How long do members have to mull it over?

We're going to be balloting members for six weeks. That gives people the chance to think it through, then we’ll look at the results and work out our advice to members.

We've also asked teams to keep a record of the free services they deliver. Community pharmacy delivers so many free services that the state takes for granted but the public and patients rely upon. So if pharmacy teams are able to quantify that, we feel that'd be really helpful as well.

What is the exact question they're going to be asked on the ballot?

There's going to be an opening statement, as in, do they agree with the statement that community pharmacies are being squeezed to the brink, and therefore, because there are fewer pharmacies and a greater work burden, patient safety, long term, is at risk. Do they agree with that? And the next question will be, would they think about taking these steps?

These are stopping free deliveries, no free blister packs, ceasing to share data with NHS unless there's a legal requirement to do so, and to serve notice to reduce down to core hours.

That’s in England and Wales, in Northern Ireland there’s five, including stopping the system that makes up for the fact there isn't an electronic prescription system. What that's going to mean for a lot of people is they won't be opening on Saturdays.

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There's been a gradual decline in opening hours anyway, because the financial catastrophe is so extreme, and because the drug tariff is so out of kilter and bizarre, pharmacies have been having to consider what steps they take. Interestingly Boots several years ago stopped making free deliveries, stopped doing free blister packs, it's been reducing hours. I think it's more pharmacies in the independent sector that have continued with these services. But if, if pharmacy teams feel that to try to safeguard patient safety, they really need to retreat to the minimum hours, then we're giving them that chance to put that forward in the ballot. 

Have you canvassed support from the other bodies? The PDA would be interested in this kind of thing?

We've spoken to the negotiating bodies. One of our concerns in terms of the way that community pharmacy sector funding has just plummeted over the last 10 years, and as a proportion of the NHS budget, certainly in England, it's fallen from 2.5% to 1.6%. One of the reasons we feel that's the case is that other specialties have the BMA and Medical Royal Colleges, who are very muscular in the way that they negotiate and the way that they put forward their case.

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We what we want to do is aid the work of the negotiating bodies, and in terms of the PDA, we've spoken to them about the day of action and our campaign. What we're trying to do is bring about unity across the sector. The community pharmacy sector, for too long, has been disunited, and that is one of the key drivers behind the plummeting funding for the sector, that the sector hasn't been able to put forward a united case to government, so it's really important that we try to ensure a unified front with the administrations.

This is more the sort of action you would see coming from a trade union than an association.

The National Pharmacy Association actually used to be called the National Pharmaceutical Union, and that's sort of how it saw itself. But of course, the NPA represents owners. It doesn't represent rank and file staff, but of course, owners will do what they feel is right for pharmacy teams. If pharmacies are closing, that's not going to help patients. It's not going to help the owners, it's not going to help the rank-and-file staff. So it's in everyone's interests that we're able to put forward a unified front to administrations calling for this urgent, fair, deal for all of community pharmacy teams across the piece. We're bringing together the CPE, CCA, CPI. We managed to get the PDA to be sympathetic to the first day of action, to the second day of action. Every organisation has got a slightly different stance, but I think our job is to be a unifying force in as much as one can be in a sector that has been challenged by disunity.

What about the IPA? Have they been supportive or sympathetic?

Well, the IPA, they've done some things recently. They held a small meeting of MPs in Westminster, and we think that's good. Essentially all the bodies in the in the community pharmacy space think and say pretty much the same thing. What they want is a fair deal for community pharmacy. And we think that any work that helps to push that message forward is positive so we would applaud them for that. We just try and do what we can to bring people together. And we feel we're building a head of steam.