South Wales Echo

Pharmacy chain’s staff angry at redundanci­es

- LAURA CLEMENTS Reporter laura.clements@walesonlin­e.co.uk

A MANAGER at Wales’ largest pharmacy chain who worked on the frontline throughout the coronaviru­s pandemic says she and hundreds of others are being laid off after they were considered “not cost efficient”.

The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, claims more than 350 staff at Well Pharmacy across the UK are being made redundant.

Well Pharmacy is the UK’s third largest pharmacy chain after Boots UK and Lloyds Pharmacy,

Working in the Cardiff region, the employee said she had put her own health at risk during lockdown as requests for PPE at the start of the pandemic were disregarde­d as being “overdramat­ic”.

Now, having continued to work extra shifts for no extra pay dealing with heavy demand and “irate customers”, she claims 360 people in total have been handed redundancy notices.

Staff had been aware that redundanci­es were possible as early as January this year but due to demand during the Covid pandemic, these had been seemingly shelved by the company, she claimed.

“They have made staff work through the pandemic, on the front line since the start of Covid,” she said.

“At the beginning we had no PPE and when staff requested this, we were told that we were being overdramat­ic.

“Staff and particular­ly the managers worked extra hours for free, without overtime or time in lieu, to keep up with the demand.

“We were working on a triple workload with less staff. Then knowing that our jobs could potentiall­y be considered for redundancy made us all feel worse.”

The chain said it was working “against a funding shortfall in the industry alongside the ever increasing pressures on margins” and insisted the redundanci­es were necessary.

However, the news has made employees angry and had staff members feeling like they have “been used” by the company.

A current employee said: “When news was about to land about the redundanci­es, Covid-19 hit.

“So instead of progressin­g with redundanci­es, they allowed the managers to put their health and their families health at risk.”

She said “whispers” about redundanci­es resurfaced in August as the country emerged from lockdown.

“Some of us have been given our 12 weeks’ notice of redundancy.

“This was decided in January, as an external company conducted a survey and concluded we were not cost efficient.

“This has led to a tremendous strain on staff’s mental health, which is ironic for a healthcare organisati­on.

It’s been particular­ly hard on us, especially now knowing that there is a potential second wave and we are expected to again work through it.”

Nigel Swift, operations director for Well Pharmacy said the business was “looking to the future” and “absorbing” a new trading environmen­t.

The economic fallout of the pandemic continues to wreak havoc – yesterday saw Chancellor Rishi Sunak announcing an extension of the furlough scheme which will now run until March.

Mr Swift explained: “Trading conditions have evolved over the past six months and as a business, we are working against a funding shortfall in the industry alongside the ever increasing pressures on margins.

“We have been undergoing a review of our infrastruc­ture over the past 12 months and very much regret that we have had to take some tough decisions in order to remain fit for the future, and protect as many jobs as possible in the longer term.

“Our thoughts are with our colleagues who are impacted at this very difficult time and we would stress that these decisions are not ones we have taken lightly.

“Our new structure was announced in August alongside one-to-one consultati­ons with all of the employees affected to provide clarity of the proposed action, the rationale, potential impact and answer all questions. We also worked closely with our recognised trade union to ensure that we were able to mitigate, as far as possible, the impact of this restructur­e.

“Importantl­y we worked hard to support those colleagues affected throughout this difficult period, encouragin­g them to apply for different roles within our business where at all possible.

“We are pleased that as a result of this redeployme­nt, over 95% of new roles have been filled by internal candidates, while a significan­t number of those affected chose to take other roles across our pharmacies and remain within our business.

“I want to thank all of our colleagues for their hard work and commitment during this exceptiona­lly challengin­g time.”

 ?? MYERS ?? People queuing outside a Well pharmacy in South Wales at the start of lockdown in MarchJONAT­HAN
MYERS People queuing outside a Well pharmacy in South Wales at the start of lockdown in MarchJONAT­HAN
 ??  ?? Queues outside a pharmacy
Queues outside a pharmacy

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