NHS Pharmacists’ Newsletter – April 2026

Employment relations in the NHS are unavoidably complex as it involves hundreds of employers, and four governments managing the employment of more than a million individuals. Like many state organisations, it thankfully also has well-established trade union structures. Since late 2024 the PDA Union has been part of the NHS Staff Side and the Social Partnership Forum alongside other health unions, so now there is an organisation involved focused exclusively on pharmacists.

• Flexible working 
• New mileage rate reimbursement for those who use their own car
• Review of the Staff Handbook wording to ensure terms remain up to date
• Staff Standards to help the NHS deliver its aspiration to be a better employer
• Efforts to improve Job Evaluation
• Violence prevention.

Why we decided to become PDA Rep

What being a PDA Rep has involved

The role has been varied and rewarding, involving regular catch-ups with our PDA organiser, Liz Larkin, and networking with other PDA Reps both within our new cluster and across the country. We have communicated closely with PDA members within the ICB, shared key updates at team meetings, attended staff side ICB meetings, and provided one-to-one support to colleagues whenever needed. This experience has strengthened our understanding of both local and national perspectives and the wider context in which our members work.

Support from the PDA

Why having workplace reps benefits members

Having PDA Reps provide members with a familiar, approachable link to the union. It helps colleagues understand what support, resources, and representation are available to them. PDA Reps ensure members have a voice at staff side and HR meetings, and they create opportunities for feedback through organised member sessions. Ultimately, reps help colleagues feel informed, supported, and represented.

How being a PDA Rep has benefitted us

Becoming a PDA Rep has been incredibly rewarding. We have been able to support colleagues through organisational change and help them navigate challenges. Personally, we have gained a deeper understanding of how unions work, what rights and protections are available, and how to manage change effectively. It has strengthened our confidence, broadened our network, and given us valuable experience contributing to staff side discussions and transitional work.

PDA in the NHS in Scotland

Since the PDA became a union in 2008, NHS Staff Side recognition has been a goal of the organisation and a logical step its members have been calling for. In late 2024, Staff Side recognition was achieved in the UK apparatus and in Scotland, specifically recognition and involvement in the Scottish Terms and Conditions Committee (STAC) followed in 2025. 

We now face the satisfying challenge of turning this opportunity into a fully realised and capable network of PDA Reps in the NHS and pharmacist advocates. In some locations, we are further ahead in this journey than others, and we recently hosted a meeting of PDA members working in the NHS featuring two of our established PDA NHS Scotland Workplace Reps who are leading this activity in their respective boards. 

We want to encourage any of our members who work in any of Scotland’s health boards, the 14 territorial boards, and the specialist boards to consider becoming the voice that represents pharmacists’ interests in their workplace. PDA Reps in the NHS would be invited to the local board’s partnership fora, where they would be involved in influencing the shape and implementation of decisions that affect their work.

NHS pharmacists have no better means of improving their working conditions than by engaging with their local partnership structures. If you are interested in helping make your workplace the best that it can be for workers and patients then, please consider participating.

The PDA will provide free training, support, access to a network of peers in similar roles in other health boards and trusts and have a network of organisers and educators that will support your development into the role of a workplace rep. The skills you will learn are transferable, and the friends you will make will often be lifelong.

Please email [email protected] for more information. 

Our meeting with Ian Roome MP

Year after year, pharmacists in the United Kingdom are experiencing increasing financial strains. This is especially vivid in the hospital sector, where the latest pay rise offer from the government is hardly matching inflation, for many pharmacists, meaning pay cuts in real terms. This, together with the hardships that we all suffered throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the increasing cost of living and our salaries largely not keeping pace with inflation over the pandemic years, leads to growing discontent. 

As an Advanced Practitioner in Respiratory Care in North Devon and a pharmacist by background, I see the daily dedication and the daily issues that our pharmacy team faces. One of the main issues often brought to my attention is how out of touch the GPhC is nowadays, adding to the burden of our expenses but not really offering anything in return for the profession. With the recently announced 6% registration fee increase in 2025 and further fee increases planned to cover nebulous increase in costs of regulating pharmacy services, I decided to highlight this problem to the local MP, Ian Roome. I also organised a meeting with him where our pharmacists could voice their opinions about the proposed changes.

In my role representing hospital pharmacists on the West and Wales Committee for the PDA, I believe it is vital that our elected officials don’t just hear about pharmacy in reports but see it in action.

PDA members encouraged to campaign for better NHS pay in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

NHS pay rise improvement talks are vital say health unions.

The PDA and other NHS Staff Side unions are telling government that they must improve on the inadequate 3.3% pay rise for NHS staff by putting significant extra funding into long-delayed pay restructure talks or the workforce crisis will continue to grow.

In a joint letter to health secretary Wes Streeting, the unions warn the pay award fails to keep pace with the cost of living, won’t repair years of lost pay and doesn’t address the lower pay rises for those on Agenda for Change contracts than other groups in recent years.

Pharmacists and other NHS employees are also being encouraged to add their name to an open letter submitted by the 14 trade unions which collectively represent more than a million health workers on Agenda for Change contracts. The full text of that letter can be readhere.

LEARN MORE

Those who wish can become a PDA Workplace Rep here or they can also get involved with their Regional Committee here.

The PDA also has four Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Networks available for members to join. All networks welcome allies and PDA Student and PDA Trainee members can join for FREE. More information can be found here.

We encourage you to forward this newsletter to colleagues who you feel may find it interesting and if they are not yet members of the PDA and wish to join they can do so here.