Pharmacists can be paid differently for doing the same job because of how they are employed. Those employed by GP Federations in Northern Ireland have therefore been engaging with their representatives at the legislative assembly to seek support in addressing the issue of inconsistent pay for pharmacists doing the same role. MLAs are now responding with some raising the issue with the Health Minister.
Pharmacists employed directly by the state, such as by Health Boards, are employed on the Agenda for Change (AfC) terms and conditions which are common across the NHS. However, about 400 pharmacists who are employed by GP Federations are on different pay structures.
GP Federations are collaborative networks of General Practitioners established to improve healthcare by promoting cooperation and resource sharing among GP practices. There are 17 GP Federations across Northern Ireland. Each GP Federation is owned by GP practices in its geographical area, aligned to the 17 Integrated Care Partnerships.
In general, these GP Federation employed pharmacists were recruited into roles designed to mirror AfC banding, but this consistency has not been maintained over time which has created a divergence in pay for pharmacists on these two separate arrangements. It should be noted that while pharmacists were the first group hired into federations, other professions have since joined on terms that are matched to AfC conditions.
Some federation employed pharmacists have now been in the situation where they are in a practice working alongside a pharmacist colleague employed directly by the Health Board, doing the same role, with the same patient population, but being paid on different, less favourable terms and conditions.
In conversations between the PDA, the membership representative body and trade union for pharmacists, and the representatives of the federations, it has been confirmed that those employers also would want pay to be consistent with those directly state employed peers. The barrier to this being implemented is that they must wait for the Department of Health Strategic Planning and Performance Group (SPPG) to approve the funding for that to happen.
PDA members are grateful to those MLAs who are acting to help resolve this disparity and accelerate the SPPG decision so that pay becomes consistent. The PDA will continue to campaign on this issue.
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