Following on from reporting of the responses of 1,300 UK locum pharmacists to the PDA’s survey, Locum Reps have come together to offer advice to their fellow locums to mitigate aspects of the challenging working environment they currently face.
The PDA Snapshot survey exposed how difficult the conditions facing locum pharmacists are in the UK at this time. PDA locum members continue to report mounting dissatisfaction with the current reality of their working lives. Declining rates of pay with often non-existent opportunities for negotiation, non-payment of legitimately incurred expenses, and some contractors operating unscrupulously with last-minute changes to agreed shifts and questionable contract terms.
That poor treatment contrasts against an increasing expectation of every pharmacist’s performance, which now includes additional services that locums must upskill themselves to deliver, and an ever-greater demand from the public being repeatedly directed to a ‘pharmacy first’. As other PDA surveys have shown, staffing levels of suitably competent staff have not kept up with the growing demands placed on pharmacists and their teams.
The PDA locum rates snapshot survey found that locum pharmacists have said that they face even more barriers than their employed peers in accessing professional development and training. Locums report they are barred from entry to Independent Prescribing courses at some universities. They have concerns around a profession that seems increasingly geared toward extended services and prescribing ever more medicines to the public, rather than valuing the work they already do as pharmacists in ensuring the safe and effective prescribing of those medicines. These topics and more will be covered in more detail in future PDA locum surveys.
All these factors are combining to have an impact on the wellbeing of locum pharmacists, have decimated job satisfaction in an essential Healthcare workforce and are precipitating some qualified professionals opting to work outside of pharmacy for more of their time.
It is often said that the pharmacy eco-system results in locum pharmacists accepting poor treatment in a way that many trades, such as plasterers, plumbers and electricians would not tolerate. However, it doesn’t have to be like that. Several PDA members have trained as locum reps and listened to the views of colleagues to offer ideas about best practice.
Locums are self-employed. One of the benefits of this status is that this should give them greater freedom to decide their own work conditions.
This collective advice from PDA locum reps is for colleagues to consider before making such decisions. The advice is summarised. Locum members are encouraged to consider how they approach the scenarios covered.
- You help shape the sector norms – While everyone has bills to pay and needs an income, locums should consider the wider consequences of accepting terms which they truly believe are not appropriate. Every time a locum accepts a rate which for example, is lower than a technician might be paid, or less than that work paid in the past; or which accepts unfair contractual clauses, this is enabling unscrupulous businesses to make that the norm. Such unreasonable situations can only survive when someone accepts them.
- Negotiate directly – a theme evident from the survey responses and backed by the views of PDA Locum Reps is that negotiating directly with a business is good practice, and better still directly with the business owner. Locums will typically have a better experience, including better rates of pay and a clearer understanding of the expectations of them in the workplace.
- Avoid Platform and Algorithmic working – In common with other sectors the impact of digital platforms to broker work to individuals is subject to increased debate (see links below). While the contribution of a pharmacists is very different to many other “gig economy” workers, the technology and thinking behind platforms built around algorithms that seek to minimise the cost to the client business while ensuring a payment is still secured for the platform owners is becoming very common and reflects an imbalance of power between workers and employers in some previous periods. The absence of the ability to negotiate a rate might be considered one of several red flags.
- Be aware of regressive contract terms – PDA’s casework increasingly includes the consequences of some businesses requiring restrictive and punitive clauses into locum contracts. A contract should be agreed between the parties and locums should ensure that they are fully aware of the terms under which they are proposed to be engaged. If some terms appear problematic, declining the work and seeking alternative work elsewhere may be a better outcome for locums.
- Reasonable Expenses should be negotiable –If an employer won’t offer reasonable travel or accommodation remuneration, or an increased rate to reflect those extra costs conferred, then deduct it from the overall payment being offered and consider again if the hourly rate is reasonable
- Consider part time employment – where possible some locums plan their finances based on part-time employment at decent rates so they can decline to work for rates that do not value their professional contribution. The reduced pressure of not having to accept any offer just to always be working enables them decline rates that are so poor as to not be acceptable. . This position will no doubt be more difficult for some individuals than others to achieve, but those who have been able to do so, report that this is a better position to be in.
Learn more
- The declining rates of pay for locum pharmacists
- Impact of pharmacists of lower locum rates
- PDA warns locums to beware of a risk of wage theft
Read more about the impact of platforms
- Disconnecting labour: The impact of intraplatform algorithmic changes on the labour process and workers’ capacity to organise collectively
- EU pushes to reclassify platform workers, but how will platforms react?
- Exploring the shifting landscape of work and employment: the interplay between technology, flexibility, and regulation
- Supply chains and e-supply chains: the impact on flexibilisation of work and employment
Not yet a PDA member?
If you have not yet joined the PDA, we encourage you to join today and ask your colleagues to do the same.
Membership is FREE to pharmacy students, trainee pharmacists and for the first three months of being newly qualified.