The PDA Union - Strength In Numbers

In the six months that the PDA Union has been legally recognised, the Executive Committee has met three times. The Locum and Community Employee membership groups have held inaugural meetings, and the Hospital and Primary Care groups will have met by the time this magazine is distributed. In the meantime, the Executive has been busy organising the structure and future policy while the day-to-day support for members has continued as before.

Individual representation

To date, there have been more than 20 cases in which a union offcer or offcial has accompanied a pharmacist involved in a disciplinary or grievance hearing. It is evident from the outcomes that we are having a signifcant impact, though we are most troubled by the lack of training that middle managers receive to conduct these processes. In a recent employment tribunal hearing, the tribunal criticised a large employer organisation for the quality of their investigations and the lack of training in such matters.

Group representation

The PDA Union has not only acted for individuals but also on behalf of groups of pharmacists, as the following shows:

• We became aware of a proposal by a company, owning a number of 100-hour pharmacies, to withdraw security guards at night. The Union highlighted Health and Safety concerns and the company agreed to drop the proposals pending further discussion.
• In another case, we represented 10 (medicines management) pharmacists employed by a PCT. Their grievance was that the team had been undermined and under-resourced, as part of a management plan to separate the commissioning and provision of services, making ready for outsourcing without any proper consultations. As a consequence, the management has been forced to review their options.
• We have also been invited to meet the Lloydspharmacy employment relations manager to discuss relevant issues.

Governance activity

The Executive has spent time on key organisational matters in the formative months; it has now achieved all the immediate targets to ensure the Union has satisfed its legal requirements, and the challenge now is to put a structure in place to better support our members in the future and to continue to develop communication channels with our members.

Locum Group Committee meeting

Locums are acutely aware of problems that exist in communications between primary care organisations and their members. Letters and notices are sent to contractors and employees; locums are often left out of the loop and frequently have no information about whom to contact in the PCOs regarding any key issues. Locum members’ diffculties in practising across PCO boundaries are exacerbated by the need to be accredited for additional services with each PCO.

The locum group calls for a national accreditation scheme and better communications to our members.

In addressing the issue of suppressed locum fees, the membership group is aware that publication of a suggested scale of fees is legally not allowed under competition rules; however, it will be possible to produce a guide based on workload and additional services similar to that produced by the BMA for locum doctors. The Union has recently sent all members a response to the new Lloyds, Boots and Rowland’s contracts for locums, showing the average fees secured by locums in certain
geographical regions.

The Community Employee Committee

The stresses placed on employee pharmacists to meet medicine use review targets, often with no additional resources, and the problems brought by the increasing trend of non-pharmacist manager appointments, were two key issues addressed by the community employee membership group.

Investigating occupational stress is a key cornerstone of Union strategy.

Although it is the membership groups’ responsibility to canvass opinion, we want to encourage members to raise issues for consideration proactively.

All Union members are therefore potentially “activists” and the problem that they think is unique to them may be a problem experienced by a large number of pharmacists.

Way forward

A great deal has been achieved in 12 months. This time last year it was just being announced that the PDA was to form a union and committee nominations were being requested. Since then, elections have been held, the union formed, listing has been achieved, 13,000 members have
enlisted and the work of representing those members has started in earnest.

The Executive will now consolidate the achievements of the past year and formulate a strategy for the future. It is clear that the issues affecting pharmacists that led to the formation of the Union are still a concern and we forecast that the next 12 months will continue to be a busy time.

As the largest voluntary group of pharmacists in the profession, we enjoy a unique position. Let us put that infuence to good use; the more you can encourage your colleagues to join and the more involved you can be, the stronger we will become.