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The COVID-19 pandemic has made virtual care a normal thing in the healthcare industry. More than 41 million telehealth claims were filed between April and July 2020. Here are the impacts, both positive and negative, of telemedicine.

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'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 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.

Even as junior doctors in England are set to take industrial action for three days next month in a 72-hour walkout from Monday 13 March, the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists (GHP) has been discouraging its members from taking any additional work during the strike. "GPH members are advised to only carry out work they are qualified, competent and safe to undertake that is contained within their job description," it said in a statement. It noted that given the current staffing level within hospital pharmacy, it was unlikely that any additional capacity will be available perform the tasks usually undertaken by junior doctors.