PDA joins International Pharmaceutical Federation

The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) has become a member of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).

On Thursday (22 September), the FIP council voted to welcome the PDA as a full member of the global federation of organisations that brings together and advances pharmacy.

Mark Koziol, PDA chairman, said: "Being admitted to FIP with such a decisive level of support from its Council means that the PDA can ensure that UK pharmacists can enjoy a clear and powerful voice representing their collective professional interests at global level, which of late they could not.

"Bringing one of the largest pharmacy membership organisations in the world to FIP also gives the PDA significant influence in being able to inform the policies of the World Health Organisation. This means that the PDA can do even more for members by helping to make pharmacy practice more professionally fulfilling for them.”

“The PDA constantly seeks ways to provide even better support for members; membership of FIP will give the PDA much more influence and will result in better outcomes for pharmacists,” the association said.

To support humanitarian crises in other parts of the world, the PDA approached FIP, as a global pharmacy leadership organisation.

It said: “Timing was important, as it transpired that FIP was in the process of reorganising itself into six regions of the world. This would undoubtedly enable FIP to become much more responsive regionally and be able to rely on local expertise – a key lesson learned in the ‘Medicines to Ukraine’ campaign. It was evident that if the PDA joined FIP, it could actively participate in a programme which would deliver what many of the PDA's members had requested.”

“To that end, Mark in his capacity as General Secretary of EPhEU, was invited to raise this new and important humanitarian dimension at one of the main conference sessions. This additionally meant that whilst at the world congress, the PDA was able to identify various like-minded FIP member organisations from around the world with which to pursue this important work.”

The association also said: “In addition to the above, like many in the profession, the PDA was disappointed to discover just recently that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society had withdrawn from FIP membership nearly two years ago. This meant that UK pharmacists would have been left with no UK pharmacist organisational representation at global level within this important organisation. Joining FIP was a way to address both of these concerns.”

FIP membership will cost the PDA around 70 pence per member. This is the cost of the widening participation in change and access to experiences, collaborating with some of the most innovative pharmacy organisations in the world, and learning from and contributing to research and development on a global scale as well as the availability of resources that membership brings.

The PDA remains an independent organisation focussed on pharmacists in the UK, but, as a member of FIP, will be part of the global federation. This includes having a significant say on FIP’s governance and decision making where the PDA, because of its relatively large size (35,000+ members), will carry more votes than other smaller membership organisations.

PDA is also a member of the Employed Pharmacists of the European Union (EPhEU), the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU), the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), and the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC).