Finally the four documents approved by Staff Council relating to on-call have been published. In addition to the pay circular that covers on-call (and the mileage allowances) there is specific implementation guidance, a set of FAQs and a report on the review of on-call undertaken with volunteer sites as previously discussed on the website. Members may wish in particular to note that the joint answer to question 6 is that the existing default implementation cannot be automatically implemented without local discussions in partnership. A forthcoming piece in Clinical Pharmacy by Dave Thornton and sections on this website provide the background and appropriate advice.
The Pharmacy Defence Association (PDA) via NHS employers have since contacted the National Unite Lead in the negotiations on the On-Call Harmonisation, as they cannot formally be part of any local negotiations as they are not a recognised NHS union. Seeking to work on this process for the mutual benefit of members. The primary focus for GHP and Unite must be on its own members within pharmacy and other health sectors as we seek to agree the single organisation wide arrangements including any protection arrangements for existing postholders. It is important that GHP pharmacists are involved in this process as accredited representatives and members will through these important individuals be able to shape local outcomes. GHP Council will assist the process through it regional member structure starting with a standard briefing. The dates of local meetings are on the website.
The key points of the on-call process that will be outlined in the local meetings are the definition of local. The lowest level will be an employing Trust and the highest level will probably be national in the three devolved administrations. In England there may be groups of employers based on clusters or possibly up to SHA level. The meetings are intended to provide members with an understanding and explanation of national principles and framework, potential transitional and protection arrangements. An example of an outline proposal perhaps starting with a local definition of on-call may be used to shape discussions with your local organisational Unite Lead.
There will also be more formal local training for accredited representatives and this includes GHP members who are nominated solely as Agenda for Change (AFC) representatives by local pharmacist members through the Unite Regional Offices. It is probably 10 years since the NHS had active local “pay” negotiations so remember it will be new for many managers and HR departments. Unite are intending to ballot all members on the final local agreement
Staying with the industrial agenda members will be pleased to note that Unite have again submitted a claim for a reiteration of the Pay Review Body’s recommendation for a Recruitment and Retention Premia. Although the pharmacy staffing review showed small decreases in the percentages in band 6 and band 7 vacancies it also noted the decrease in band 6 establishment and a greater increase at band 7 and band 8.
You may also wish to note that the responses to Departmental, Regulatory and Governmental consultations continued. There were responses completed for changes in legislation supporting the logical extension of parenteral medicines authorised for midwives to students in training under the direct supervision of registered midwives. GHP also provided through Barry Corbett, who provides professional support, a response to the MHRA informal consultation on Patient Group Directions. The other major response focused on the extension of the existing “never events”. Whilst we all agreed with the sentiment and well meaning intentions of the consultation document, although this may not have been fully apparent in the professional press coverage. We also supported the assertions given by the previous chief medical officer for the previously existing never events involving medicines, but we found it difficult to support this specific details of this document. Our concerns were that they could not be classed as “never events” due to the expected frequency of these events (DoH suggested 1 or 2 per year per organization). We also had problems with their widespread coverage and basic reliance of remedial action on human behavioral and organizational culture changes rather than system interventions i.e. educational rather than simple procedural changes. We accept major cultural and behavioral changes attached to financial penalties can be successful as demonstrated with MRSA and infection control but this requires a different more prolonged and targeted approach than simple binary system of incident occurrence or absence.
Finally the month ended with the meeting of Council followed by the Group Secretaries Day. The latter meeting covered the current position in relation to PLI and its coverage for prescribing and pharmacy locums, support for primary care pharmacists in England with explanations on TUPE, Social Enterprises and protection from the management cuts and an extensive discussion on the national on call process that requires local negotiation. The Council and the nine Group Secretaries were also provided with an update on Modernising Pharmacy Careers, GHP position on Supervision and the 2011 Conference in Nottingham 13th-15th May and the 2012 Conference in Belfast 18th – 20th May. We also discussed how we could attract more and particularly the young newly qualified members to the GHP as all organisations, but importantly staff representative bodies, derive their influence and strength through unity of purpose and the involvement of all with the profession of pharmacy in the managed sector. As part of this recruitment drive Regional Members and Group Secretaries agreed to promote and co-ordinate the involvement of pharmacy technicians with Unite by seeking contacts in each region to forward to Kevin McAdam, who is the full time officer providing industrial support to GHP and other pharmacy professionals
Dave Miller GHP President