PDA North regional committee members warned that “some employers were forcing employees to be DPPs” at the union’s latest regional committee meeting, the PDA this week (November 2) revealed.
From 2025/26, trainee placement providers will have to provide a DPP so that all trainees qualify as an independent prescriber (IP).
But the Northern members said that “there are not enough DPPs to cover the upcoming trainee influx and that a two-tier system of IP and non-IP pharmacists is developing”, the PDA said.
Read more: DPP shortage: ‘Excess’ pharmacy trainee places ‘on the face of it’, says GPhC chief
“In particular, they agreed that pharmacists should be able to choose to become IPs or not, without fear of penalty,” it added.
And PDA members from the Scottish regional committee said they were “particularly concerned that in one large multiple, [office-based] IPs are acting as DPPs and are supervising multiple trainees”, it said.
This is despite the fact that these IPs are “not necessarily routinely prescribing themselves if they are mainly based in an office as part of their role”, the PDA reported.
Read more: Proposals to make DPP ‘routine’ job responsibility are ‘troubling’, warns PDA
Meanwhile, the Wales and West regional committee reported that “employers in Wales get paid £3,000 for having a DPP but this money does not get filtered down to the pharmacist”, it said.
“Clarity around the roles and the renumeration available seems to vary considerably across sectors and geographical locations, with no consistent approach, and some members are concerned about the additional workload created,” the PDA added.
“More pressure on pharmacists”
Scottish members also flagged concerns about a pharmacy chain rolling out a new dispensing system.
“Members reported that in one large multiple, assisted due date dispensing (ADDD) is being rolled out more widely,” the PDA said.
Read more: DPP shortage: Crunch talks generate positive engagement, say RPS and NPA
It explained that the system is “where scripts are clinically checked the day before and then assembled without the pharmacist seeing them again”.
“As a result, support staff levels are reduced and so there is more pressure on pharmacists, as well as an increase in reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulations (RIDDOR) incidents occurring,” the PDA added.
It remains unclear which specific pharmacy multiples were discussed during the meeting.
DPP drama
But it comes after various sector bodies have expressed their concerns about a shortage of DPPs.
In May, the Company Chemists’ Association (CCA) demanded that NHS England (NHSE) provide “a list of all organisations” that have spare DPPs as it voiced “grave concerns” that “pharmacies will be unable to secure” them.
And in June, C+D revealed that large multiples will be the lead employer on only 277 of the 4,102 placements available for the 2025/26 cohort of pharmacy trainees.
Read more: Trainee IP pharmacists asked to fork out up to £3k to source own DPP
In August, the Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) warned against apparent proposals to make DPP supervision “a routine responsibility” and part of a pharmacist’s “normal job without considering job evaluation or pay”.
At the time, it deemed suggestions of baking the role into job descriptions as “troubling”.
But in September, General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) chief executive Duncan Rudkin said that “on the face of it, there is an excess of places” on offer for trainee pharmacists in England.
