PDA-Scotland head of policy Maurice Hickey will argue for pharmacy staff to be included under NHS Scotland sick leave policy in his next meeting with the chief pharmaceutical officer (CPhO) for Scotland Alison Strath, he told C+D yesterday (February 25).
The move comes after a Scottish pharmacy staff member last summer came down with whooping cough, or pertussis, but they returned to work before they had fully recovered, leading to three additional colleagues catching the illness, he said.
While the workers could technically “take as long as they want off ill and to recover” they were only eligible for statutory sick pay (SSP) “which means that they [took] as little time off as possible”, he added.
Read more: Whooping cough cases skyrocketing, warns government
“In this case two of the staff never took any time off because they felt they couldn’t afford to,” Hickey told C+D.
“They went into work, and it was only after one of them collapsed and was diagnosed after being admitted to hospital, the third and fourth member of staff were quickly diagnosed [and] treated with the appropriate antibiotics,” he said.
“No one can afford to live on SSP”
“All four [workers] only received SSP” – a payment of £116.75 “or £3.11 per hour, 27% of the living wage,” Hickey told C+D.
“They also don’t get SSP for the first three days [and] after one week off they only qualify for £46.70. That is 11.9% of the minimum wage if they are ill,” he added.
“No one can afford to live on SSP, not when they are already poorly paid, have mortgages to pay, families to feed or are single parents – it is as simple as that,” he said.
“When patient facing staff are ill and unable or unwilling to see a GP, they just keep going hoping it will pass over, and they can infect their more vulnerable colleagues,” he added.
Read more: Statutory sick pay decision met with ‘complete and utter disbelief’
“There are rules that are designed to stop this happening, it’s just that they don’t apply to community pharmacy staff.
“NHS Scotland staff are employed directly by the NHS and covered by The NHS Scotland Rules under ‘attendance policy’,” he said.
“The policy is clear; it states that NHS staff who are ill with an infectious disease should remain away from work and will continue to be paid in full for the period during which they are excluded,” he added.
“Nobody goes into a pharmacy expecting to be exposed to serious illness, but that is the reality,” he added.
“This would likely not have happened”
At the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) disabled workers conference in November, Hickey took a motion for the committee “to lobby the Scottish government to update NHS Scotland’s attendance policy to include all workers who deliver NHS services at all sites where health and social care is provide…including pharmacies”, he said.
“This motion was passed unanimously,” he added.
Read more: Cuts to sick pay prompt surge in interest in income protection
And Hickey is set to raise the issue with Strath in their next meeting, he told C+D.
“If the attendance policy applied to NHS staff this would likely not have happened, only one member of staff would have become ill instead of four,” he said.
In 2012, insurance company PG Mutual told C+D it had seen a surge in pharmacist enquiries as a result of employers reducing benefits such as sick pay.
Read more: COVID-19 delivers financial blow to ill or self-isolating locums
And in 2014, new rules around sick pay left contractors unable to claim back statutory sick pay for sick leave.
Meanwhile in March, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) asked parents to ensure their children are vaccinated against whooping cough after recording a “continued increase” in cases of the bacterial infection.
