NEWS
DERECOGNITION OF THE BPA – PDAU MEET WITH BOOTS
The Pharmacists’ Defence Association Union (PDAU) has announced that its representatives for the group of pharmacists who have applied to derecognise the BPA recently met with senior managers from Boots.
The purpose of this meeting was to explore the available options open to the parties during the 20- day statutory negotiating period.
The meeting followed the decision by the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) to accept the application from Boots pharmacists to end an agreement between Boots and the Boots Pharmacists’ Association (BPA) in order to clear the way for
the PDA Union to seek recognition for the thousands of pharmacists, who work for the company.
In its decision, the CAC described the case as a ‘particularly unusual and interesting case’ and the first to come before the CAC under the current legislation (which has now been in force for 17 years) for the ending of bargaining arrangements between a non- independent union and an employer.
At the meeting the PDAU and Boots representatives discussed topics such as those related to the negotiation period, the definition of the Bargaining Unit for the
purposes of any derecognition ballot and the working relationship between the PDAU and Boots
‘The company now have an opportunity to respect and listen to the views of its employees, to terminate the agreement with the BPA and voluntarily recognise the PDA Union as the voice of pharmacists at Boots,’ said Mark Pitt, Assistant General Secretary of PDA Union. ‘It will be disappointing if senior management insist on making pharmacists go through a full ballot process in order to be represented by the union of their choice.’
GPS SHOULD BE GIVEN PATIENTS’ A&E DATA SAYS REVIEW
Former Chief Medical Officer Sir Harry Burns has carried out an independent national review into targets and indicators for health and social care and has concluded that GP practices should be given more data to help them better understand how and why patients choose to use A&E services.
The Scottish Government
commissioned Sir Harry to undertake his independent review following a Programme for Government commitment to ensure the approach to performance is outcomes based. The review was also supported by an expert group representing a range of organisations.
Among Sir Harry Burns’ proposals were that:
The present system of targets and indicators is fragmented and many of the indicators do not lend themselves to effective improvement interventions. A different approach to targets and indicators is necessary
Improving early life, social and economic circumstances of people living with deprivation as well as improving health and social services are all interventions which interact
to increase healthy life expectancy. If an effective group of indicators, which would assist continuing improvement, are to be developed, we need to see the drivers of wellbeing as part of a complex system
Sir Harry also recommended that Scotland move to a system of
indicators and targets which would allow improvements across a whole system of care to be tracked.
‘It is important,’ he said, ‘that frontline staff, managers accountable for performance and the people who use services coproduce the activities which they can then use to drive improvement.’
GOOD NEWS FOR PHARMACY CHAMPIONS
Pharmacy champions across Scotland have expressed their delight at the news that the Scottish government is to continue its £300,000 funding for the programme this year. The champions are practising pharmacists, who are not only experienced in delivering various strands of the pharmacy contract, but work to share their expertise and knowledge with their colleagues in the community.
The champions’ focus this year is on assisting community pharmacists to undertake care bundle activities, which have the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) assessment tool as their primary focus.
At the beginning of next year, they’ll also be responsible for assisting NHS Education for Scotland (NES) with a community pharmacy workforce survey, and will be heavily involved in collecting data from independent community pharmacies in their respective Board areas.
CRIMESTOPPERS LAUNCHES DRINK DRIVE CAMPAIGN
Crimestoppers Scotland is urging the public to speak up about regular drink drivers, as the charity launches its annual drink drive campaign in the run up to Christmas.
Latest figures reveal drink driving is the second most reported crime to the charity in Scotland. Last year nearly 700 pieces of information relating to drink driving were passed on to police.
In its new campaign Crimestoppers is targeting those, who may be reluctant to report a friend, but who may do so safe in the knowledge that, by contacting Crimestoppers, they will remain 100 per cent anonymous. Calls to the 0800 555 111 phone line and information passed online through the Anonymous Online Form at
www.crimestoppers-uk.org are completely non-traceable.
For more information visit
crimestoppers-uk.org.
45 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
