Pharmacy conditions survey heralds launch of new defence association
Employees and locums are asked to describe the environment of the
pharmacies they work in |
A survey of the conditions under which employee and locum community pharmacists work is being undertaken as part of the launch of the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA), a new legal service.
The PDA is asking around 25,000 pharmacists to complete a questionnaire.
This asks for details of hours and conditions of work, the level of individual
professional control they believe they have at work and whether they
think patient safety has ever been put at risk by their workload or the
way in which they are asked to work. The survey will be analysed by MEL
Research at Aston University, Birmingham, and the results are expected
before the end of the year.
Mark Koziol, director of the Pharmacists’ Defence Association,
told The Journal that the survey is an extension of questionnaires that
the PDA has been sending to pharmacists involved in legal cases relating
to dispensing errors. “We have been asking pharmacists to ‘paint
us a picture’ of the pharmacy and its working environment”.
Issues highlighted by the survey will be followed up in focus group work.
The PDA will offer its members legal advice and representation in four
main areas — civil actions for compensation, professional disciplinary
actions, employment disputes and criminal prosecutions. The association
is also seeking to represent the interests of employee and locum pharmacists
by lobbying professional and Government bodies on their behalf.
The PDA has set up an advisory board of pharmacists and legal experts.
They will be able to act for and advise PDA members directly.
The establishment of the PDA means that the previously planned Independent
Pharmacists Association will not now go ahead. Graham Southall-Edwards,
who proposed the IPA (PJ, 11 January, p40) told The
Journal that the
IPA would probably not have been financially viable. He is satisfied
that the aims of the PDA are the same as those proposed for the IPA.
He said: “I think that the PDA will prove to be of substantial
benefit to pharmacists.” Mr Southall-Edwards, a pharmacist and
barrister, will be an advisory board member and act as defence counsel
to the PDA. |
