The PDA’s new regional committees have laid bare some of the biggest challenges facing community pharmacy in 2026.
In Scotland, community pharmacists highlighted staffing levels and workload as critical issues, whilst locums discussed ongoing frustrations with pay and difficulties in accessing IP training.
The Northern England regional committee discussed an increase in abuse from patients, paired with a reluctance from multiples to ban offenders from returning to branches.
Locums also expressed concerns over low pay rates, alongside the inconsistent implementation of the New Medicine Service (NMS), with members reporting being asked to carry out NMS at branches they had not been asked to locum at.
Read more: Large multiple ‘celebrating’ low locum rates, PDA reveals
The Wales, West England and Channel Isles reiterated concerns raised at the prior meeting over ongoing medicine shortages.
And Southeast England’s regional committee drew attention to the increased demands on pharmacists following the implementation of Pharmacy First.
In particular, attention was paid to the impact the expansion of Pharmacy First has had on locums, with discussions highlighting that as services increase, so does the need for training and equipment, resulting in additional cost implications for operators which can reduce budget for locum employment.
Locums in this region also raised concerns over pay rates, as well as noting requests to remain signed in as a Responsible Pharmacist (RP) whilst on their unpaid lunch breaks.
Read more: Pharmacy’s capacity has been ‘exceeded’, warns PDA
This meeting is the first to take place since the committee elections in April, marking the beginning of a new five-year term for elected members.
It comes after the PDA saw its membership numbers increase for the 23rd year running.
It also follows the PDA’s appointment of senior pharmacist Mark DasGupta as director of professional development in April.