrupt or attempt to bypass those processes."
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.
Members of the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) who have benefits in the Boots Pension Scheme have sought support from their union following the recent
communications from the trustees about the removal of the option to retire at 60 without a reduced pension.
The company claimed that retirement between 60-65 years old without a reduced pension was a discretionary benefit, and it has ended with the buy-in deal with Legal
and General.
However, PDA members believe there is insufficient evidence to fully support this claim, and therefore they are questioning whether this option should have been
secured as part of the buy in and not ended with immediate effect.
PDA Union national officer, Paul Moloney said: "Instead, we believe benefit statements issued to members, at the very least are contradictory, and clearly state
that a full pension will be payable from a member's 60th birthday, with no reference to this benefit being discretionary and therefore subject to a regular
review by the trustees. Instead, the benefit statements give the impression that an unreduced pension from 60 is a right with no indication that retirement plans
should not be based on the benefit statements."
More than a third of pharmacists who participated in a survey said they have seen an increase in patients declining prescriptions due to the cost in the
last 12 months.
The survey was jointly conducted by the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), extending their support for the
Prescription Charges Coalition (PCC).
Responding to the survey, 90 per cent of pharmacists admitted seeing cases where patients decline all the medicines on a prescription due to cost.
Nearly all respondents said they have seen cases where patients declined some of their prescribed medicines and more than a quarter of them have experienced
such situation often.
They have warned of the impact of prescription charges as patients are denying vital medicines, including those for blood pressure and mental health, inhalers,
antibiotics, pain relief, and statins, which can have potential consequences for the individual's health.
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 Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has urged pharmacists working in Covid-19 vaccination role to report any concerns about the needles and syringes
supplied with the Moderna Spikevax Bivalent vaccine.
The association has heard reports of bending when vaccinators pierce the top of the vial containing the Covid-19 vaccine doses, needles falling out during manipulation
and appearing to be bent even before removal from the packaging.
PDA has advised its members who are working in a Covid-19 vaccination role "to report any concerns via the Yellow Card medical device reporting system, and to keep up
to date with NHS clinical updates for ongoing information and guidance."
Current advice from the NHS includes sharing of video and poster resources (available on FutureNHS) which have been produced by the supplier to support the
introduction of the new administration needles and syringes for Spikevax Bivalent.
This is following a switch from BD Flu+ 23G x 25mm 1ml syringe combined needle and syringe (CNS) to the Owen Mumford Unifine Safety Retractable Needle 25G x 25mm &
1ml Syringe.
The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has announced its support for the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA)'s Safer Pharmacies Charter,
which aims to improve safety and care for patients, through better working conditions in UK pharmacy practice.
The Charter establishes basic standards to ensure safe practices across all pharmacy settings. It outlines seven commitments that, according to the PDA, "must be
standard practice whenever and wherever pharmacy work is carried out."
Dr Catherine Duggan, FIP CEO, said: "We are pleased to support the PDA's Safer Pharmacies Charter which defines basic standards to ensure safe practice wherever
pharmacists work.
"The overall objectives of the Charter align with FIP's development goals and overall mission."
FIP, the global body representing pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, plans to distribute the Charter among its members and share it with its Community Pharmacy
Section for information purposes.
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."
Pharmacy leaders have called for reassurance that the workforce plan, expected by April 2023, will cover the entirety of the pharmacy workforce across the
health service, including in community pharmacies.
A joint letter has been signed by representatives from 14 pharmacy organisations which highlights that with continued pressures on services, it is more important
than ever to support the pharmacy workforce so that the staff needed to deliver patient care now and into the future can be recruited, trained and retained.
Mark Koziol, Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) Chairman said: "Our pharmacist members practise across the entire health system and have the potential to do far
more to help patients and improve public health, but they can only do so safely if they are in appropriately staffed workplaces. This is a workforce issue, so it is
important that the Government works with representatives of the pharmacist workforce, and of their employers, to get a suitably agreed plan in place."
Thorrun Govind, English Pharmacy Board Chair, Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), said: "It will be crucial to use the skills of all our health professions to support
the NHS recovery, reduce health inequalities, manage the growing cost of long-term conditions, and deliver best value from medicines.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has written to the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) to highlight several important points regarding their
proposed "day of action" on 20 June 2024.
The NPA describes this initiative as a response to the "emergency across the community pharmacy sector."
In a letter addressed to NPA Chair Nick Kaye and Chief Executive Paul Rees, the PDA's director of pharmacy, Jay Badenhorst stressed the need for NPA members to
consider their obligations to staff and patients before participating in the planned actions.
He stated, "We are supportive of a new contractual framework for the community pharmacy sector."
"However, any actions taken must ensure the safety of patients and the operational integrity of pharmacies."
The PDA's letter also expressed concerns over the safety and operational impact of the proposed symbolic gestures, including turning off lights and blacking out
windows.
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 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."
