Guidance wanted on rest breaks for pharmacy staff
Specific guidance to pharmacy owners to ensure that provision is made for appropriate breaks to be taken by staff when working long shifts was called for from the Society's Council.
Proposing a motion to that effect, Brenda Ecclestone (Cheltenham and
Gloucester) said that it was not in the patient’s best interests
for a pharmacist to work without rest breaks. Doing so infringed the
European Community working hours directive, which encouraged a 20-minute
break away from the working area after six hours of continuous work.
Seconding the motion, Elizabeth Doran (British Pharmaceutical Students
Association) said that, as a sometime locum, she had been expected to
do 14-hour shifts by herself without a break.
Tony Pugh (Brighton) said that employers had been taken to court for
abuse of human rights for making staff work a 12-hour non-break shift.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal