| We help our members to know and exercise their rights, champion their interests, and bring them together to make a difference. By promoting what is right for pharmacists and defending their interests, we make it easier for our members to provide safe and effective care to patients.
However, we recognise that there are some areas of activity which is beneficial to our members and/or patients that should be led by other organisations, and hence we also work with and support various charitable endeavours. This newsletter gives an update on recent activity with our charity partners.
In this issue:
- STOP PRESS: PDA raises £10,000 for Syria and Turkey Earthquake relief campaign
- PDA donations to Pharmacist Support pass £200,000
- PDA works with patient charities
- Medicines to Ukraine
- PASS in Northern Ireland
- PDA helps equality charity to launch ‘Achieving Equal Pay in your Workplace’ website
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STOP PRESS: PDA raises £10,000 for Syria and Turkey Earthquake relief campaign
The recent earthquakes are the strongest to hit the Syrian/Turkey border region for nearly a century with many big cities critically affected. At the time of writing the death toll already stands at tens of thousands, with many more missing and thousands displaced. The scale of this humanitarian tragedy is enormous and our thoughts are with the poor people in the affected areas.
As many members will already be aware, we joined the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in October 2022. One of the main reasons behind this was to build upon the successful Medicines to Ukraine campaign and work with FIP so as to develop an international pharmacy-led humanitarian charity programme, one that could respond to emerging crises in any part of the world. |
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PDA donations to Pharmacist Support pass £200,000
Since 2017, we have had a national charity partnership with Pharmacist Support. This is the profession’s independent charity that provides a wide range of support services to pharmacists and their families, pharmacy students, and former pharmacists in Great Britain.Our relationship with Pharmacist Support is a ‘no-brainer’ as we are both organisations that have been established exclusively for pharmacists. There are many charities that could benefit pharmacists as well as others, but we know every donation we give to Pharmacist Support is used to assist the people for whom we also exist to help, pharmacists.
We give £1 per member each year to Pharmacist Support. This even includes pharmacy students and trainee pharmacists who receive FREE PDA membership, as well as providing a function so that members can give their own donation when they join or renew their PDA membership. The latest quarterly donation means that since launching this partnership, we have provided more than £200,000 in donations which can directly benefit pharmacists. |
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PDA works with patient charities
We collaborate with a wide range of organisations when our objectives align or overlap, and this is not limited to other pharmacy organisations or trade unions. There are several groupings in which we are an active partner alongside charities acting on behalf of patients, two of those groupings are detailed here: |
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Inequalities in Health Alliance
The Inequalities in Health Alliance is a coalition of organisations with an interest in improving the health of the UK. The organisations have come together to campaign for a cross-government strategy to reduce health inequalities. |
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| Membership is open to any not-for-profit organisation that has an interest in reducing health inequality, particularly those working in the areas of health, social care, and local government. We are a member of the alliance.
Read more about the Inequalities in Health Alliance here. |
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Prescription Charges Coalition
Thousands of people tell pharmacists about the impact that unaffordable prescription charges have on their lives, and PDA members see first-hand the impact of patients unable to afford their medication. Prescription charges have been removed for patients in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, but continue in England.
The Prescription Charges Coalition is a group of 52 organisations calling on the Westminster government to scrap prescription charges for people with long-term conditions in England. We are a member of the coalition.
Read more about the prescription charges coalition here. |
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| Through the Federation of Employed Pharmacists in Europe (EPhEU), of which PDA Chairman, Mark Koziol is Secretary General, we have led the UK fundraising to support pan-Europe efforts for pharmacists to help provide medicines to Ukraine.
The Medicines to Ukraine campaign is one of the most ambitious and perhaps unusual projects that we have ever been involved in. The campaign has already achieved a lot, but there is a lot more needed to satisfy with the ongoing war situation having no end in sight.
To ensure that the project was proven on the ground, Mark Koziol accompanied the first large medicines consignment, with a value of £200,000, to Ukraine when it was delivered to the Ukrainian hospitals. Mark appreciated enormously the fact that those here in the UK are fortunate to be living largely in peace. |
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| Those who would like to be a part of this initiative, our first major initiative around humanitarian support, can donate by clicking here.
If pharmacists can encourage employers to display a poster in their pharmacy window, or in a hospital / GP surgery waiting room wall, then this will not only improve the chances of success, but it will also get the message out to the public about the specialist nature of medicines and about the role of pharmacists in the process. |
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| Pharmacists in Northern Ireland can turn to the Pharmacists Advice Support Service (PASS) for a range of free, impartial, and confidential services.
Pharmacists in Northern Ireland can access PASS directly, or receive more information about the support available from the Pharmacist Advice and Support Coordinator. |
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| We were pleased to provide PASS with a donation of £1,000 last year, presented by Una O’Farrell, PDA National Officer for Northern Ireland to Eamon O’Donnell, Chair of the Pharmacy Forum NI. |
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PDA helps equality charity to launch ‘Achieving Equal Pay in your Workplace’ website
In November 2022 the Equality Trust charity launched the ‘Achieving Equal Pay in your Workplace’ website. This was the result of over a year of collaborative work with academics and 12 unions including the PDA. The website brings together the expertise of those with lived and learned experiences of tackling equal pay issues in their workplaces to be used by workers across the UK.The website launched before Equal Pay Day 2022, calculated by the Fawcett Society charity to fall on 20 November 2022. It marks the day in the year when based on average pay, women effectively stop being paid compared to men because of the gender pay gap. The gender pay gap is the difference between the average pay of men and women within a particular group or population.
The gender pay gap based on the average full-time salary is 11.3%. The gap is wider for those who work part-time, and maybe even worse for women of colour, disabled women, and those who experience other intersectional inequalities. |
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