The Pharmacists' Defence Association raised concerns over the practice of firing and rehiring employees, which often leads to denial of individuals' rights to redundancy, forcing them to face cuts to their terms and conditions.
It noted that some employers may use the 'fire and rehire' practice to force staff to accept lower wages, different hours, or other changes in working conditions.
It cited an example of a lawsuit in which Tesco lost a High Court battle when Usdaw won a case to protect workers from unfair tactics.
The PDA said although the trade union won the case, the practice of firing and rehiring can still be legal in some circumstances. However, it believes the practice is both immoral and unethical.
The Pharmacy Supervision Practice Group consisting of members from AIMp, APTUK, CCA, NPA, PDA, PFNI and RPS held its fourth workshop to continue discussions
on the future modelling of pharmacy practice.
The ideas around 'supervision' shared by the organisation earlier formed the basis of the discussion during the workshop and helped to expand understanding of where
there was consensus and disagreement.
Examples of ideas explored during the workshop include: the extent to which a pharmacist should supervise the medicines assembly process, the purpose and extent to
which a pharmacist might be absent from the pharmacy and how this might affect patient safety as well as the nature of whether fixed rules versus a broad framework
were preferable for future practice.
Chair of the group, Dr Michael Twigg, Associate Professor of Primary Care Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, said "Once again the sector bodies have come together
in a collaborative and positive manner to explore the concept of 'supervision' in the context of current and future community pharmacy practice. This session provided an opportunity to constructively challenge assumptions and viewpoints within the group with the aim of moving the discussion forward."
As part of the session, the DHSC, GPhC and PSNI gave an overview of the difference between legislation, regulation and guidance which was helpful to inform the
group's thinking. Each of the organisations have been asked to use the conversation to refine the ideas presented in advance of the next workshop.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPHC), Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), Company Chemists Association (CCA), Association of Pharmacy
Technicians UK (APTUK), National Pharmacy Association (NPA), Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists, Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA), and Independent
Pharmacies Association (IPA) have released a joint statement in response to the far-right riots across the UK.
They emphasised their united stance, declaring zero tolerance for racism towards colleagues or the public in any form.
The joint statement reads: "We are shocked and saddened by the violent public disorder events in recent days.
"We acknowledge how all sectors of the pharmacy profession may be impacted and recognise the challenges that this level of overt aggression can have on
people's ability or willingness to live their daily lives.
"The pharmacy workforce deserves peace and safety, not fear and harm. We stand united in having a zero tolerance of racism towards our colleagues or the
public in whatever form it takes."
Meanwhile, Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has expressed concerns that protests and violent disorder in various towns and cities across England may impact
the ability of community pharmacies to operate.
"Discussions must involve the government on behalf of NHS Scotland, CPS on behalf of the owners, and the PDA as the pharmacists' representative," it said.
The association believes that there is a need for discussion and decision-making that listens to and balances the rights and responsibilities of both employers
and workers, to generate benefits for individuals, organisations, and society.
It added: "Even though Scotland provides the most generous community pharmacy settlement in the UK, recent reports suggest it is not enough for pharmacy owners
with CPS's rejection of the latest funding proposal in May. Though the Scottish government found an extra £20M to ease pressures related to medicines price
increases, an overall agreement has still not been reached."
"The UK-wide chains may be doing less well in the parts of their networks covered by the Westminster government's contract, but the taxpayers and government of
Scotland need to be given reassurance that they are in no way subsidising funding shortfalls in England's pharmacy contract."
Recently, when LloydsPharmacy's Scotland branches recently came on the market, they appear to have been sold exclusively to existing contractors, including the
UK-wide multiple, Rowlands Pharmacy, who have acquired 30 of them. Other small and medium-sized Scottish pharmacy chains have apparently been able to double in
size overnight by acquiring branches.
In a surprising move that has divided the pharmacy profession, the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has sanctioned hundreds of pharmacies to allow
patients to self-select certain Pharmacy (P) medicines, a decision met with strong opposition from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) as well as from the
Pharmacy Defense Association (PDA).
In a statement, RPS shared that at a board meeting held on 19th June, they expressed "disappointment" over what they described as a lack of prior consultation
and comprehensive communication from the GPhC regarding the implications of this policy shift.
They argue that allowing patients to self-select certain P medicines could potentially jeopardize established professional guidelines and compromise the role of
pharmacists in ensuring safe medication use.
"Enabled by the General Pharmaceutical Council, we understand that hundreds of pharmacies, from large multiples to small independents, have been approved by the
regulator to enable patients to self-select certain P medicines," the statement said.
NHS England has launched a prescription savings campaign, particularly for those living with long-term conditions.
The campaign is specifically for individuals residing in deprived areas as they receive more prescriptions than people in affluent areas.
It is also known that people with low income could be entitled to help with costs or free prescriptions depending on their circumstances.
The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA), an active member of the Prescription Charges Coalition, is actively striving to eliminate prescription charges in
England as well.
They are focussing on "NHS England's current efforts to minimise charges so that members practising in England can alert patients to this possibility".