PDA raises concerns about inaccurate media reports on NPA ballot

The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) has raised concerns about inaccuracies in media reports regarding a campaign launched by the National Pharmacy
Association (NPA) to ballot members in protest over funding issues.

The PDA clarified that only trade unions, like the PDA Union, can conduct ballots for industrial action.

Therefore, it argued that the NPA’s action should not be “inaccurately described as a strike or industrial or collective action.”

The PDA further explained that NPA’s proposed ballot pertains to a contractual dispute between businesses operating community pharmacies and the NHS commissioners
in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Additionally, the PDA noted that the NPA is not conducting a ballot for its members in Scotland.

While some reports have stated that ‘pharmacists’ are being balloted for the first time to take collective action, the PDA pointed out that many NPA members are,
in fact, business owners and investors, not pharmacists.