Until his promotion to his new post, Neil Gray was an approachable and admired Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing, Economy, Fair Work and Energy, and the PDA previously met with him as part of a Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) delegation to discuss fair work. The PDA welcomes his appointment and hopes to continue the positive dialogue with him in his new post.
The PDA believes pharmacists currently face potential burn out due to their working conditions. They need to see changes such as more time for professional development and assured levels of staffing to enable them to fully utilise their professional skills and expertise and benefit more patients for a range of currently unmet needs.
With the right conditions, Scotland’s pharmacists can bring much more to the profession that will improve patient outcomes and reduce pressure on other parts of the NHS. The PDA as the representative of those pharmacists are ready to come to the table and talk with the government, civil servants, health boards, and pharmacist employers to ensure this can be achieved. Through the PDA the issues of concern for employed and locum pharmacists across the health sector can be raised with the Cabinet Secretary and his department.
As well as wanting to ensure fair funding for the NHS to support a sustainable and properly supported workforce across all areas where pharmacists practice, the PDA will be calling for Neil Gray to introduce the provisions of Scotland’s Fair Work legislation into the community pharmacy sector. This will ensure that the voice of the workforce is heard equitably, alongside the voice of employers.
The PDA would welcome Neil Gray emphasising the importance of pharmacists as an integral part of NHS healthcare delivery in Scotland and the importance of them practicing in fair work environments.
Locum, part-time, and portfolio workers constitute a significant proportion of the pharmacist workforce and yet they are often unable to access opportunities for training and development. The PDA will therefore encourage the Cabinet Secretary to support ways that training can be more accessible for the entire profession, including funded access to become independent prescribers.
Action is also urgently required to change the community pharmacy contract which continues to pay pharmacist owners when they choose to take the commercial decision to temporarily close pharmacies at short notice rather than engaging locum pharmacists at a reasonable rate, citing non-existent pharmacist shortages. Scotland’s patients deserve better than closed doors and exclusion from essential NHS services.
The PDA looks forward to working constructively with the new Cabinet Secretary.
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