The new Co-operative Pharmacy locum agreement; PDA advice

Co-operative Pharmacy have recently produced a revised 'Contract for Services' for pharmacists performing locum services in their pharmacies. We have examined the contract and notwithstanding the fact that the Company views it as being fair, our advice is that the responsibilities contained within the document are onerous; the clauses are too restrictive and some are unnecessarily vague giving the Co-operative the greatest flexibility. In other words, the contract is very much one sided and unfair.

Those clauses that have caused us concern are set out below together with our comments for your consideration. The decision as to whether or not you sign the Agreement is ultimately yours to make and you may sign it in its current format, suggest amendments via the Locum Scheduling Team or refuse to sign it thereby refusing to provide the Co-operative with your services.

1.2 This agreement supersedes any prior agreements whether written or oral.

It should be made clear to the Co-operative that all previous bookings must be honoured and the Agreement will only take effect with regards to bookings not yet made. This means that the terms of existing bookings will remain in place.

3.8 .....where the locum chooses not to follow SOPs then the Locum shall furnish the Pharmacy Superintendent with a copy of his SOP five working days prior to taking the booking......

If you are the Responsible Pharmacist you have a statutory responsibility to ensure that SOPs are in existence, reviewed and maintained. It should therefore be the case that the issue of SOPs is a matter for your professional judgment and prior disclosure of these should not be necessary.

3.10 The Locum will be expected to deliver all services where accredited .....Refusal for non professional reasons may result in cancellation of future bookings, without any recompense.

This clause should be amended to state that it is a matter for the Locum to determine if he/she wishes to provide Emergency Hormonal Contraception.

3.12The Locum ensures the use of mobile phones is prohibited during the pharmacy opening hours except in emergencies.

This is undoubtedly something that will be a problem for most of you as your livelihood depends entirely upon you being available to accept bookings during the course of your working day. Accepting a booking from an agency for example would not constitute an emergency situation. This is something you may wish to negotiate with the Co-operative.

3.16....The Locum shall indemnify and keep indemnified the Owner against any liability, loss, damage, cost, claim or expense the Owner suffers or incurs as a result of any claims against the Owner for such sums and any other claims arising out of the Locum being found to be an employee of the Owner.

The responsibility for ensuring that the lines between a self employed and employee relationship do not become blurred must lie with the Co-operative. It is often the case that companies insist that locums take on what are generally regarded as managerial responsibilities and when enquiries are made by the Inland Revenue as to the status of the individual, they try and extract themselves from any investigations. A concern for us is that companies are often more than happy for you to take on these additional responsibilities and you can then be left to deal with the consequences of doing so alone. Companies need to start taking ownership of these matters and ensure that you are not forced to carry out any tasks that may result in you being regarded as an employee by the Inland Revenue.

3.18 The Locum will inform the Pharmacy Superintendent's Office of details of any pending investigations by any regulatory body or any other matter which may effect current or future fitness to practise.

This may cause some of you concern and you may wish to negotiate the removal of this clause.

4.2 The Locum is required to take a rest break as per the agreed arrangement in the branch.

This may of course mean that no rest period will be permitted. We cannot stress enough the importance of taking a period of rest to have a mental and physical break at a time when you feel you need a break. The issue of rest breaks should not depend on whether the branch you are working at closes for lunch or not; it is a matter for you and ONLY YOU to decide if you need a break. This should ideally take place at the time of booking and you should make clear that you will not be paid for the break and consequently will not remain signed on as the Responsible Pharmacist. It will then be the responsibility of the Co-operative to find someone to sign on as RP. Clause 4.4 will be relevant to this issue also.

4.8 The Locum may not close the branch or affect branch trading hours without consulting with the Pharmacy Superintendent's Office.

This clause should be amended to state without "notifying" rather than consulting. The decision as to whether you close the branch should be yours to make and you should only be required to notify others of your decision.

4.11 The Locum will inform the Owner if he has a conflict of interest due to links directly or indirectly with a neighbouring Pharmacy or a Competitor Pharmacy. The Owner will cancel all bookings if the Locum is in breach without any cause for recompense.

This clause is vague and some further details of what would constitute a neighbouring pharmacy or competitor pharmacy are required. Some measure of the distance would be useful.

6.1 ....the Locum shall invoice the Owner for the gross fee on completion of the booking within two weeks of undertaking the placement.

6.3...The Locum agrees that the Owner may reclaim all monies due and owing to it from any Locum fees due.

6.10 Fees and expenses should be claimed on a weekly basis and should not be allowed to accumulate for more than six weeks. Any queries should be made aware to the Owner within 30 days of receipt.

These clauses are onerous and although many of you will be very organised, this could represent an administrative nightmare for you. What is interesting is that the Co-operative does not make any mention of when it will pay you. This should be included as a term of the Agreement so that you have a commitment from them. The other terms should not apply. Most of you will be aware that you have six years to pursue a claim for non-payment of your locum fees in the civil courts. Why would you wish to sign an Agreement where you are effectively agreeing to forfeit that right?

The Co-operative also states in a separate document which was included with your revised Contract that “you must send copies or originals of your petrol or diesel receipts when submitting any claims for mileage from now on without exception”.

We consider this to be an invasion of your right to privacy. We are certain that all of you will not wish the Co-operative to know where you purchased fuel from; on what day or what time of the day. Many of you purchase other items along with fuel and the fact that you happened to treat yourself to a coffee and a pastry (or even items of a personal nature) at any time should remain your private business.

Aside from this of course is the fact that submitting a receipt for petrol purchased on a Saturday for instance, when providing your services to the Co-operative on a Wednesday serves no purpose whatsoever as it does not reflect the amount of petrol that was used for the journey between your home address and the place of booking. Even a receipt for petrol purchased on the day of the booking would not evidence this either.

What indeed would someone who carries out an emergency booking do when attempting to evidence that they had used fuel? If for example petrol has been purchased the day prior to an emergency booking being accepted, how exactly does the Co-operative suggest a locum goes about evidencing petrol expenses when the receipt has already been disposed of? What measures does the Co-operative have in place to prevent locums from simply submitting fuel receipts from their partners, friends or anyone else?This term relating to the production of petrol reveipts (which incidentally you may need foryour own accounting and tax purposes) is nonsensical and scandalous and we advise all our members make it absolutely clear that they will not be complying with it and that it should be removed from their contract forthwith.

7.1 Refers to the notice periods that apply in the event of cancellations.

7.1 is very restrictive and 7.3 means that you will only receive full payment of the fee you would have received had there been no cancellation if the cancellation is made on the day or day before the booking. Any notice period and the terms that apply should be mutually beneficial.

7.4 Should be expanded upon to make provision for what "reasonable change of placement" means.

9.1 Should be qualified to state that details of any complaints made by patients or staff must be reported to the Locum to deal with in the first instance. This will mean that claims are not settled by the Co-operative and they will then look to you for reimbursement. A clause like this could invalidate your insurance.