The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7230 p12
4 January 2003

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Letters to the Editor

Locum pharmacy

New Year's resolution

From Mr P. A. Quinlan, MRPharmS

If contractors are unable to provide a full pharmaceutical service to the public because pharmacists will not work for them for low pay rates, then their dispensing contracts should be rescinded and awarded to contractors who will provide a full service. I have no doubt that there are many employers who will offer the appropriate pay and conditions to attract staff to provide such a service. The practice, for example, of faxing prescriptions from one pharmacy to another for dispensing should only be used in emergency conditions and should never be the norm. The public have the right to be able to have prescriptions dispensed at the pharmacy where they are presented.

All pharmacists undertaking locum duties should provide a professional service. The idea of the "token pharmacist" sitting in the corner of the dispensary reading the newspaper and taking little part in pharmaceutical activities should be a thing of the past.

Perhaps all pharmacists undertaking professional community locum duties should make a new year's resolution to charge a minimum of £20 per hour for their services. To do less would demean both themselves and the profession. I am sure that responsible employers will be pleased to pay these rates to ensure that their pharmacies are run in a proper and professional way.

Paul Quinlan
Stoke-on-Trent

Multiples should stop buying pharmacies

From Mr A. O. Agbejule, MRPharmS

Perhaps if primary care trusts would take more seriously the closure of pharmacies because of lack of pharmacists, then, and only then, will the managers of the large multiples decide to pay locums their true worth (PJ, 30 November 2002, p773). My question is, why buy more pharmacies when you cannot even manage to ensure regular pharmacist cover for the ones that you already have? The multiples should stop acquiring pharmacies if they cannot get adequate staff cover.

I am quite sure there are many young and able pharmacists who would like to buy their own pharmacies but cannot afford to do so because they have to compete with the big multiples. Maybe when the new pharmacy contract comes out, these issues will be addressed. I suggest that continuation of the dispensing contract might be linked to reliability — in terms of always being open for business when needed.

Adewale Agbejule
Saxmundham, Suffolk

Unfair to undervalue professional persons

From Mrs E. M. Nowell

What is a locum worth? What kind of a question is that? Why not ask how long is a piece of string? Conversely, we could ask how important is the main cog in a piece of machinery, and what would be the cost should that machinery grind to a halt and business and goodwill are lost?

Locums have always kept, and are keeping, open many pharmacies. Some proprietors would never have a holiday without the services of a locum.

Locums often go out at short notice, travelling greater distances than is the norm. They step into the breach and take on the duties required, often without adequate and experienced staffing levels, deal with "backlogs", work without lunch or tea-breaks and often without prompt payment.

It is a mistake and unfair to undervalue professional persons. To suggest an hourly rate that was insufficient two years ago (considering what tradesmen charge) is nothing other than an insult.

Through an agency, hourly rates and expenses are negotiated between all parties and agreed upon before the work is undertaken.

"Ripping off" is not acceptable to ourselves or our customers, but a decent rate of remuneration is required to enable us to "keep the show on the road".

All parties are working towards the same goal, ie, the agency supplies the locum, who keeps the business open and which enables the public to receive the service they require and to which they are entitled.

The mood seems to be that £19 per hour for weekdays and £20 per hour minimum on Saturdays is a more realistic figure. "Emergencies" naturally command rather more.

All locums known to my agency and my staff are greatly respected and held in high regard. We know their worth; perhaps others have yet to learn.

E. M. (Judy) Nowell
Proprietor
The Locum Agency, Bradford

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