Locum pharmacists are the focus of a new campaign launched by the Pharmacists’ Defence Association.

The campaign aims to assist locum pharmacists who may have found themselves ‘the victims of poor treatment’.

The campaign will feature a number of initiatives designed to improve the behaviours of employers and to guard patient safety, in response to the results of a survey the PDA will launch over the next few weeks.

“Locums are increasingly receiving poor treatment at the hand of some employers and it is time something was done,” claims a statement from the association.

“Some employers are driving down their costs and exhibiting unprofessional behaviours for purely profit driven reasons to such an extent that in many instances this has also led to a cut in overall quality and quantity of staff, a drop in standards and an inevitable drop in patient safety.”

The PDA says that some locums are required to work through their lunch hour or beyond the normal closing time for no pay and with no breaks.