When the Covid crisis first occurred in 2020, the PDA spent a considerable amount of time persuading some NHS officials that pharmacists are a highly adaptable and important part of the overall healthcare workforce and that they should be relied upon to support Covid-19 related activity. This time, no such persuasion was needed, as in this last year, pharmacists have more than shown their worth and the NHS has asked the PDA for assistance.
The opportunities for pharmacists available in the vaccination programme may be different depending on geographical location and the expertise of the pharmacist. Although we have listed all NHS areas in the UK, not all of these will have a need for additional support at this time, but that could change going forward. We expect that those more likely to need help are thoseareas that include larger cities and urban areas. Arrangements on pay may also vary and will be determined by negotiation locally between the pharmacists and the local NHS organisation.
The PDA cannot guarantee that all those participating in this exercise will be offered work, our role will simply be to provide the NHS organisations with the details of pharmacists who have registered an interest to work in the vaccination programme in the areas that they have indicated. It will then be for the NHS locally to determine the extent of their requirements and then to make contact to fulfil these.
The objective of the PDA is to assist the national programme and therefore non-PDA member pharmacists are also welcome to register. All pharmacists who are able to assist are also encouraged to look for other opportunities to help the NHS and should not rely exclusively on our initiative.
Pharmacists who wish to work in the programme as vaccinators need to have training as outlined in the NHS document “Training Recommendations for Covid-19 vaccinators” which can be found here.
Additionally, those who may require Covid-19 vaccination indemnity protection can click here for more information about the PDA option.
Any pharmacists is welcome to register, whether you are a community or hospital pharmacist employee with some available time, a locum with availability of dates, you simply want to work in another part of the country for a short period of time to be nearer friends and family or for any other reason, the NHS may well need your help.
Please follow the link below to register your interest and indicate your geographical preferences.
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students and trainee pharmacists.
Read about our key member benefits here.