Whilst many of these pharmacists can be supported with the provision of advice to allow members to secure satisfactory results for themselves, many require a long and detailed intervention involving the PDA’s office based pharmacists, legal executives, lawyers or barristers.
In the most complex of cases, such as with Elizabeth Lee, the PDA additionally spends considerable sums on the best leading counsel that can be found.
The PDA defends pharmacists if they face professional disciplinary proceedings, criminal prosecutions, civil claims for compensation and by far and away the most frequent, in employment disputes.
On a typical day, a PDA legal advocate may be representing one or more pharmacists at a disciplinary hearing of the GPhC, experienced PDA pharmacists may be accompanying members to a formal interview being undertaken by a GPhC inspector and one or more PDA Union representatives may be in far flung corners of the country providing direct support to members facing disciplinary proceedings at the hands of their employer. Simultaneously, a large case load of civil claims for compensation against pharmacists will be handled by the office based legal team.
Whilst the defence work involves helping pharmacists who are already in difficulty, the policy influencing activities that seek to prevent pharmacists from being exposed to unnecessary risks in the first place are being undertaken by PDA officials on a national stage on an ongoing and full time basis. As the feature on the Responsible Pharmacist saga describes, this often involves a sustained effort over a prolonged period; not to mention a considerable financial expenditure being incurred.
The work of the PDA can also involve creating a coalition for change such as the decriminalisation of dispensing errors where the PDA is working very closely with the NPA, the IPF, the CCA and the RPS to ensure that the law relating to inadvertent dispensing errors is changed.
It is not always possible to be so friendly with all of these organisations. When I qualified as a pharmacist, the pharmacy multiples represented around 15% of pharmacies in the UK; today they represent the majority. During my time on the RPSGB Council in 1997 – 2000, I saw only too well how the professional pharmacy agenda was capable of being influenced by the pharmacy multiples, today, that influence is organised and significant. Whilst no one denies the pharmacy multiples their say, one of the main reasons why the PDA was established just a few years ago was to ensure that the voice of the individual pharmacist is also taken account of wherever and whenever the professional agenda for pharmacy is being developed.
Pharmacy today is being practiced in an increasingly hostile environment and modern professional representation for pharmacists is a very serious undertaking. It requires and deserves a very comprehensive, significantly resourced and well prepared effort and we believe that Boots pharmacists should not settle for any less.
We know that already, in excess of 2,000 pharmacists working for Boots are in PDA membership and that is why we recently wrote to Boots seeking that they formally recognise us as a union voluntarily.
However, their response was;
“We see our pharmacists as an integral part of our stores teams in Boots, rather than as a separate interest group”
We vehemently disagree and we believe that so should every Boots pharmacist who has succeeded in receiving a highly respected professional qualification and who carries additional and weighty professional and legal responsibilities that often exceed those of a large store manager, let alone staff employed in store.
Consequently, we have now lodged a formal request for union recognition with Boots head office because we believe that Boots pharmacists need and deserve the benefits of collective workplace representation. Our formal application is governed by legislation and if things go as we hope, then this may well lead to a formal ballot.
We are not suggesting that formal recognition would lead to instant success, but it would certainly allow us to commence a long term programme which sought to ensure that the professional, legal and employment rights of pharmacists within Boots where protected.
In the last few years we have invested significant efforts in many campaigns where we have placed the individual pharmacist agenda at the very heart of our thinking. Formal recognition within Boots will allow us to apply our efforts and determination to ensure that Boots pharmacists can enjoy what they deserve; modern professional workplace representation.
We believe that for Boots pharmacists, this is one of those moments that only rarely presents itself if at all and we appeal to all of you, whether you are currently in PDA membership or not, to consider the potential benefits of such an arrangement.
Article published in Insight Winter 2011