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Letters to the Editor
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Agenda for change
Evidence of inequality has resulted in disenchantment and poor morale
From Mrs C. M. MacKenzie, MRPharmS
In early June I attended a long-service ceremony, in my case to celebrate
30 years’ service as a pharmacist with the NHS. The board chairman
thanked us for our service, dedication and contribution to the NHS. On
that day I felt proud and valued.
One week later I received my Agenda for Change banding. My banding is such
that I will be on protected salary for a considerable number of years — effectively
a pay cut. Basically, my NHS board believes that I am not worth what it
is paying me. This has evoked various feelings, including anger, disappointment,
hurt, disillusionment and shame. Worst of all it has made me question my
self worth. It has affected both my work and home life.
I have worked in mental health pharmacy, which has notorious recruitment
difficulties, for many years and tried to promote its image to numerous
students and preregistration trainees. I have studied for and gained a
diploma in psychiatric clinical pharmacy (with distinction) and qualified
as a supplementary prescriber. Like many hospital pharmacists, I have routinely
worked an average of five to 10 hours’ unpaid overtime per week to
help support the pharmaceutical care of patients, and I truly believed
I provided a quality service.
Within my NHS board we have pharmacy technicians with the same banding
as myself. I applaud their achievement and career progression but believe
that pharmacists and technicians who have pursued a clinical role have
often been penalised. Our managers directed careers along the clinical
pharmacy path as this was “the way forward”, yet this does
not seem to be highly valued by the banding assimilations.
AfC advises that since I am on a protected salary my manager and I “should
review my skills, knowledge and role to establish whether with training
and development I could apply for a higher banded job in the future”.
Obviously experience, stability and development of expertise within a specialty
is not the ethos of the NHS. We were told that AfC was supposed to standardise
grading throughout the country but there is strong evidence of inequality
within and between health boards, resulting in disenchantment and poor
morale.
Catherine MacKenzie
Stirling |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal