Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) members working for Boots have raised concerns over possible reduction in their pay following the multiple’s proposed changes to some pharmacies’ opening hours.
Member pharmacists have expressed concerns as “despite verbal assurances that the company aim to minimise pharmacist job losses, they are being told that proposed changes will reduce their income if they remain with the company,” PDA has stated.
PDA added that several pharmacists have been told that the proposed reduction to their hours will be more than 10 per cent, which could result in reduction in pay every month.
Salary cuts could render future employment unsuitable and might force pharmacists to leave the company with redundancy, the association said.
Meanwhile, the PDA has committed to help the member pharmacists to either secure a suitable alternative role or get an appropriate redundancy package in case no alternative role is available.
The association has also expressed concerns about the impact on patient care amid reduced opening hours.
It believes that the hours reduction initiative could impact the face to face availability of community pharmacy staff to the UK public.
“It is very difficult to see how such a change fits with declared NHS strategies to direct more patients to go to their local pharmacy,” PDA stated.
Sukhi Basra