The PDA recognises that the well-being services offered by employers and specialist charities such as the PDA’s charity partner Pharmacist Support play an important part in helping pharmacists who may be experiencing stress.
However, the PDA is also committed to working with members to challenge employers to provide well workplaces and to help them to make real impact changes. This can be done by addressing the causes of stress and fulfilling their responsibilities to their employees.
DOWNLOAD THE FACTSHEET BELOW
Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, employers are required by law to protect employees from harm. Their legal obligations include identifying hazards and risks and implementing ways to reduce or eliminate them. The PDA’s new factsheet highlights the importance of employers recognising the hazards causing stress as the health and safety issues they are.
During the PDA’s 75-minute event attendees discussed the realities of how stress impacts their working lives and reflected on how they can work with employers to improve this.
The event referenced the earlier Health and Safety Executive (HSE) Stress and Wellbeing surveys undertaken by the PDA within community and hospital settings. The PDA utilised the HSE Management Standards for context and members shared their daily experiences across community, hospital, and primary care settings including the demands placed on them through short staffing, additional workloads, and often unsupportive organisational structures.
One member said, “The practice I work in has recently lost a valued team member through the stress she was under, and there is no-one to replace her for the next few months while they recruit. As no-one else is trained to do her role, her work coming to me and the other pharmacist – on top of our full-to-bursting clinics and admin responsibilities. Breaks are a thing of the past at the moment!”
“I think there is a lack of recognition that regardless of how much work there is to be done, there is only so much that can physically be done. Being told that you’ll just have to ‘step up’ is not helpful or realistic.”
“The challenge for pharmacists in community is that so much of the time you are the sole pharmacist in the building – no disrespect to the colleagues we work with, but when you are the only pharmacist, it is isolating.”
PDA members attending the launch event agreed that the opportunity to share experiences and reflect on the ways employers can reduce stress risk factors was a useful way to reduce feelings of isolation. The event also served as an important reminder that so many issues that pharmacists face are being experienced by so many others within the profession. The PDA encourages all members to download and share their new factsheet and to talk to colleagues about their experiences.
There are many forms of support available for those experiencing stress or burnout, regardless of its source. Pharmacist Support offers a variety of services for pharmacy students, trainees, and pharmacists. The Samaritans are also available to listen to those who need it 24 hours a day on 116 123.
Get involved
- PDA members please download and share the factsheet with fellow pharmacists.
- Become a PDA Rep.
- Discuss the causes and solutions to stress with colleagues and your local PDA Rep and make recommendations to your employer.
- Share the PDA’s posts about this topic on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Learn more
- Stress in the workplace
- Stress and mental health at work
- The high pressure and stress of working as a community pharmacist
- Pharmacist Support
- Samaritans
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, trainee pharmacists and for the first three months of being newly qualified.
Read about our key member benefits here.