Community pharmacists to conduct unprecedented vote on industrial action

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) will ask its members to vote on taking industrial action in order to bring to the public’s attention the “slow death
of community pharmacy”, the organisation’s chief executive has told Pharmacy Business.

The NPA, which represents 6,000 community pharmacies across the UK, announced today that it will be sending a formal ballot to its members to vote on work to
rule plans to protest against a decade of cuts to pharmacy funding.

The ballot will ask pharmacies to consider a range of actions if the financial situation for pharmacies does not improve.

This includes, reduction in services; cut hours to contract minimums; withdraw free deliveries or end the provision of free blister packs; cease to share data
with the NHS unless it’s a legal requirement; and consider serving notice on a range of locally contracted services, negotiated directly with local authorities.

The ballot will be open for responses for six weeks and any action supported by a majority of pharmacies could take place before Christmas.