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Lloyds Newsletter – October 2021

Keeping you informed of all the PDA Union activities within LloydsPharmacy

Fri 1st October 2021 The PDA

Welcome to our first newsletter for PDA members in Lloyds! Here, PDA reps at the company share their views on the issues that matter. We hope you enjoy this first newsletter and encourage you to share it with colleagues working at Lloyds.  

In this issue: 

  • Recognition at LloydsPharmacy
  • Pharmacists asked to move stores partway through the day
  • PDA Reps in Lloyds meet members
  • FREE PDA Membership available for trainee pharmacists
  • Pay negotiations
  • Health and Safety: Storage Space
  • Adequate rest breaks
  • Calling all our Welsh Lloyds members!
  • Key benefits of joining the PDA
  • HSE Stress and Wellbeing Survey

Recognition at LloydsPharmacy

Earlier this year, the PDA secured recognition from LloydsPharmacy as the trade union for pharmacist employees. This negotiated agreement means that pharmacists are now represented by their union, PDA at Lloyds. The company must consult with the PDA on certain issues affecting pharmacists and trainees; they must collectively negotiate pay as well as other terms and conditions and consult on other matters by working together with the union.

Some of you working within Lloyds have stepped forward to become trained PDA Union representatives responsible for standing up for, and representing colleagues, individually and collectively. Meet the PDA Reps Network in Lloyds here.

As part of this recognition agreement, the PDA Rep Network met with management for the first time as a Pharmacist Joint Consultative Committee (PJCC) in June. More information and to read the statement which followed this initial meeting can be found here.
LEARN MORE

Pharmacists asked to move stores partway through the day

By Wai Chan Lau, Pharmacist and PDA Regional Representative in North England
 
 

When a pharmacist is asked to move store, it is not just a simple matter of moving store; it can have an impact on both patients’ safety and the pharmacist’s mental health and wellbeing. If a pharmacist is put under pressure to carry out their Responsible Pharmacist (RP) responsibilities within a shorter amount of time in two different stores, the risk of avoidable errors relating to patient safety significantly increase.

We know that when pharmacists must close their store to move to another, they also often return to a backlog of work that requires ‘catch up’. This can lead to an increase in stress as well as patient safety issues and the PDA has attended several grievance meetings related to such scenarios.

One of our network members told us, “Members said, from their experience, when being asked to move store, they felt like they were left with no choice but to go as it was given as an instruction. They felt if they refused to go, they would be deemed as ‘unhelpful’, and it would jeopardise their career and their upcoming performance review.”

The PDA would like to remind all members that it is for the RP to decide what action would be in the best interests of patients at both stores, and not the employer.

This issue is not unique to Lloyds, and we are collating information about all pharmacy closures to evaluate the scale of the issue nationwide. Please report all store closures here.

PDA Reps in Lloyds meet members

By Brian Henderson, Pharmacist and PDA National Representative in Scotland
 
 

In early July, PDA reps took the first step in the process of building a strong community of PDA members in Lloyds by participating in a series of webinars where we met many members for the first time. This was an opportunity for reps and members to discuss some of the issues that affect our daily working lives at Lloyds.

There was a common theme; pay and working conditions. Concerns were raised about deteriorating levels of support staff, unmanageable workloads, and unrealistic role expectations; collectively, these are having an observable impact on the mental health of pharmacists and their teams. The inability of Lloyds to effectively organise and communicate was a common thread running through many discussions.
Longstanding rota issues and recent branch closures are now regularly impacting branches; both are illustrative of recruitment and retention difficulties within the company.

Many members expressed genuine worry about their ability to continue to deliver core services safely and professionally if present conditions are allowed to continue. With respect to all these concerns, we will engage with senior management constructively to represent your views, concerns, and to offer workable solutions.

FREE PDA Membership available for trainee pharmacists

By Anjlee Shah, Pharmacist and PDA National Representative in South East England

Welcome trainee pharmacists to Lloyds! Whether you’ve just started or are already on your journey, the PDA is here to support you throughout your pharmacy career.The PDA offers many resources including the Education Hub which can help you prepare for your upcoming exams.

Help us to help more people in the profession

Membership is FREE to trainee pharmacists, and we urge you to encourage your peers that are not yet members of the PDA to join us too. Being a member of the PDA will give you peace of mind and protection with indemnity insurance cover alongside advice and support from your recognised trade union. You can also save on your everyday spending with exclusive offers and savings available through the PDA Plus portal!
LEARN MORE

Pay negotiations

By Jahn Khan, Pharmacist and PDA National Representative in North West England
 
 

Now that we have recognition from Lloyds, the PDA will be involved with annual pay negotiations covering issues such as fair pay and a work/life balance. Importantly, our focus during these discussions will be based on the findings of a membership wide survey on pay.

