More changes at LloydsPharmacy continue to be notified to impacted staff and also to the PDA as their recognised trade union.
Changes to date have included:
- Branch closures, including the closure of all LloydsPharmacy branches located within Sainsbury’s stores
- Sales of branches, leading to TUPE transfers of staff to the new owners of each branch
- Intra-group TUPE transfers of employment to newly created Hallo Healthcare companies, including employees working at Outpatient Pharmacy Dispensing (OPD) locations and at John Bell & Croydon.
- End of contracts with other public bodies, including the decision not to retender for the Scottish Prison Contract, which will lead to either a TUPE transfer or to potential redundancies.
Other recently confirmed changes, not previously highlighted by the PDA, include:
- A TUPE transfer of those working on the contract at HMP Bedford and Yarl’s Wood IRC to Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
- A TUPE transfer of those working on a Mental Health contract for the North Cumbria Integrated Care NHS Trust and the Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trusts back to inhouse within NHS.
PDA’s recognition as the trade union which represents pharmacists employed at LloydsPharmacy is included in any TUPE transfer, therefore pharmacists that transfer may want to consider training to be a union representative at their new employer, as existing workplace representatives will continue to operate only within their own employer.
For now, LloydsPharmacy continues to be the second largest pharmacy multiple chain in the UK, but the business continues to significantly reduce in size. Currently the third largest community pharmacy multiple chain is Well Pharmacy, owned by Bestway, with around 735 pharmacies.
Whatever the future for PDA members in any of the Hallo Healthcare companies or if TUPE transferred to a different employer, the PDA Union will be representing pharmacist members to ensure they understand and can exercise their rights at work. PDA members impacted by these changes can also contact the PDA Member Support Centre for advice on their individual circumstances.
Because the PDA is a trade union for employed and locum pharmacists practicing in any part of the health sector and in any part of the UK, union members currently employed at LloydsPharmacy can remain with the PDA wherever they work as a pharmacist in future.
Situations like those described above can happen at any employer at any time, and so any employed or locum pharmacists who are not yet PDA members are encouraged to join without delay so that if something like the above impacts them they too can rely upon the PDA for support.
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.