STUC Congress 2024 will take place in Caird Hall, Dundee from Monday 15 to Wednesday 17 April. The Congress is the key annual event at which trade unions in Scotland can raise awareness with colleagues working across all other areas of industry, public and third sectors around the issues that their members are facing.
In response to feedback from pharmacists in Scotland, the PDA has submitted three motions to Congress, with one concerning role substitution in healthcare. This is a highly relevant topic with the issue of physician associates taking on some activity from doctors and the proposals for pharmacy technicians currently receiving significant media attention and being discussed in parliament.
The PDA’s motion on protecting the public from the consequences of role substitution in healthcare is not only about the importance of patients knowing who they are speaking to, and having confidence that the individual is skilled, capable, and confident to be able to carry out their role and support their health needs. The motion also seeks to ensure standards of competency and avoid lower-paid workers being exploited by being forced to take on activities on their salaries which were previously undertaken by higher-paid colleagues.
Protecting the public from the consequences of role substitution in healthcare.
‘‘That this Congress believes clear role definition within health and social care reduces risk, improves patient outcomes, and enhances the quality of care while improving worker wellbeing, along with improved work environment and culture.
Congress believes patients must be protected from potential harm from situations where there is confusion about the roles a team member undertakes or where underqualified staff are coming under pressure to undertake activity for which they are not suitably competent.
Congress agrees that for patients to receive safe, effective care from motivated and empowered health workers that:
- When patients access care from any healthcare team it must be clear to them the role each person performs so that their expectations & confidence in the advice or care provided is appropriate. Roles must be clearly defined, and patients should never conclude an individual is qualified in a role, for which they are not.
- No healthcare workers should be coerced into taking on additional activities/responsibilities beyond their competence and capability to provide safely. Individuals must be able to decline duties which they are not competent to undertake. Health workers must not be encouraged to perform beyond the bounds of their current competence.
- Workers developing their competence must have the requisite education, training, and support to build skills and knowledge before undertaking new activities. Credentialled, quality-checked training must be available to support professional development that relates to activity that may impact patients.
- Where an individual is learning new skills there must be appropriate supervision from a suitably registered health professional, ensuring support and guidance is available whenever needed.
- Workers taking on additional responsibilities should also receive financial reward that fairly reflects their capability. Junior or less qualified colleagues must not be expected to take responsibility for activities for less money than those currently holding responsibility for those activities.’’
Other topics being raised by the PDA’s delegation are calls for support in getting fair work principles into community pharmacy. Ensuring that the voice of pharmacists is heard when the community pharmacy contract is negotiated between the Scottish government and community pharmacy Scotland, and calls for all pharmacists in Scotland to have read/write access to patient records.
Like all the motions proposed, if Congress supports the PDA’s proposals, they will become the policy of the STUC which will then act to enable these proposals so that they can be carried out.
The STUC is Scotland’s trade union centre, which works to coordinate and articulate the views and policies of the trade union movement in Scotland. As an affiliate organisation, the PDA represents the interests of pharmacists and raises the concerns that matter most to its members. As part of the STUC congress, the PDA’s delegation will get to vote on all motions and the delegates will be supporting several other motions put forward by affiliated trade unions that aim to improve the lives of Scottish workers.
Members who would like to learn more or get involved in PDA Scotland should contact PDA National Officer for Scotland, Paul Flynn, at Paul.Flynn@pda-union.org.
Learn more
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- PDA to present motion at STUC Women’s Conference 2023
- PDA BAME Network to attend 27th Annual STUC Black Workers’ Conference
- PDA trainee pharmacist members attend the STUC Youth Conference 2023
- PDA LGBT+ Network members attend the STUC’s LGBT+ Workers Conference
- PDA presents anti-racist motion at STUC Congress
- PDA members participate in the Annual Congress of the STUC
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.
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