The PDA Union has secured full membership of the NHS Staff Council, giving the organisation a formal national voice for NHS-employed pharmacists on employment and workplace issues.
Members of the NHS Staff Side Council, which represents more than one million NHS employees through their unions, voted at its annual general meeting to support the PDA’s full membership application.
The council’s constitution has subsequently been updated to include the PDA Union as a full voting member, with NHS employers and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) notified of the change.
The PDA Union has participated in the council’s work as an observer for the past two years.
Full membership will allow the union to raise issues specifically affecting pharmacists directly through the staff side, including matters such as pay, job evaluation, restructures, staffing standards, mileage rates, flexible working and pensions.
The NHS Staff Council covers employees working under Agenda for Change contracts. The PDA is also a member of the national Social Partnership Forum, where NHS employers, government and unions discuss employment and workplace issues affecting NHS staff.
The union said its new status would also create opportunities for NHS-employed pharmacists at a local level.
PDA members working for NHS employers can volunteer to become a PDA Union Representative, allowing them to represent pharmacist colleagues and pharmacy-related issues in discussions with local management. Representatives will receive paid time away from normal duties, alongside training and support from the PDA.
Paul Day, PDA Union director, said the change would allow the PDA to make “much more of a material difference from the centre than ever before” while also enabling pharmacists to address issues specific to their own workplaces.
“This is so important because matters of concern to pharmacists can be local issues relating exclusively to their pharmacy departments for which local solutions can be found. As all PDA members and PDA workplace representatives are pharmacists, the PDA provides a mechanism to have an informed and dedicated voice for the pharmacist profession,” he said.
The PDA said some of its members are already recognised as PDA representatives within NHS employers, with further members now able to join the network.
The PDA Union is one of 14 unions formally recognised on the NHS Staff Side Council, alongside organisations including the Royal College of Nursing, UNISON, Unite, GMB, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy and the Royal College of Midwives.
