4 in 5 (82 per cent) pharmacies have seen instances of racist abuse directed towards staff in the last year, a shocking new survey ran by ITV News and the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has found.
35 per cent had been abused most days whilst around 40 per cent of pharmacies also said they had experienced physical abuse, a disturbing new set of data has revealed.
The NPA, who represent around 6000 independent community pharmacies, have warned that staff may leave the profession unless more is done by the NHS and the police to tackle an endemic level of abuse and threats aimed at pharmacy teams, exacerbating existing workforce challenges facing some community pharmacies.
The pharmacy workforce is significantly more diverse than wider society, with over 60 per cent of pharmacists coming from non-white British backgrounds according to data from the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
Pharmacies are calling for greater protection for pharmacy staff, including the same level of support offered to other parts of the health system by the NHS.
This includes providing pharmacies with the same funding GP colleagues receive from the NHS to make security changes to their premises. No such support is offered to community pharmacies, despite 90 per cent of an average pharmacy’s funding coming from the NHS.
The NPA have also warned of a ‘disturbing change in attitudes’ from a minority of patients which has resulted in abuse being directed towards pharmacy staff that must be tackled.
Olivier Picard, Chair of the National Pharmacy Association said:
“The results of this survey are truly disturbing and paint a picture of a rising tide of abuse and even violent behaviour towards hard working pharmacy staff, who are simply trying their best to support their patients.
“I am particularly disgusted to hear of increasing levels of racist abuse being directed towards pharmacy teams, which we must all work to stamp out.
“Although this represents a very small minority of the 1.6 million people who visit a pharmacy every day in England, increasing levels abuse risks staff leaving pharmacy all together, something we can ill afford.
“The NHS and Department of Health have always rightly said that we should have a zero tolerance approach towards abuse of NHS staff.
“But we now need this rhetoric to match actions. GP colleagues have been afforded funding to make security changes but this has never been offered to community pharmacies, despite 90 per cent of our work being carried out for the NHS.
“This must change so pharmacies can make the security changes they need to help protect their staff from this worrying uptick in abusive behaviour from patients.
“Anyone visiting a community pharmacy should always treat teams serving them with patience and tolerance.”
