In January, PDA negotiated a new, higher, starting salary for newly qualified pharmacists at Boots, and the union welcome the fact that this year’s provisionally registered pharmacists (Prov-Regs) will be paid the same.
Prov-regs at Boots are part of the bargaining unit represented by the PDAU and their salaries will now be subject to negotiation between the company and the union. Boots have now begun advertising for prov-regs at the agreed £36,600 annual salary.
Although Prov-Regs cannot locum and have additional supervision requirements, they can be the responsible pharmacist and therefore will hold professional responsibility for the running of their pharmacy. It is right that they should be paid no less than a newly qualified pharmacist would have been paid this year if the pandemic had not occured.
It is important for the profession that these rates are upheld so that the professional contribution of any pharmacist is respected and any further “race to the bottom” on salary rates, similar to that regularly reported by locums, can be avoided.