• We need your help to make a difference – one pharmacy at a time!
• Have you booked your place at the PDA National Conference?
• PDA Charity Fundraising Dinner in aid of Pharmacist Support
• Sharing Smartcard access could result in an instant dismissal
• Health Education England cuts funding for hospital pre-registration pharmacists in England
• Department of Health and Social Care publish NHS Long Term Plan
• Pharmacists start countdown to Boots Ballot
• MORPh Training Events: February – March 2019

We need your help to make a difference – one pharmacy at a time!

We are always working on a range of campaigns to help improve the working lives of pharmacists. You may have heard about our campaign to get PDA Union recognition at Boots. For those of you that don’t work at Boots, you may be wondering, ‘what has this ballot got to do with me and what impact will this have on my working life?’.

It is important to note that, although our community pharmacy recognition efforts are currently focused on Boots, recognition here is just the first step on our journey to become recognised across many other pharmacy employers, where we would also like to negotiate over terms and working conditions on things such as pay, training, holidays, and ensuring all pharmacists get adequate breaks.

The success of this campaign depends on whether your colleagues at Boots succeed in their ballot for PDA Union recognition, which is due to commence on 4th February 2019. You can help our profession by encouraging any Boots pharmacist you know to vote in this important ballot.

This ballot matters to ALL pharmacists across community pharmacy and beyond.

We hope you can help to support us in our efforts to improve the lives of ALL pharmacists. 

Have you booked your place at the
PDA National Conference? 

The conference will offer you the opportunity to catch up with everything that the PDA has been doing on your behalf, hear from renowned national and international speakers, engage in discussions and network with your peers.

The conference is FREE FOR PDA MEMBERS; however places are limited so we urge you to reserve your place as soon as possible. Non-members that would like to attend can pay £195 to attend both days or £110 to attend either one of the two days.

PDA Charity Fundraising Dinner in aid of Pharmacist Support

We are committed to supporting the professions charity, Pharmacist Support and to further our support, we are hosting a fundraising dinner at the Park Regis Hotel (the same venue as the National Conference), on the evening of day one of the conference (Saturday 30th March). Tickets are priced at just £40 per person. To find out more information, or book a place at the charity dinner, please visit: www.the-pda.org/events/pdacharitydinner.

The PDA currently donate £1 to Pharmacist Support for every one of our members, including student and pre-registration trainees who have a completely free membership. In the first year of the partnership (Sept 2017 – Sept 2018), we donated over £29,000 to the charity.

19/01/19 – Should Boots be proud of their pay practice?

18/01/19 – Are the new Defences to criminal prosecution for dispensing errors effective?

11/01/19 – Whatever their Brexit view, pharmacists have no control of supply

08/01/19 – PDA respond to the DHSC’s Informal consultation on urgent changes to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012

07/01/19 – NHS England misses the opportunity to evidence sustainability of the GP pharmacist role