Pharmacists are already successfully negotiating pay increases and other improvements by working together as PDA members at Boots and at other employers. We would like to emulate the success of those PDA colleagues and see similar successes for Lloyds pharmacists around not just around pay, but improving working conditions too.
This will be the first time that pay will be negotiated collectively rather than dictated through a ‘top-down’ approach that has been evident in Lloyds for years, and we hope that this will also result in new transparency over rates of pay.

We will be launching our first pay survey soon and urge all PDA members in Lloyds to keep an eye out for this as we need you to let us know your views. Together, let’s ensure that pharmacists in Lloyds are fairly and adequately paid.

Health and Safety: Storage Space

By Wai Chan Lau, Community Pharmacist and PDA Regional Representative in North England

Like all workplaces, accidents can happen when working in a pharmacy. We want to work with management to reduce the risk of an accident happening to you in the workplace.

A frequently mentioned concern in our recent member meetings was the lack of storage space within many Lloyds pharmacies, and the safety risks this can pose.

Members have given the PDA examples of items being stored in a variety of inappropriate places including staff toilets. In particular, we were made aware of the lack of space to store boxes of LS retail system with many pharmacies only able to store them in their consultation room. This causes several issues including safety risks to both staff and patients whilst using the consultation room.

We would like to hear from you if you have experienced this issue and ask that you contact PDA Regional Rep Aneil Nath, on Aneil.Nath@pda-union.org.

Adequate rest breaks

By Jahn Khan, Pharmacist and PDA National Representative in North West England

The PDA Reps Network in Lloyds finds that queries relating to breaks come up frequently in our conversations with pharmacists.

Breaks can be a confusing topic. As your employer, Lloyds has a duty to enable you to take adequate rest breaks. However, when you are being paid for your breaks with the provision that you remain on the premises, the boundary between rest and work can be unclear.

The Working Time Regulations 1998 states that if a pharmacist works more than 6 hours in a shift, they are entitled to a 20 minutes uninterrupted break (paid or unpaid).

We recognise that rest breaks are critical for patient safety and pharmacists’ welfare and the consequences of an error due to tiredness or being distracted through lack of an uninterrupted break can be serious. The overriding concern is that pharmacists should only practice when fit to do so.

We would ask that those of you who do not take adequate breaks to think about the impact this may have on patient safety and your own wellbeing, and to consider taking a proper break during the working day.
 

Calling all our Welsh Lloyds members!

Our PDA Reps Network in Lloyds is going from strength to strength, but we do have a vacancy and you could be the PDA National Representative for Wales.

You can meet the existing network members and find out more about the role here.

If you’d like to join the Reps Network, please get in touch by emailing clare.hirst@pda-union.org.

Key benefits of joining the PDA

By Eddie Njenga & Anjlee Shah, Pharmacists and PDA Regional Representatives
 
 

Your reputation is you; it defines your persona and career as a pharmacist. Please do not just rely on your employer’s insurance where the focus is on protecting the employer, and not you. The PDA was created by pharmacists, for pharmacists, so that individual members of the profession have someone on their side at the time of a claim.

For more information, please see our recent latest news article ‘When you walk through a storm – do not rely on someone else’s umbrella!’
The PDA Union was established so that PDA members could also benefit from the status and rights of an independent trade union. As a union member, your voice can be heard in our discussions with the employer to achieve better pay and working conditions. Trained representatives and legal officials are also in place to act for our members should they encounter any professional or employment challenges.

Other benefits of membership are access to professional advice, training and development, including PDA Education courses, and contributing to the voice of the largest pharmacists’ membership organisation and only independent trade union exclusively for UK pharmacists. The PDA does not just engage with employers, we also have an ongoing dialogue with governments, regulators and other stakeholders that impact on your practice, ensuring that the collective voice of the individual pharmacist is heard by decision-makers.

If you know someone who is not yet a member of the PDA, please encourage them to join today. Remember the more Lloyds pharmacists we have as members of the PDA, the stronger our voice and the more we can champion you and your needs!
JOIN THE PDA TODAY

HSE Stress and Wellbeing Survey

We are asking all PDA members employed by Lloyds to undertake a survey that will inform the future work of your reps and help set the agenda for the next PDA and employer meeting (known as Joint Pharmacist Consulting Committee).
COMPLETE THE SURVEY HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Register No 307063)

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