I’m not claiming that it will rival the Times, Guardian or Telegraph but I’m pleased to announce the launch of the Shaun Hockey Daily – a daily emailed newspaper with content from people I find interesting in the worlds of pharmacy, healthcare, www, sport and celebrity.
To visit the Shaun Hockey Daily click on the link below:
When I first became a pharmacist 17 years ago, a wise old pharmacist told me that the most important person in the shop is the pharmacy technician. When I became a manager for Boots sometime later, a wise old area manager that the most important person in the shop was not the shop supervisor but the pharmacy technician and this went on and on throughout my career in community pharmacy.
Why is it then that pharmacy technicians in the community get paid so poorly, especially when you compare them to NHS colleagues with similar qualifications? My personal belief is that pharmacy technicians are exploited in community pharmacy and the fact that a very high percentage of technicians are women is the main reason. We have found in cases where a particularly high percentage of employees are women that the reward associated with the job is much lower than where there is a mix of men and women performing a role. A very good example of this can be found in local government where councils are having to pay over £500 million in back pay to women on low pay http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/core/page.do?pageId=4339139
In the NHS, most pharmacy technicians are part of a union and the union negotiate with the NHS on their members behalf. In addition the NHS went through the Agenda for Change programme which looked at each role are banded in with comparable jobs in other professions. To illustrate a normal band for a pharmacy technician in the NHS would be 5 or 6 and the salary range for these bands would be £20,202 to £32,662 with some pharmacy technician earning considerably more than that as they take on management roles.
So are pharmacy technicians the most undervalued resource? No, they are not undervalued but they are definitely the most under-rewarded.
Is it just me or does every pharmacist who visits Pharmacy Forum UK leave felling a bit more depressed than when they log on? I know it’s probably true that most people visit forums for one of two reasons, for information or to complain but sometimes I worry about the forum.
Blogs however tend to be an opportunity for individual pharmacist to either impart information of get their view across on a particular issue. Don’t get me wrong, I think the forum has pharmacists best interest at heart and does give pharmacists a feeling of community among their peers but come on. If you don’t all cheer up a bit we are going to have to mandatory counselling for all forum visitors!
My kids are always telling me that I don’t know what I’m talking about and sometimes, they might be right.
However, I am please to say that when I write our newsletters I can’t be talking rubbish all the time as we have found out today that our newsletters are read by more than double the average percentage for newsletters of this type.
So there kids – I only talk rubbish some of the time!
Click on the link below to visit our well read, email archive!
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs002/1101907712539/archive/1104088526992.html
I’ve just bought my wifes Christmas present from a site called one click pharmacy. One Click Pharmacysupport independent pharmacies and offered 40% reduction of RSP!
Link to site via PL-UK Facebook page
A bit about the company:
“is UK’s cheapest and most comprehensive online pharmacy on-route to become UK’s biggest online pharmacy, offering over 40,000 health, electrical, pet and beauty items at up to 90% off high street prices.
We aim to subsidise the price of “health” on the internet and deliver thousands of products to your door safely, quickly, discreetly and conveniently. Our state-of-the-art website creates a virtual pharmacy with all the safety features included that will help you take control of your health and yet pay up to 90% less for many well known products than you would at your local chemist.
OneClickPharmacy | .com | .co.uk | was launched in October 2009 by entrepreneurial UK registered pharmacists Priyesh Rawal and Shaina Shipton. This in itself sets OneClickPharmacy apart from many other internet pharmacies as we are run by professionals that are experts in their fields and put patient health and safety at the core of their fundamental principles of business.”
Agency Workers Regulations – how does it effect me?
The simple answer is it doesn’t. …. in most cases. For more expert guidance than I can supply as a pharmacist rather than a legal bod please click on the link below. http://www.pcg.org.uk/cms/documents/01109%20PCG%20A4%2020PP%20BROCHURE%20SINGLE%20PAGES.pdf
One in a lifetime opportunity – pharmacist required in Tonga
We have been approached by a not for profit pharmacy in the Kingdom of Tonga asking us to recruit a pharmacist to work at one of the health centres in the Kingdom. This opportunity will definately not come up again for if you fancy a complete change of scene and an opportunity to live on [...]
Just a quick post to remind all pharmacist that they need to renew their GPhC registration by the 31st October. So you still have a month to pay but if you are anything like me, if you don’t do it now, there’s a chance you’ll forget!
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