The right to work without fear

The right to work without fear of bullying by overbearing and uncaring line Managers irrepressibly driven to achieve unachievable targets is far more important to me.

The right to work without the fear of making a serious or fatal error due to low Staff numbers and wrong skill mix is my second biggest fear.

When will the GPhC, RPS and PDA act decisively and irreversibly in these areas.

And so rightly said, my friend, and more so a reality, happening nearly everyday, if not in this branch today, it's the other branch tommorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!! when will 'notices' similar to the rail and hospital staff one, warning the general public, be put up warning line managers, in pharmacies? some of us are not having the peace of mind to work in an already 'pressure cooker' environment, without being chased after for target figures.

Don't be such a moaning minnie about targets....I can't believe this goes on to the extent that you make out.

Still living in cloud cuckoo land Gerry. You really need to get out more.

No my friend you seem to be anti business and want arthur scargill back in charge. One out all out!

Although we have dealt with a large number of substance misuse patients on a daily basis over the last 10 years or so, I have never had reason to "fear" any intimidation, harrassment or violence from a group who one might expect to have issues with.

No, in recent times, the intimidation & harrassment - in the form of targets, action-plans, threats of disciplinary action, etc. - has come from middle-managers following a regrettable "dog-eat-dog" corporate culture which all the large multiples subscribe to.

We should not belittle the actual threat of bullying and physical violence in our workplace from patients and customers and give this topic due attention. Commercial pressure from line managers is another topic and should be addressed accordingly without diminishing the former. I would like to add a further topic of DoH bullying the whole profession with little or no protection being offered by the PSNC which requires separate discussion.

The article is "The right to work without fear" and as Alternative Pharmacist and others have said that's exactly the way SOME employee pharmacists feel about their work environment these days - not particularly because of the public but particularly because of line managers who inflict them to "Distressing", "traumatic" and "alarming" work conditions.

They cannot speak up for themselves for fear of persecution. These are not Luddites taking up arms. They are good pharmacists who are working in factory conditions that are not fit for purpose. It's not everywhere, not by any means - but it's there and too many people are turning a blind eye to it. C&D I love you and the work you do but as it's employers that pay for your subs are you really wanting to give this the proper airing?

This is what RPSGB should focus on. If they did they would get far more respect and a higher membership rate.

What;'s new ever since i have been in pharmacy violence, intimidation and theft are part and parcel of every day life, what has changed is the extremes that are now gone to. Thanks to the cheap illegal drug trade the break-in rate has dropped off. Then add the government down ward pressure on drugs, and the huge increase in 100 hour contracts, leading to the multiples pressurisng front line staff to delivery with minimum staff cover.
The other frightener on the horizon is the enormous increase in pharmacist numbers. Every body does have a right to work without fear, but who supports the frontline pharmacist? PCTs. GPhC Police?
i am afraid it is down to the individual not agreeing to centrally set targets and reporting agressive/violent people to anybody they can even their area manager

Hi Bruce

Thanks for your message.

While the majority of C+D subscribers are employers, the majority of our readers are employees, and I would hope that over the years it's been clear that we are not afraid to cover the issues that matter to our readers.

For example, our popular annual Salary Surveys have highlighted lots of issues around morale and workload as well as remuneration. And the coverage has been extended over several weeks to ensure we give readers a thorough review of the findings.

I can't speak for the RPS, but I can say that C+D has and always will cover the issues that affect our readers in a balanced, fair and informative way. Of course, we can always improve what we do, and input from readers is invaluable in this respect.