Concerns raised about pharmacists’ pay and work-life balance

The Pharmacist

More than half of pharmacists responding to a snapshot survey conducted by The Pharmacist suggested they would consider strike action or withdrawing their services. Of the almost 200 pharmacists working across the UK in community or practice settings who responded to the survey, 71% thought their pay was inadequate.

Other findings of note were:

• Half of community pharmacists reported working overtime nearly every week;
• Respondents reported they didn’t feel valued by the Government or NHS; and
• Around three-quarters of pharmacists said they experienced abuse from patients at least once a month.

Half of pharmacists would consider strike action, snapshot survey suggests | The Pharmacist

We were asked to respond to these findings and below is our comment in full.

Our CEO Janet Morrison said:

“Community pharmacy teams have been working under immense pressures: this is not acceptable and not sustainable, as we continue to tell policymakers, politicians and the national press. As well as our work on the current critical negotiations, and making the case for a wider funding uplift and other easements ahead of upcoming CPCF negotiations, we are supporting initiatives such as the RPS and Pharmacist Support’s Pharmacy Workforce Wellbeing campaign. Most pharmacies are working at well beyond full capacity and pharmacy owners are having to take drastic action such as cutting back on services and reducing opening hours just to make ends meet.

We have been raising these issues for many months, as well as reminding Ministers of all that a fully funded pharmacy sector could offer, and this ultimately led to the biggest spending commitment for community pharmacy in many years being made in May. It is critical that we get this funding flowing into pharmacies as quickly as possible. We are doing everything within our power to make that happen, but the negotiating process has involved a complex process of cross-Governmental sign-off and we also need to make sure that we get to the right answers as the outcome of these negotiations will have far-reaching implications for the sector.

This past year has been pivotal for community pharmacy and the launch of the Vision for Community Pharmacy is helping to cement that, setting out a positive way forward for the sector. We will be using this powerful influencing tool to showcase our value to Government and the NHS, helping secure a better future for community pharmacy.”