In a ground-breaking move this Nov‚ pharmacists across UK voted to limit their work-time (something that has never happened before in their field). The voting turnout reached 64% with 3‚339 drug-stores from England Wales and Northern Ireland taking part
Most shops might soon stop working on week-ends and cut down extra hours: while they must work 40hrs per week many now stay open for about 50. The vote showed that 97.8% of participants support this change. They also plan to stop some non-required services:
- Stop-smoking help
- Birth-control pills
- Drug-addiction support
- Special medicine packs (except disability-related ones)
As a third-generation pharmacist I deeply care about my patients as do pharmacy teams across the country but I have never experienced a situation as desperate as this
The National Pharmacy Association chairman Nick Kaye points out that about 700 stores closed in just two years; with more than 1‚250 shut-downs in past decade. He says they dont want to cut services but see no other way-out without proper funding
This follows similar actions by family doctors who started their protest in Apr. The British Medical Association says 99% of 19‚000 doctors voted against new rules that give just 1.9% more money. In Aug they made a list of things to do - like seeing only 25 patients daily